Forming Partnerships in the Academic Environment By Don Harris Vice Provost and CIO Emory University

Official Disclaimers ► Higher Education is political ► The CIO must operate in this environment ► The reason to form and maintain partnerships is often politically motivated ► This presentation has a lot of political overtones ► Take what is helpful to you for your situation and leave the rest

What is Partnership? ► An alignment between two organizations that shows itself in truly collaborative working arrangements ► This is far from the vendor-customer relationship many IT units have with their administration or faculty

Reasons to Partner ► Working together on common goals  Especially those of critical institutional importance ► Increased likelihood of funding for projects  Link projects to academic goals and not IT ► Greater leverage in working with others  This involves those on campus as well as vendors ► Having someone to watch your back  Critical to allow your partner to tell you what you don’t always want to hear, for example what others are saying about you

More Reasons to Partner ► Increasing the ability to deal with problems when they occur on a project  For example, when a vendor doesn’t deliver  When resources aren’t being brought to a project by a campus unit  When cost overruns are encountered ► Having someone to celebrate with when objectives or projects are accomplished  Joint successes have long lasting positive effects on all participants

Finding Common Ground ► Use your strategic planning process to seek partners with common goals and objectives  Bring others into your planning process ► Identify threads through plans that might lead to partnership agreements  Be sure that what you are identifying has institutional support ► Make sure players are identified at several levels in both organizations  Partnership agreements between leaders only is not effective

More Common Ground ► Be sure to identify roles each group will play and how decisions will be made in the partnership arrangement  What resources will be deployed by each group?  How will additional resources be acquired?  How will impasses between staff be resolved?  How will funds be deployed for the project?  How will project progress be measured?  How and who will give reports to senior management?

A More Political Approach ► Take a systems approach to your campus ► Identify the players and their roles ► Identify the interaction between players ► Seek to better understand the strengths and dangers of partnership arrangements ► Align yourself and your organization in a way that promotes your goals

Know Your Potential Partners ► What are their backgrounds? ► What are their interests? ► Who do they partner with? ► What (or who) influences them? ► What are their “hot buttons”? ► Where are there rifts between players? ► What is their history with your organization? ► What do they think about you?

Understanding your Partners ► Read what they write ► Listen to their speeches ► Formulate good questions and engage them in discussion about their area of interest ► Invite them to present to your staff ► Have your organization engage their organization at several levels ► Collaborate with them in presenting or writing

Seek Understanding of Dynamics ► Is one player stronger than the other? ► What role do you play in each partnership? ► Do partners have different business drivers? ► How does campus governance affect the partnership? ► Think about how you want to be identified with your partner  Convenience  Business necessity  Common goals  Long term strategic importance

Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind-the-Scenes by Joel R. DeLuca, Ph.D. EBG Publications 1999

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OPERATIONAL POWERFULPOWERFUL WEAKWEAK STRATEGIC SK MG WC BH PB DE

Ways to Strengthen the Partnership ► Conduct joint activities between groups  Management workshops (e.g., MBTI)  Training or professional development  Field trips to institutions with common interests ► Have regular meetings  To assess work towards partnership goals and objectives  To allow leadership to discuss concerns or new opportunities  To just allow the staff to get to know each other better

More Ways to Strengthen… ► Look for ways to interact with partners  At campus social events like receptions  At arts programs  Before or after regular senior staff meetings ► Also seek to better understand your partners’ professional interests  Attend the conferences they attend  Interact outside the office on their “turf”  Invite them to your IT conferences and introduce them to your colleagues

A Few Pitfalls to Avoid ► Be careful what you say and write  Remember your partners also have partners  Be very careful in which is easily forwarded  Be sure that project reports and budgets are reviewed by leadership of both groups  Don’t send out anything “official” before all issues are worked out with your partner

More Pitfalls ► Be careful that you don’t get tagged with any “bad press” your partner receives due to their poor management ► Learn how to distance yourself from your partner when he or she isn’t pulling their share of the load ► Protect yourself and your organization from financial problems your partner may encounter

Being Visible as Partners ► Develop joint “press releases” and stories for campus publications ► Also consider joint brochures, web sites, articles and even videos ► Feed news items to the campus paper, newsletters, alumni magazine, etc. ► Be sure to emphasize that you are addressing institutional goals and not your personal agendas

Celebrate Your Joint Success ► Look for ways to capitalize on the results of successful partnerships  Awards for your staff, conference presentations ► Strive to be seen as an organization with which others wish to be associated  Be prepared to prioritize and say no to some requests for partnerships ► Use success to strengthen your organization and seek funding for other initiatives

Think About Partnerships Outside Of Your Own Institution ► Identify partnerships that might already exist ► Consider how you might partner with another institution to support collaborative work ► Hold joint meetings to consider projects and exchange opportunities ► Also seek to involve faculty and administrators in these discussions ► And don’t forget about EDUCAUSE regional conferences and other events where you can explore partnership opportunities

Ending a Partnership ► Possible reasons to end a partnership  When your partner is leaving the institution  When your partner becomes a liability  When your goals are no longer mutual  When your priorities (or resources) shift ► Some ways to bring about an end  Have partnership linked to annual plan  Have specific timeframe to review partnership  Use your regular meetings to redefine goals