Stronger Together: Five Things We Heard from Leaders Who Have Made Collaboration Work

Two months ago, I wrote about what becomes possible when organizations commit to real collaborative planning – problems get clearer, immovable barriers begin to shift, solutions are more sustainable, and progress movement starts to happen. Recently, we sat down with three leaders who have led successful collaborations in our state. We asked them what makes it work and where it gets stuck. Here’s what we heard.

1. The Hardest Truth: Collaboration is extremely difficult when organizations are competing for the same resources.

Collaboration has its best chance to thrive when there is new funding that can be shared. It gives organizations something to build together rather than divide up.

2. Relationships are the foundation, and they require intention to maintain.

Strong relationships are the bedrock of every collaborative effort. They are what’s needed for collaboration to hold up under pressure. Relationships must be tended to, checked in on, and built on a foundation of trust that’s developed over time.

3. The work has to be bi-directional, and everyone has to know their role and own it.

Real collaboration means all partners have something at stake and something to gain. Everyone has a role to play and responsibilities to take on, and there has to be clarity and accountability around who owns what.

4. Someone needs to hold the structure.

Collaboration works best when someone’s job is to put structure around the work itself, someone who wakes up in the morning with that as their purpose. Holding the structure means designing the process, facilitating the hard conversations, and keeping things on track once programs are running.

5. Leaders must be willing to give away decision making authority.

The people asked to make the work come alive have to actually be trusted to make the decisions. Leaders designing the collaboration can’t and shouldn’t be in the weeds. When decision making authority isn’t given, collaboration often begins to fall apart.

Our Takeaway

Listening to these leaders was a real-time reminder that while collaborative planning is rarely easy, it’s almost always worth it. We are grateful to our local leaders for sharing their insights with us, and more importantly,  for digging in and engaging in real collaboration to make our communities stronger, together.