B3: Making Partnerships Work
Partnerships and collaborations between agencies and among different parts of the same organization are common in today’s social services. Funders often recommend or require collaboration, and the complexity of client needs makes partnerships necessary. Great things can come from partnerships, but if expectations aren’t clear or partners don’t understand each others’ needs, or if there is no agreement about how to make ongoing decisions or how to handle inevitable frictions that will arise, partnerships can end up costing us more than they are worth. This workshop will equip participants with knowledge and skills that will help them make partnerships work. Specifically, they will:
- Learn about the elements of a good partnership agreement. Participants will share their own knowledge and experience (good and bad), and learn about St. Stephen’s best practices and experience coordinating its many partnerships.
- Learn about an interest-based approach to understanding the relationship they have with partners. They will then practice how to listen for and understand their partners’ needs.
- Be introduced to skills to de-escalate conflictive situations, and to constructively confront partners in ways that don’t lead to open conflict or deadlock.
A combination of short lectures, facilitated discussion, demonstrations, and skills practice will make the training as practical as possible. A written manual will be provided for all participants.
Peter Bruer started his career in international community advocacy work and in the tenants’ movement. He trained as a mediator in 1992 and in 1996 was hired by the Conflict Resolution Service at St. Stephen’s Community House, where he is now Manager. He has conducted dozens of community and professional mediations, designed and taught workshops and consulted on mediation systems design for a range of non-profit, private sector and government clients. He has trained and presented at conferences in Canada, the United States, Indonesia and Latin America, and published in a variety of journals and media.
