Management
Issue No. 44 - December/January 2008
Rewards of partnering across sectors
by Penelope Herbert
Management consultant Ian Dixon recently published a white paper focusing on “how to build effective partnerships between the Business, Government, Community and Education sectors”.
“While cross sector partnerships are seen as a way of meeting our sustainable development challenges for the future, many of these partnerships are not meeting partners’ expectations,” says the MD of Dixon Partnership Solutions.
“A fundamental issue in creating, developing and sustaining effective partnerships is understanding the role of each of the sectors involved.
“The public sector is focused on establishing the necessary economic and social frameworks, and providing public services to address basic needs and rights, while the business sector could be described as innovative, fast and ‘profit driven’.
“The community sector is very much values-driven and standing up for the public good, while the education sector has a major focus on research and knowledge expansion.
“Cross-sector partnerships that bring these sectors together provide many challenges when the basis for their existence is very different and the key drivers that determine their way of operating are often at odds.”
Ian says partnerships require significant investment of time and resources and often involve people who may be based far from each other. This dislocation presents challenges to building relationships and developing a shared understanding.
Separation is not the only issue. Barriers and impediments to effective partnering include:
• Lack of a clear purpose and differing expectations
• ‘Silos’ within sectors which can restrict communication and delay decisions.
• No clear process to bring partners together to maximize opportunities
• Re-starts as people leave or enter the partnership
• Lack of partnering skills or partnership vision.
“We find much rhetoric and confusion around the lan...
