Partnership. Don't. The title of a blog post by Andrew Sutton. Alluding to the 'first principle' in a book on collaborations that he's been 'dipping into' by Chris Huxham and Siv Vangen, called Managing to collaborate: the theory and practice of collaborative advantage.
Actually, I'm with Rony Schenker on this one, who I hope will not mind me quoting the Comment she added to Andrew's post:
"My experience with partnerships is totally different, and partnerships are my default option as I truly believe in its advantages. Tsad Kadima is based on a partnership between parents and professionals, and this partnership is the essence of its existence and the secret of its success. Neither parties could be as effective as the fusion between the two. The reciprocity of influences within and between became the general cause for TK's development."
I like Rony's phrase "my default option". Mine too.
The reason I didn't just add this as a Comment to Andrew's post, was to bring attention to a piece of writing that in the early days of setting up Paces Campus simultaneously influenced my own thinking and expressed my own thoughts about collaborations and setting up new ventures. That piece of writing was "Just Do It - Letter from a US Networker" by Steve Snow.
Steve Snow was the Director of the award-winning Charlotte's Web in North Carolina. In 1997, he wrote "Just Do It" as an open letter to UK Networkers. Steve Snow died on 27 December 2008. In a reflection on his life and work a few days afterwards, David Wilcox, who himself is a highly respected 'social reporter' wrote that "Steve’s interest was always people and communities, rather than technology .... More than anything he was an enthusiast for trying stuff ..."
I didn't meet Steve Snow except through his letter from a US Networker. I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that in his interest in "people and communities" and his "enthusiasm for trying stuff", collaboration was his "default option".
In their first principle, Huxham and Vangen recognise that "Joint working with other organisations is inherently difficult and resource-consuming". Indeed it is. That is my experience at Paces. But no-one said collaboration would be easy. Why should it be? Indeed, I believe I read somewhere, seems a long time ago, that a collaboration between Charlotte's Web and the local Charlotte municipal authority went badly wrong and resulted in the near closure of Charlotte's Web - but I cannot find confirmation though a quick Google search.
Last word to Steve Snow:
"Make friends, forget enemies. Collaborate with any group that will have you and wants to work together. That will vary from community to community, so the model to copy is the process, not the organizations. Natural collaborations will surface. Make the most of them. Conversely, be nice to those who would undermine you but stay away from them; they will bring negative energy you can ill afford."