Share a Vision of Success

The agreement on a set of goals and ideal outcomes that clarify the mission and priorities of the collaboration

 

WHY IT MATTERS: Defining a common purpose links stakeholders together and creates a mutual understanding of the benefits of success.

Differing priorities.

Collaboration partners are likely to come to the collaboration with their own organization- and sector-specific priorities and mandates. The most effective collaborations acknowledge and welcome these differences: While they can complicate the process of agreeing on a shared vision, they go hand-in-hand with the complementary resources and capabilities that cross-sector partners bring to the partnership. For example, government’s prioritization of the rule of law and providing public services accompanies its unique power of policy, significant reach, and ability to impact public opinion; the market approach of the business sector results in its considerable financial resources and expertise in product and service delivery; the social-benefit-orientation of non-profits contributes to its deep community- and issue-level knowledge, and perceptions of legitimacy. As the collaboration works to develop its shared vision of success, partners should be encouraged to communicate their differing priorities openly and honestly, so that the collaboration can surface areas of shared agreement and mutual benefit, building a solid foundation for its work.

Reconciling collaborative vision with organizational missions and goals.

Partners are unlikely to commit to a collaboration unless they perceive the collaboration’s goals as aligning with their own. In some cases, this alignment is clear. In other cases, partners may consider more subtle ways that the collaboration’s vision is complementary to, or incompatible with, their own work, including assessing how the collaboration’s targeted outcomes support their own, even if the alignment is not explicit (e.g. the organization’s aim is to decrease childhood obesity, while the collaboration’s aim is to build a community farmer’s market); considering how successful collaboration outcomes may support their organization’s understanding of the issue; and evaluating whether contributions to the collaboration create tension with other organizational commitments. If partners cannot effectively balance the collaboration’s vision of success with their own organizational mission and goals, or if they perceive that the collaboration’s goals begin to deviate significantly from their own, partners’ commitment to the collaboration is likely to weaken.

“Transforming the Largest Public Housing Development in New Orleans”

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the St. Bernard Public Housing Development (SBPHD) in New Orleans. In the wake of the storm, a group of civic leaders formed the Bayou District Foundation (BDF) to rebuild the housing development and improve the community. Informed by a public housing development in East Lake, Atlanta, that used a comprehensive community development model to provide residents with safe mixed-income housing and access to quality education, BDF’s five board members set their sights on replicating East Lake’s revitalization model in New Orleans. BDF began by sharing renderings of a redeveloped SBPHD with potential partners and the community during public meetings. Because the model had never been implemented in Louisiana, some partners remained skeptical about trying something “unestablished” and did not immediately buy in to BDF’s vision of a housing redevelopment model that included a strong education component. BDF realized it would need to show partners firsthand how effective this combined housing-education model had been in Atlanta; it organized multiple trips to East Lake for the New Orleans Housing Authority, City Council, and members of the community to see the East Lake Meadows housing complex and the Drew Charter School in action. At the time, East Lake was 12 years into its redevelopment, and the results were evident: the community had seen a dramatic drop in crime, as well as impressive educational and economic achievements. The East Lake model gave BDF the successful example it needed to facilitate consensus among partners and the community to achieve a common vision for the redevelopment of SBPHD.

  • What will we include in our vision of success (e.g. a description of the current situation, the activity or program we will launch, our target beneficiaries, our expected intermediate and final outcomes, etc.)?
  • What will we do when partners have differing visions of success? What will we do when partners agree on a vision but disagree on the means to achieve that vision?
  • How will we manage tensions between partners’ individual organizational goals and the goals of the collaboration?
  • How will we document our shared vision of success?
  • Are we open to shifting our vision of success as the collaboration progresses? If so, what will be our process for revisiting it?

“Evaluating Collaboratives: Reaching the Potential” from University of Wisconsin- Cooperative Extension

Especially see Mapping the Collaborative Journey on pp. 22-30. This resource walks collaboration partners through the process of creating a logic model, a relatively complex but helpful framework that articulates a relationship between the collaboration’s work and the results and impact it hopes to achieve. “Evaluating Collaboratives” is a comprehensive resource for evaluating multi-stakeholder processes.

“Partnership Development Toolkit” from the European Commission

Especially see Section 2.2: Problem and Objective Assessment on pp. 17-22. The Objective Assessment, in particular, guides partners through an exercise to jointly identify shared goals. The “Partnership Development Toolkit” is a guide for facilitators of EQUAL Development Partnerships (DPs) but is easily adaptable to partners in a wide variety of issue areas.

“The Partnering Toolbook” from The Partnering Initiative

Especially see Tool 5: Guidelines for Partnering Conversations, particularly Conversation for Generating Possibility and Conversation for Generating Opportunity on the first page of the tool. This resource outlines a simple, informal discussion exercise to encourage all partners to imagine potential “break- through” outcomes for their collaboration and ultimately to agree on the collaboration’s shared commitment or aim. “The Partnering Toolbook” is a comprehensive guide to partnering across sectors.

Share a Vision of Success

The agreement on a set of goals and ideal outcomes that clarify the mission and priorities of the collaboration

 

WHY IT MATTERS: Defining a common purpose links stakeholders together and creates a mutual understanding of the benefits of success.

Differing priorities.

Collaboration partners are likely to come to the collaboration with their own organization- and sector-specific priorities and mandates. The most effective collaborations acknowledge and welcome these differences: While they can complicate the process of agreeing on a shared vision, they go hand-in-hand with the complementary resources and capabilities that cross-sector partners bring to the partnership. For example, government’s prioritization of the rule of law and providing public services accompanies its unique power of policy, significant reach, and ability to impact public opinion; the market approach of the business sector results in its considerable financial resources and expertise in product and service delivery; the social-benefit-orientation of non-profits contributes to its deep community- and issue-level knowledge, and perceptions of legitimacy. As the collaboration works to develop its shared vision of success, partners should be encouraged to communicate their differing priorities openly and honestly, so that the collaboration can surface areas of shared agreement and mutual benefit, building a solid foundation for its work.

Reconciling collaborative vision with organizational missions and goals.

Partners are unlikely to commit to a collaboration unless they perceive the collaboration’s goals as aligning with their own. In some cases, this alignment is clear. In other cases, partners may consider more subtle ways that the collaboration’s vision is complementary to, or incompatible with, their own work, including assessing how the collaboration’s targeted outcomes support their own, even if the alignment is not explicit (e.g. the organization’s aim is to decrease childhood obesity, while the collaboration’s aim is to build a community farmer’s market); considering how successful collaboration outcomes may support their organization’s understanding of the issue; and evaluating whether contributions to the collaboration create tension with other organizational commitments. If partners cannot effectively balance the collaboration’s vision of success with their own organizational mission and goals, or if they perceive that the collaboration’s goals begin to deviate significantly from their own, partners’ commitment to the collaboration is likely to weaken.

“Transforming the Largest Public Housing Development in New Orleans”

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the St. Bernard Public Housing Development (SBPHD) in New Orleans. In the wake of the storm, a group of civic leaders formed the Bayou District Foundation (BDF) to rebuild the housing development and improve the community. Informed by a public housing development in East Lake, Atlanta, that used a comprehensive community development model to provide residents with safe mixed-income housing and access to quality education, BDF’s five board members set their sights on replicating East Lake’s revitalization model in New Orleans. BDF began by sharing renderings of a redeveloped SBPHD with potential partners and the community during public meetings. Because the model had never been implemented in Louisiana, some partners remained skeptical about trying something “unestablished” and did not immediately buy in to BDF’s vision of a housing redevelopment model that included a strong education component. BDF realized it would need to show partners firsthand how effective this combined housing-education model had been in Atlanta; it organized multiple trips to East Lake for the New Orleans Housing Authority, City Council, and members of the community to see the East Lake Meadows housing complex and the Drew Charter School in action. At the time, East Lake was 12 years into its redevelopment, and the results were evident: the community had seen a dramatic drop in crime, as well as impressive educational and economic achievements. The East Lake model gave BDF the successful example it needed to facilitate consensus among partners and the community to achieve a common vision for the redevelopment of SBPHD.

  • What will we include in our vision of success (e.g. a description of the current situation, the activity or program we will launch, our target beneficiaries, our expected intermediate and final outcomes, etc.)?
  • What will we do when partners have differing visions of success? What will we do when partners agree on a vision but disagree on the means to achieve that vision?
  • How will we manage tensions between partners’ individual organizational goals and the goals of the collaboration?
  • How will we document our shared vision of success?
  • Are we open to shifting our vision of success as the collaboration progresses? If so, what will be our process for revisiting it?

“Evaluating Collaboratives: Reaching the Potential” from University of Wisconsin- Cooperative Extension

Especially see Mapping the Collaborative Journey on pp. 22-30. This resource walks collaboration partners through the process of creating a logic model, a relatively complex but helpful framework that articulates a relationship between the collaboration’s work and the results and impact it hopes to achieve. “Evaluating Collaboratives” is a comprehensive resource for evaluating multi-stakeholder processes.

“Partnership Development Toolkit” from the European Commission

Especially see Section 2.2: Problem and Objective Assessment on pp. 17-22. The Objective Assessment, in particular, guides partners through an exercise to jointly identify shared goals. The “Partnership Development Toolkit” is a guide for facilitators of EQUAL Development Partnerships (DPs) but is easily adaptable to partners in a wide variety of issue areas.

“The Partnering Toolbook” from The Partnering Initiative

Especially see Tool 5: Guidelines for Partnering Conversations, particularly Conversation for Generating Possibility and Conversation for Generating Opportunity on the first page of the tool. This resource outlines a simple, informal discussion exercise to encourage all partners to imagine potential “break- through” outcomes for their collaboration and ultimately to agree on the collaboration’s shared commitment or aim. “The Partnering Toolbook” is a comprehensive guide to partnering across sectors.