Partnership development tools

Tennyson, R. (2011). The Partnering Toolbook: An Essential Guide to Cross-Sector Partnering. London, UK: The Partnering Initiative.

Description

Created by the Partnering Initiative, The Partnering Toolbook contains seven tools to develop, sustain and assess inter-sectoral partnerships. This easy-to-use guide includes helpful strategies, flowcharts and tips for working with other agencies to build and maintain partnerships, along with partnership development tools.

The seven tools include:

  • Partner Assessment Form;
  • Stakeholder Mapping;
  • Partnering Agreement (sample);
  • Partnering Roles and Skills Questionnaire;
  • Guidelines for Partnering Conversations;
  • Partnership Review Template;
  • Case Study Template;
  • Communications Checklist.

The document includes a variety of other resources to help with partnerships, including transitioning and ending partnerships, which are available from the Partnering Initiative at Toolbook Series.

Steps for Using Method/Tool

Steps in partnering include:

1. Building Partnerships

  • scope a partnership
  • identify partners
  • assess risks and benefits for each partner
  • map resources from each partner for partnership

2. Partnering Agreements

  • secure partner commitment
  • use interest-based negotiation
  • examine governance and accountability

3. Managing the Partnering Process

  • determine partnering roles
  • identify partners as leaders
  • use partnership skills
  • use good partnering practice

4. Delivering Successful Projects

  • manage the transition
  • keep task-focused
  • report, review and revise

5. Sustaining Partnerships

  • plan for sustainability
  • secure greater engagement from partners
  • build institutional capacity

6. Successful Partnering

  • define success of partnership
  • share good experiences

These summaries are written by the NCCMT to condense and to provide an overview of the resources listed in the Registry of Methods and Tools and to give suggestions for their use in a public health context. For more information on individual methods and tools included in the review, please consult the authors/developers of the original resources.

We have provided the resources and links as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by McMaster University of any of the products, services or opinions of the external organizations, nor have the external organizations endorsed their resources and links as provided by McMaster University. McMaster University bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external sites.

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