Is working in partnership time well spent?

“Working with partners to achieve results is easy, hassle-free, and quick”.

Said no one. Ever. 

The complaints of collaboration are well-versed, and tend to include: 

• Slow pace 

• More work 

• Bureaucracy   

• Complexity 

• “Difficult conversations” 

For many people, working in partnership can be downright frustrating. 

Yet, as we rapidly approach winter, with all the competing demands it brings on colleagues' time, it’s worth re-making the case for working together. 

Not only for the people in our care, their families, and carers, but also for our committed staff who will be under enormous pressure. 

We don’t often shout about the benefits of working in partnership.  

However, they’re plentiful.  

Working with partners can bring different perspectives to a shared challenge, allow for combining different capabilities, and enable sharing between different organisations. 

The rigors of joint consideration can support more effective, needs-based, and sustainable change. Proactively working together can foster mutual respect, trust, and understanding.  

Working across different organisations is also enjoyable, improves colleagues’ knowledge, and can improve role satisfaction.  

Collaboration is very much the new norm.

Whether it’s pop artists working together to make a new hit, banks integrating different

systems to provide open banking, or universities establishing research partnerships with global firms, collaboration is the fabric of business.  

PwC’s 26th Annual Global CEO survey identified collaboration as critical to creating ‘business value’: ‘This involves...identifying the combinations of talent, technology, processes and insight that those partners can provide; building trust through reciprocity; and nurturing a corporate culture that embraces collaboration across traditional institutional lines’. 

The health sector is only just starting to catch up after decades of arrangements that have encouraged competition. 

Yet without a doubt, working in partnership requires clarity of purpose, and an open-minded, transparent approach.

It demands sustained effort, empathy, and a willingness to listen.

It isn’t easy.  

You can fall into several traps: 

• The hero trap: “Let’s just do it ourselves” This is potentially the most damaging trap. It can ultimately lead to the disengagement of partners, the erosion of trust, and a sub-optimal solution. 

• The blame trap: “It isn’t working because of them” If something isn’t working, it’s likely that somewhere along the line, somebody hasn’t communicated a need they should have. Find it out.  

• The excuses trap:  “I just don’t have the time” Yes, developing anything jointly takes time. Yet beware of false economies; it’s better to spend months developing something that’ll work effectively than develop something in weeks that’ll be painfully unpicked later. 

So how can we address some of these challenges? 

Slow pace 

If a project is moving slowly, ask yourself: are all partners really committed, and if not, why not? Have we jointly agreed the expected timescales for the work? Do we have a ‘sponsor’ who can help provide pace? 

More work 

Consider how you’re currently working. Can you free-up time by working differently? Try swapping the larger monthly set-piece meetings for informal regular catch ups. Identify where there's duplication between partners.

Bureaucratic  

Try more agile approaches. This includes 30-minute huddles, ‘sprint’ methodologies, and avoiding lengthy paperwork (e.g., assurance reports). Work smarter. Ensure joint decision-making can happen in one place, not several.

Complexity 

“Too complex”? Is it really that complex, or are you projecting your perceptions onto the work? Try using a logic model to break down the issues into bite-sized chunks. Better still – work openly with patients, family members, or carers – you may find the complexity melts away.   

“Difficult conversations” 

Are colleagues avoiding the elephant in the room? Be direct, honest, and open. Many challenges I've encountered are often the result of a lack of communication. Bring it to the fore in an empathetic, transparent, and understanding way. 

Collaboration can be challenging, frustrating and slow. 

Yet it can provide better, efficient, and sustainable solutions through gelling partners’ capabilities. 

If this wasn’t the case, organisations the world over wouldn’t be doing it. 

Just look at the new Integrated Heart Failure Service we’re now mobilising in East and North Hertfordshire.  

Working in partnership shouldn’t be a desirable add-on, but a fundamental part of how organisations operate. 

What it requires, above all, is a shift in perspective, sustained effort, a willingness to communicate openly, and to an extent, be vulnerable.  

Time well spent? I'd say so.

Image courtesy of airfocus on Unsplash.