Getting Your Stories Straight An organizational learning approach to effective collaboration Center for Organizational Leadership and Renewal Saint Louis University Presenters: Bob Mai, Ed.D. Mary Domahidy, Ph.D. Christine Luebbert, M.H.A.

Center for Organizational Leadership and Renewal Focuses on how organizations learn and manage deliberate change Activities: Conferences Workshops Formative evaluation projects Technical assistance and coaching Research; demonstration projects

Learning Through Partnering Conference Presented13 successful collaborations involving community organizations and higher education Findings: 4 themes underlie effective collaboration management Sharing & respecting each other’s objectives Managing personal relationships Creating structures and processes to support collaboration Learning about yourself as a partner, and how to be more successful at it

1. Sharing and respecting each other’s interests 2 kinds of objectives: common and individual It’s about self-interest, both personal and organizational – and the need to describe and understand the self-interests of each partner (transparent goals) Big picture thinking Tree people, forest people Individual interests and issues can be redefined to accomplish common goal Who owns the program? Continuous focus on partner objectives to define what “ownership” looks like Partnering is about “doing a deal”

2. Managing personal relationships Agree on routines to insure everyone has a voice Demonstrate willingness to listen Open direct lines of communication; get around the bureaucracy Unequal partners Address power issues up front Be candid; don’t sugar coat or pull punches

3. Creating structures and processes to support collaboration Building upon functional requirements Go around bureaucracy whenever possible Get decision-makers, check-writers involved Governance and decision-making Put it in writing, but keep it flexible Work for horizontal decision-making Articulate and agree on a process Green/yellow/red Slow the process down; don’t railroad outcomes

4. Learning about yourself as a partner Partnering attributes Can you speak their language? Can you step outside your own professional reality? Can you question their assumptions – as well as your own? Must the solution be “invented here”? Learning tactics and tools Shared action research Evaluation and feedback: data as a learning tool Mai, R., Kramer, T., Luebbert,C. (2005). Learning Through Partnering: Lessons for Organizational and Community Renewal, Journal of Community Practice, 13(2),107-122.

Organizational Learning Tool: The Learning History* Is both a process and tool to integrate critical events and learning experiences an organization gathers over time. Creates a feedback loop for the system that leads to actionable knowledge. Results in a story about change told by those participating in it. (*A. Kleiner and G. Roth, 1997)

Components of Learning History Team Historian Interviewer      Interviewee

Example of Learning History Method: University-Community Partnership Center for Organizational Learning & Renewal ~And~ Neighbor to Neighbor Task Force

Finding Common Ground in University-Community Partnerships Findings Proximity Values Direct Support Time and Energy Leadership

(Theme) Leadership: Participants saw leadership as necessary to sustain the partnership. Left Side of Column (Historian and insiders) Contains analysis and commentary One assumption here is that while some in the university are so committed, it is uncommon to value connection with the community, a view that corresponds to the concern for the legitimacy of such work. Questions that then arise include why is it uncommon to value connection with the community as well as how does the institution shape that perspective. Right Side of Column (Interviewees) Direct quotes from interviewees (In considering the future, one participant stressed) “I hope…that those kinds of partnerships would again pull together people who have a commitment to the work and are willing to do the work, and a commitment …to the community beyond the university. It took people who really believed that we needed that connection to the community and I think most of the people on the Steering Committee really did have that commitment.”

Learning History Exercise Form Groups: (Interviewer, Interviewee, Historian) “As you think of past partnerships you have been involved with, describe some of the facilitators that helped sustain these collaborative partnerships…”

Steps in a Learning History Methodology Planning Interviews Dissemination Writing, distilling themes and validation with interviewees A. Kleiner and G. Roth, 1997

Challenges to using the Learning History Time Disciplined process Organizational Readiness Commitment

Why Use It? Involves all stakeholders Identifies issues important to individual and organization Gets to underlying assumptions Engages collective learning and reflection Provides “safe” place to challenge norms