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Human Resource Management 6152
For many human services organizations, developing partnerships with other organizations contributes to the success of the organization. Partnerships can fill a variety of needs within organizations and in the service community. Developing partnerships among organizations requires careful consideration. Human services administrators must take specific steps to build effective partnerships that are beneficial for both the organizations and the clients that they serve. As you prepare for this Application Assignment, review this week's Graphic Novel and think about the importance of developing partnerships in human services. Consider the role of the human services administrators in developing partnerships with other organizations. Think about elements that might contribute to successful partnerships as well as those that might contribute to failed partnerships. Think about how human services administrators can address failed partnerships
In 2–3 pages, use an example from the Graphic Novel to:
Explain the importance of developing partnerships in human services.
Explain the role of the human services administrator in developing partnerships for his or her organization.
Explain at least two elements that contribute to successful partnership between organizations.
Explain at least one element that might contribute to a failed partnership between organizations.
Explain how a human services administrator can address a failed partnership.
Share an insight you had or a conclusion you drew about the nature of partnerships in human services organizations. Use examples from this week’s media and other Learning Resources to support your response.
Support your Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course. You should include in your references at least two resources included in this week’s resources and at least one outside scholarly resource.
Resource
Patti, R. J. (Ed.). (2009). The handbook of human services management (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Chapter 20, "Agency–Environment Relations: Understanding External and Natural Environments"
Chapter 21, "Building Community Partnerships and Networks"
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“Human Resources Framework: Partnerships”
Program Transcript
ANDREA INGRAM: Partnerships are a real key to the success of real active
community organizations. And I find that at my organization, there are all sorts of
collaborations that we can have. And they range from very informal
arrangements with different organizations and community groups, to very formal
relationships and agreements, where we have written agreements, where we
spell out roles and responsibilities. You spell out how to deal with conflict
between organizations; you spell out the resources and supervision, and things
like that.
In the programs that we have that are partnerships, there are various kinds of
advantages. It's a way to stretch our resources so that we can serve so many
more people. When you have a good partnership with another agency, we also
share expertise.
Maurice, can you tell us about a partnership that your organization has that
works for you?
MAURICE WILLIAMS: Yes. First, let me say that how we knew that we weren't in
fact having the types of partnerships that we needed is because the
organizations we were working with previously weren't meeting our needs. And
so it became clear to me that it is an evident difference between sending out
referrals to other agencies to provide services for our youth that we couldn't
provide, as opposed to actually partnering with organizations who could really
meet our needs, as well as we would meet their's.
A prime example, we had a therapist who I noticed was coming to all of our
meetings that we would have for our children to go over their goals. He would
always show up to every one of the meetings, as opposed to the other therapists
who we would contract out with. So he called me about six months ago and said,
"Hey, Maurice, I have teamed up with a psychologist and a psychiatrist. We're
going to open this group practice that will provide individual family therapy, group
therapy to clients. We would love for the Williams Life Center to become a part of
that." We set up a presentation for him to come in and do a presentation to our
executive director and the remainder of the administrative staff. They loved it.
And so from that point, we started sending referrals to them. They came out, did
intakes, and before you knew it, here we were with 10 to 15 clients given to this
group practice that they had begun. And it was important, because we were able
to already see the type of work they were doing. They were phenomenal.
And so that to me as a program director was a key distinction between
partnerships, as opposed to just sending out referrals, just getting other people to
provide a service that we don't currently provide through our organization.
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ANDREA INGRAM: I think you make a really good point that really successful
partnerships are based on relationships.
MAURICE WILLIAMS: Yes they are.
ANDREA INGRAM: It's based on person to person, and that's how it starts.
Because you have to trust each other, you have to have confidence in each
other, you have to share the same values, you have to share the same mission.
Holly, from a funder's perspective, what are your thoughts about partnership?
HOLLY HOEY: Well, let me start by saying-- and we know this-- that not one
entity can do it alone. Government, foundations, individuals, the nonprofit sector,
the private sector, they can't do it alone. We cannot really affect social change
individually. So partnerships and collaboration are critical. And United Way's
mission is to mobilize the community to improve people's lives. So in our mission
statement is mobilizing the community, and that's how we do it-- by partnerships
and collaboration.
And we use data and information at United Way that we have of our own, and we
determine what are the most pressing needs, where are the gaps in our
community? So basically we send out an RFP-- a request for proposal. We ask
the community to apply for funding, and to make sure it aligns with our mission,
and our core values, and the gaps that we have discovered in our community.
And then we fund these agencies. And it really is this partnership. An
organization can't be everything to everybody, right? You want to be a great
organization, and so you really want to focus on what's your value proposition,
what are you really great at, and stick to it. And then leverage the talents and the
resources from other organizations to then fill those gaps and fulfill the mission.
And I think that it's also important to talk about what if a partnership fails? It
happens in every organization, and it's happened at United Way where we had
clear expectations, and maybe the organization that we were funding is taking a
different direction. What we do is, we have a very open communication with
them, and then we have a transition period. And our team will work with the
organization to transition, and to help them figure out, again, if they're going in a
different direction. So I think it's important to have that in mind when you're going
into a partnership, that, "What if this doesn't work"-- to always have that
conversation.
MAURICE WILLIAMS: I think to prevent partnerships from failing, you have to be
clear up front about what are your expectations of our organization, and if we can
in fact meet those expectations, and if we can't, then let's modify some of the
expectations that you guys have. And that's what we were able to do. We just
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had an instance where the partnership developed kind of accidentally, because I
sent my recruiter out into the community-- you have to go into the community.
And with our budget cuts and things happening around what types of monies
we're going to be able to have to fund what we're really trying to do, we actually
can develop partnerships that don't cost us anything. And so she's out in the
community, and she's trying to solicit foster parents from this sorority. There's
another lady there saying, "Wow, we're developing this community initiative
where we're going to work with many of the youth in your area. We want to teach
them resume building, we want to teach them how to search for jobs, how to
interview."
And so from that came, "Well, we're having this big forum coming up next week,
we want you guys to participate." I called the president of that organization, I
said, "Listen, some of the seminars that you're requesting that we bring our youth
to, we're not going to be able to come. But it was a way for us to really clearly
define what it is you expect from us, and what it is that we expect from you."
Remember, they want something from you just as we want something from them.
And it may not always be money or funding, but it's participation and it's support,
and we have to let them know what we can support, and what we can't.
ANDREA INGRAM: You know, I think it's a good thing to talk about how do we
avoid failure, and how do we ensure success is another way to look at it. And
there was a time when human service agencies, nonprofits, did not really
promote partnerships. So this is really the last 10 and 15 years, so there's been a
learning curve.
And I think some of the challenges that have occurred, and that you really need
to work hard to avoid, are things like turf battles, who does what, who supervises
whom-- as you said, Holly, nobody knows everything, everyone brings something
else to the table. So I think involving everyone in the planning process, involving
everyone in conflict resolution-- because conflicts could arise-- and being clear,
as you said, about roles and responsibility.
We have another very important partnership at Grassroots, which is our mobile
crisis team. We go out with the police on psychiatric emergencies, family crisis,
and traumatic deaths in the communities-- accidents and things like that-- and
this is a partnership with an organization called Humanim. And so it's a very
blended team. It is such a blended staff that sometimes I have to think, "Is that a
Grassroots person, is that Humanim?"
And it really started in that vein because of the way we developed the program,
which is a person from the other organization and myself, we planned it together
from nothing. And also bringing in the police as partners from the very beginning.
And you know what, it was fun. It's my experience that successful partnerships
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are really based on respect, and relationships, and working together, and sharing
common goals, and shared vision.
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