March 2011 - Thinking about collaboration

Submitted by eliza@ivar.org.uk on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 11:35
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Welcome to the March 2011 edition of i-think - a collaboration themed issue. 

At IVAR, we are committed to supporting the development of the voluntary sector by helping voluntary organisations and their funders to explore common issues: collaboration is a key area of research for us.

Collaborative working has become a central feature of organisational life in the voluntary and community sector - in the current economic and policy climate, organisations are facing unprecedented pressure to work together. 

In this month's newsletter you will find:

New publication – Thinking about… collaboration

We are pleased to launch the second publication in the 'Thinking about...' series. Our latest publication presents findings on collaborative working from 10 years of our research. Findings from over 70 projects are synthesised to help shed light on our understanding of collaboration. We look at the organisational drivers, challenges and practical responses to collaboration, as well as some of the useful theories and concepts to guide and support practice in this area. 

Thinking about... collaboration - A 10-year research synthesis is available to download from our website.
 

Other useful IVAR publications on collaborative working

Supporting collaboration in all its guises – our work in this field

As well as our research activities, IVAR also provides bespoke practical support and facilitation for organisational change and strategic development. We’ve supported organisations thinking about collaboration in a range of ways – from helping a group of organisations consider whether and how to collaborate, to facilitating a merger process from beginning to end. We give an insight into this work through two examples, outlined below.

If you’d like further information about the kinds of support IVAR can provide, please email us at enquiries@ivar.org.uk or call 020 7380 3008.

 

Facilitating a merger – DTA and bassac join to become Locality

Our Senior Research Associate, Romayne Hutchison, gives the inside view on facilitating the merger between bassac and the Development Trusts Association (DTA):

Once bassac and the DTA had made an ‘in principle’ agreement to explore the possibility of merger, IVAR worked with their senior staff and trustees to support the decision-making process. For several months we facilitated the Joint Merger Steering Group; we also helped run a joint staff event and a residential gathering for the two sets of trustees. Our extensive experience of other VCS mergers enabled us to offer information and guidance, to act as a sounding board and ‘critical friend’, and to help DTA and bassac address issues to do with organisational vision, structure and staffing. IVAR certainly cannot claim all the credit for the smooth way that the merger is proceeding, but I think that our involvement helped bassac and DTA feel confident in their decision that the formation of Locality would be a real benefit to their members.

“I found it fascinating to observe how you paced things; you sometimes slowed things down and at others rattled things along, always seeming to know the points at which to do this. I think this stopped us getting stuck while allowing enough times to discuss important issues, I thought it extremely skilful.”
Joanna Holmes, Chair of the Joint Merger Steering Group (which will become the Locality Board on 1st April)
 

Early support for collaboration – West London community organisations working together for better services

At the other end of the collaboration spectrum… we ran a half-day session for seven community organisations in Kensington and Chelsea who wanted to explore the possibility of working more closely together. We helped them to think about the purpose of collaborating, what they might do together and the possible next steps in this journey.

The group decided they wanted to collaborate to strengthen and integrate services across Kensington and Chelsea in order to ensure clients do not ‘fall through the gaps’ between services. By the end of the session, they had developed a list of actions to take this vision forward, including putting in a joint bid and developing a sign-posting mechanism.

“To try and pull together a broad range of organisations and illuminate common areas for potential collaboration - in just two hours - was always going to be a challenge! But IVAR did it, with clarity, humour and sensitivity. I can’t recommend them highly enough.”
Vicky Laville-Davies, Director of the Dalgarno Neighbourhood Trust
 

IVAR commissioned by BIG for collaboration support study

IVAR has been commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to undertake a study exploring options for supporting applicants and grant-holders to collaborate more effectively and so deliver agreed project outcomes more successfully. The study has been running since January 2011 and ends in March 2011. Read more


BIVAR seminar – Collaboration and participation

To what problem is collaboration an answer? What does participation really mean? These questions were grappled with at the third seminar of the 2010/11 BIVAR seminar series which took place on Thursday 3rd March. Speakers were Margaret Harris (Academic Adviser to IVAR), Véronique Jochum (Research Manager at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, NCVO) and Ellie Brodie (Research Development Officer, NCVO). Read more