collaboration for Regional Impact (2 of 4)

Picture Credit: Mitchell Luo from Unsplash

#collaboration #buildbackbetter # workingbettertogether

​In our first article of this series, we built the case for “why” collaboration is critical for regional impact (and indeed in other areas too) and offered some definitions of collaboration for consideration.  In this second article, we continue to develop these ideas and build on the “how” and “what” of collaboration, by considering two collaboration success stories in a New Zealand regional context. 

The goal of creative collaboration is to explore unknown directions and to develop new possibilities. It’s not about knowing the answers – it’s about learning through exploration and experimentation.
​Mike Peng, IDEO Managing Director

We didn’t start with the answers. Through the processes of collaboration in quite different contexts, partners were able to identify common agendas and work together to find collective solutions. In these examples, we demonstrate both internal and external collaboration, as well as complex cross-sector and system collaboration successes.
 
Common threads across these successful programmes of work include:
●An investment of time at the beginning of the journey to agree why we are collaborating – this means we are working to an agreed shared agenda (which has some fluidity and can adapt through the process).
●A strengths–based approach across all partners. We each acknowledge that the effort required is beyond any one of us, we identify each partner’s contribution and value-add to the whole (we move beyond competing for the same space).
● Throughout, we are utilising frameworks and approaches in an organic way, artfully mixed and adapted to meet the needs of the context and changing dynamics.
●Recognising that collaboration is a stand-alone skill set and capability; there is committed investment in building the collaboration muscle.
● We have created open environments where sharing ideas and discourse of ideas is safe and all the voices are heard.
●Collaborative Leadership: there is a focus on empowering leaders across the organisations. The focus and reliance on hierarchies and titles is taking a back seat, as thought leaders emerge and are enabled.
●There is a readiness to move beyond individual partner foci to a system-wide collective focus.

We have incredible opportunity to act collectively for impact in areas we care about, In the face of challenge people do amazing things. 
​Sir Ken Robinson

What follows below are two collaboration success stories in a New Zealand regional context, which we have had the privilege of being part of. We highlight these to illustrate how collaboration has made a difference for these businesses, regions and communities and how collaboration might benefit you and your organisation.

Innovation Neighbourhoods
Cross-sector organisations working together in regions to deliver shared value 

The Nelson Tasman Innovation Neighbourhood (NTIN) is a cross-sector collaboration of non-competing organisations. Its members include a range of businesses (who combined contribute 30-40% of the region’s GDP), education and the regional economic development agency. The founding members are: New Zealand King Salmon, Sealord Group Ltd, Interpeople, Nelson Regional Development Agency (NRDA), Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT), Wakatū Incorporation, Datacom, Pic's Peanut Butter & Cawthron Institute.

Key guiding principles of this collective:

1. True continuous business innovation is like orienteering; it is neither a marathon nor a sprint and we are committed to being in it for the long game.
2. Connectedness and sharing fosters community; what we offer is as important as what we gain.
3. The collective good of NZ is worth more than individual gains and is something we all have accountability to contribute to in order to benefit from.
4. Trust takes time to build but only seconds to destroy; honour and integrity are watchwords of success in collaboration.

Being a member of NTIN has allowed us to develop excellent connections with a diverse group of proactive Nelson/Tasman businesses. Through this we have realised that many of the businesses have the same challenges we do and the best way to address these challenges is together with scale. 
​Dave Thompson, General Manager IT, Sealord  & Founding NTIN Chair

The collective impact that NTIN has unlocked to date, includes:

• Developing a shared Summer Intern and Graduate Programme. Early on, NTIN identified talent attraction and retention as a key challenge for their businesses and the region so worked to develop initiatives that addressed this. Getting some practical runs on the board and having some shared wins was key to NTIN’s success by building trust quickly and being able to see the value of collaborating.
• The shared Summer Intern and Graduate Programmes position Nelson Tasman as an extraordinary place to live and work, with the objective of creating ambassadors for the region. Individually, Nelson Tasman businesses find it difficult to compete with larger national employers but by working together NTIN have been able to create programmes which provide significant benefits (such as joint social and development programmes) as well as a point of difference in that interns and grads are exposed to a range of businesses and get to work on joint projects. The first Interns programme in 2018/19 was a huge success with interns rating their experience on average as 9.43/10. The second intern programme is planned for 2019/20 and Graduates for 2020, with a wider scope of organisations taking part (those beyond NTIN members).
• Having the key businesses in the region (through NTIN) being very clear and focussed on talent attraction and retention as their key business challenge has created a mandated focus for the NRDA and has provided support to drive activity with a higher level of impact much faster than otherwise possible.
• NTIN enabled baseline research to really understand the talent challenge from both an employer and talent perspective. The results provided direction for the development of an employer-owned regional talent attraction and retention programme, which the NRDA will implement over the next year, with further support both in-kind and financial from NTIN.
• NTIN has also aligned with the Nelson Tasman regional identity, the development of which was led by the NRDA. It is an authentic representation of the region and what it wants to continue to be, and includes a range of tools for people to engage, share and spread the story of Nelson Tasman more readily and easily. With a strong identity, NTIN have a strong foundation to work from which provides focus to uplift the regional competitive advantages of the ocean economy and value-added Food & Beverage. NTIN’s support of the identity has also allowed it to be strengthened, anchored and amplified within the larger business community.

While NTIN’s focus for year one has been around building innovation collaboration capability and creating a strong foundation for the members to work together, this is only the beginning of a journey for NTIN. Ongoing efforts will focus on amplifying community value through sharing learnings and insights with the wider business community, including the large number of small and medium sized businesses in the region. NTIN is strongly focused on ensuring this is achieved over the next year and based on the pace of progress so far there is no doubt that is possible.

Central to NTIN’s success is the adoption of the concept of ‘Better Together’. Traditionally businesses look to gain prosperity by just focussing on themselves and their challenges alone.

The collective is both process and initiative oriented. By working better together, each member organisation benefits from deeper shared insights, the ability to grow innovation ‘muscle’, to reach out beyond its walls working with new and diverse partners, and to accelerate opportunities for growth.

Whakawhanaungatanga
Collaborative Service Delivery in a Te Ao Māori Context
Working together to deliver shared value 

“Whakawhanaungatanga” is literally translated as the process of “establishing relationships, relating to others” or metaphorically it is about connecting at both a physical and spiritual level. 
 
Working with a leading Māori Social Services provider, Whakawhanaungatanga was a multi-layered evolving project across approximately eighteen months, designed to explore what collaboration means and looks like in this context, finding their expression of collaboration. 

We knew some amazing examples of collaboration happen organically, because relationships are good – we wanted to build on this and move to an environment of continuous conscious and intentional collaboration, with a view to delivering services for whānau optimally. Across a series of workshops we developed understanding of collaboration and collaborative working and began the kōrero around a range of opportunities. As a result, we developed a collaborative governance and leadership approach across service lines. Moving into an implementation phase, using an interactive collaborative co-design approach within a collective impact framework, we worked with identified cluster groups of services to develop collective impact action plans for whānau populations. 

Key elements of our design approach

Working within a collective impact framework, we introduced a range of tools and mechanisms through the  process.
We introduced a fit for purpose team collaboration survey that looked at a variety of identified parameters necessary for successful collaboration, and we identified the current perceived state.
We built capability and collective understanding of collaboration over a number of workshops. Finally, utilising a collective impact framework teams co-designed a “collective impact action plan” across clusters of services for a number of whānau populations. This provided a framework and pathway to consciously collaborate internally and has now extended to a range of wider relationships as a way of working

Culturally anchored in Te Ao Māori
Throughout, we tested our ideas and approach with the Tikanga Māori Kaiārahi (Māori Cultural Advisor) and never presumed ourselves as experts in the field. Our approach has been to humbly support and serve, and our focus has been for the fundamental aspects of engagement with whānau and practitioners:
 

1. To be culturally anchored practice in Te Ao Māori,
2. With the use of whanaungatanga as a tool to connect and build whānau capability.

This was underpinned with six effective practices:

1. relationships,
2. whānau,
3. rangatiratanga,
4. capable workforce,
5. whānau-led, and
6. supportive environment. 

We know that the paradigm and culture is a complex interaction of a wide range of parameters. Often the smallest of nudges can have a major positive impact on the whole system. Sometimes this happens unconsciously, but we wanted to move to an environment where collaboration is conscious, deliberate and intentional, with a view to maximising the potential for whānau to deliver optimal outcomes.

This project responded to growing understanding that a collaborative, collective impact approach to service delivery is the way forward. In the concluding reflections of "Social Investment: A New Zealand Policy Experiment" (2018), Graham Scott notes, “The conclusion the committee reached was that a new model of service delivery is needed, based on the principles of collective impact”.  Collective Impact for whānau has been a key focus for Te Pou Matakana (the Whānau Ora commissioning agency for Te Ika a Māui (North Island)), who recognise that “in order to support whānau to achieve their goals, solutions must go beyond just one programme”. The value of a collective approach has been highlighted through the COVID journey and we want to build on these learnings for the success of our regions post-COVID.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini
My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, it was not individual success but the success of a collective

The wider post-COVID New Zealand context

​Post-COVID the needs are many and resources limited. People and capability needs are evolving and emerging. The Rebuilding Together Budget for the fiscal year 2020/21 is underpinned by an on-going “wellbeing agenda, which appears to be needed now more than ever. Together with the New Zealand Living Standards Framework and the legislative requirements of the “four well-beings” for New Zealand local authorities, they appear to provide an explicit national collaboration agenda.
 
 
Whilst the idea of collaboration is not new, delivery has been slower and harder than anticipated, success stories intermittent and the contribution of not-for-profits to system-wide improvement often undervalued.  Our national COVID-19 experience has begun to help turn the tide.
 
With whānau needs at the forefront, there was an evident urgency and “burning platform” (reference the eight-step process of creating major change as identified by John P.  Kotter in “Leading Change”).
Front line service providers and not-for-profits became the first-cabs-off-the-rank and within an environment of adaptive organic collaboration were the first responders.
 
Moving forward, the risk is we shelf the learning and return to being and doing our mahi or work in a way that we are familiar with. The unique opportunity in this moment is to capture the learning from the regions’ COVID experiences. Then, to intentionally design new collaborative operating models, and governance frameworks, that take a system-wide perspective and are context-specific.
 
As demonstrated by the two examples cited earlier, there isn’t going to be a one-size fits all solution. Collaboration takes time and effort, so it’s best suited to the systemic opportunities facing us. Along the way, “smaller collaborations” will happen and add value – but real change to #buildbackbetter is contingent on us #workingbettertogether on the systemic opportunities.
 
The opportunities are endless - localised responses across the regions of Aotearoa are a great place to start.

Until next time, kei runga noa atu.  He waka eke noa,
 
If you are on a strategic collaboration and partnership journey  - do get in touch, let’s talk - I’d welcome the opportunity to serve you in your context.
​No silver bullets, just proven and tested frameworks and approaches