Training Guide for the Head Start Learning Community--Community Partnerships: Working Together--Module 2: Elements of Success

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community:
Community Partnerships:
Working Together

Module 2

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Elements of Success
Outcomes
As a result of completing this module, participants will:

Recognize the elements that contribute to a successful collaboration;
Practice shared decision-making;
Hold effective meetings; and
Assume an active role on a planning team.
Key Concepts
The key concepts of Module 2 that serve as a knowledge base for the skills needed to succeed in the collaborative process include:

Elements of Successful Collaboration. Collaboration requires much more than merely a decision to work together. It requires a unique purpose, attainable goals, distinct and structured membership, continuous communication and dialogue, and shared resources.

Decision-Making. Successful collaborations require partners to share decision-making authority; instead of decisions made from above, a collaboration involves partners who take equal responsibility for making the decisions necessary to achieve a common goal.

Effective Meetings. Effective meetings enhance a collaborative's ability to succeed because they bring commitment, motivation, and energy to collaborative partners. While there is no universal definition of an "effective meeting," certain strategies can increase the meeting's effectiveness, including establishing ground rules, choosing a skilled facilitator, involving everyone, and deciding on the roles of partners.

Partner Roles in Meetings. In a collaborative, all partners must have a role that uses their unique talents and interests. Meeting roles help define how partners relate and work with each other; they are a way of giving authority to act and of getting the work done efficiently. Partner roles may overlap, be shared, or rotate over the course of the collaborative process. Roles may include facilitator, notetaker, information gatherer, monitor, and celebration organizer.
Background Information
Successful collaboration requires much more than merely a decision to work together. It involves applying the elements of successful collaboration, assuming active partner roles, holding effective meetings, and using shared decision-making authority.
Elements of a Successful Collaboration
While many community partnerships are successful, many others collapse. Partners can enhance a collaborative's chance to succeed by practicing certain elements. Elements contributing to success include:

Unique purpose. The purpose of the collaborative must be different from--but connected to--the individual missions of participating organizations. To keep focused, partners should continually ask and answer the question, "What do we want to achieve?" Each time a new member joins the group, the purpose of the collaborative should be revisited and, if needed, revised.

Attainable goals. Goals must be clearly defined, achievable, measurable, and realistic. Having no way of knowing when goals are achieved or a lack of commitment to the goals are often causes of collaborative breakdown. Once goals are reached, partners should celebrate and move on to other efforts.

Distinct and structured membership. A carefully selected membership and defined process enhances the collaborative's ability to succeed. All community partnerships should strive to have:

Skilled leadership. Collaborative groups need a leader or facilitator who can provide structure, keep partners motivated, encourage compromise (when necessary), build consensus, communicate effectively, and remain neutral.

Diverse partners. Involving a variety of consumers and people who represent the richness of the community, is vital for creating energy, new perspectives, and a climate of community ownership.

A strength-based effort. All partners bring strengths to the collaborative effort, which must be acknowledged in ways that make each partner feel respected and valued.

Realistic and clear expectations. Roles, responsibilities, and the time required of individual partners must be defined, with the workload shared and divided into manageable portions among partners.

Committed and accountable members. Commitment to a collaborative effort is much more than attending meetings; it is doing everything possible to make the effort work. Community partners are responsible for achieving specific results; evaluation of the outcomes is central to accountability.

Continuous communication and dialogue. Honest talk about individual concerns, self-interests, experiences of working together in the past, current conflicts, and the risks of sharing power and resources is essential for building a sense of mutual trust and respect among partners. Partners also need to feel they can make recommendations for change. If partners do not feel it is safe to speak openly, they are more likely to make recommendations that aim at cooperation and coordination, but fall short of true collaboration.

Shared resources. Planning and carrying out a collaborative effort requires sufficient resources. Partners must share responsibility for obtaining needed funds, which may require revising individual program budgets, grant writing, and fund-raising campaigns. Agencies must provide incentives for staff participating in the effort, such as relief from other duties or compensatory pay.
Decision-Making
How decisions are made is often a major cause of confusion and frustration among collaborative partners. Decisions are typically made in one of the following ways:

Individual decision. One person, normally the team leader or program manager, actually makes decisions for the team.

Minority decision. A few team members meet to consider the matter and then make a decision; that decision is binding for everyone.

Majority decision. More than half of the members of the team make the decision and it is binding for all concerned. (Many political and democratic organizations use this decision-making process.)

Consensus decision. The entire team considers the matter, with each member expressing a view and offering ideas. The team reaches a decision through compromise accepted by all members, regardless of how satisfied they are with it. (No majority rule voting is allowed.)

Unanimous decision. The entire team considers the matter. All team members fully agree with the action to be taken and all fully subscribe to the decision that is made.
When people are involved in making a decision, they are much more likely to be committed to that decision than when one person or a small group makes a decision on their behalf. Therefore, moving from individual decision-making to unanimous decisions increases commitment. However, this also increases the difficulty people have in arriving at agreement. Collaborations require shared decision-making authority; instead of decisions coming from above, a collaboration involves partners who take responsibility for decisions to achieve a common goal.
Holding Effective Meetings
Effective meetings enhance a collaborative's ability to succeed because they bring commitment, motivation, and energy to collaborative partners. While there is no universal definition of an "effective meeting," certain strategies can increase the meeting's effectiveness. In this module, participants examine ways for collaborative partners to:

Establish Ground Rules
An effective meeting requires all partners to contribute to and have a stake in the process. Ground rules help to ensure that 1) meeting time is spent wisely; 2) leadership for the collaborative is shared; 3) partners head in the same direction; and 4) conflicts are resolved. By establishing ground rules, partners also develop a stronger stake in the collaboration.
When participants know what to expect, it encourages participation and increases motivation. Some ground rules may include:

Starting and ending meetings on time;
Providing background materials;
Having a set agenda distributed prior to the meeting;
No one talks twice before everyone talks once;
There are no wrong answers;
Time limits on discussion of agenda items; and
Keeping notes and documenting actions.
Ground rules are unique to each collaborative and are open to change as the collaborative changes. New or different ground rules may be necessary to divide tasks more efficiently, take advantage of partner expertise, improve the flow of communication, establish committees, form a governance structure, and so on. Handout 6 serves as a resource for helping collaboratives establish ground rules.

Choose a Skilled Facilitator
A skilled meeting facilitator performs a number of important functions, including preparing for meetings, making sure the agenda goes according to plan, staying on top of group dynamics, and getting information to partners.
While there is a tendency for initiators of a collaborative effort to move automatically into the role of facilitator, this may not be the best option. Initiators are likely to have some strong views about the direction they want the collaborative to take. Facilitators, on the other hand, must be able to take a neutral or impartial stance on issues and decisions facing the collaborative. Not taking sides encourages open dialogue and everyone's involvement during meetings.

Involve Everyone
Meetings work when everyone is involved. While it is the facilitator's primary job to see that everyone is involved through the way he/she handles meeting preparations and information-sharing, the job is not limited to the facilitator. It is the responsibility of each partner to become involved in the process and to encourage others to participate. Handout 5 provides strategies for increasing partner involvement.

Decide on Roles of Partners
Effective meetings require that partners take on one or more roles. Roles help to clarify and reinforce the contributions of each partner, particularly when there is a good match between the role and the partner's interests and strengths. Some roles include:

Information gatherer. The person who obtains the information needed to make informed decisions, such as data on the community's population, community assessment findings, baseline data, descriptions of exemplary programs, and governmental regulations.

Monitor. The person who tracks the collaborative's progress by monitoring the partners' planning activities, plan of action, and results.

Celebration organizer. The person who brings the partners' attention to collaborative victories and accomplishments by encouraging time for reflection, celebration, and special recognition of individual partners.

Notetaker. The person who prepares meeting summaries that briefly state who attended, the key issues discussed, the actions taken, partner assignments, and the main agenda items for the next meeting.

Conflict resolver. The person who brings conflicts among partners or organizations to the surface during meetings so they can be resolved according to the collaborative's ground rules.
Meeting roles often overlap or are shared by partners; they can also be rotated to re-energize the collaborative. If partners feel stuck in a role that is too burdensome or not of interest to them, they are likely to drop out. Thus, it is important for partners to take a look at their role periodically and to be open to exchanging roles.
Instructions
As you prepare for this module's training, you may find it helpful to review the Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community, particularly the management series. This series offers activities on enhancing team relationships and collaborative leadership skills.

Activity 2-1:
Successful Collaboratives. Purpose: To provide a framework for the development of successful community partnerships.

Preparation
For this activity you will need:

Handout 1: Kids Place: A Community Partnership Model
Handout 2: Elements of Successful Collaborations
Handout 3: The Decision-Making Scale
Newsprint/Markers/Tape

(a) Initiate a warm-up exercise. Present the purpose of the activity. Explain that in the upcoming exercise, participants will look at one community's collaboration.
(b) Refer participants to handout 1 and ask participants to choose a partner. Instruct pairs to read the profile and identify the elements that contributed to the success of Kids Place.

Debrief the warm-up exercise. Reconvene the large group and ask for pairs to report their findings. Encourage discussion by asking:

What contributed to the success of Kids Place?

Do you see a need for a Kids Place in our community?

Examine the elements contributing to collaborative success. Explain that a number of elements influence the success of a community partnership. Refer participants to handout 2 and go over each element, using the modules' background information to build on the information provided in the handout. Ask participants to apply the elements to the Kids Place profile by asking:

Which of these elements are part of Kids Place? How did they affect the collaborative's efforts?

What would it take to make a Kids Place a reality in our community?

(a) Explore the decision-making scale. Explain that decision-making is key to a collaborative's success. Ask participants to think for a minute or two about the way decisions are usually made on teams they are members of. Present the following examples for consideration:

Our team leader/manager usually decides, and the issue is settled;
Everyone has a chance to have their say, but our team leader/manager always has the "final say";
A small clique runs and dominates our team;
When a decision must be made, a few of us get together and take care of it;
We frequently let the majority rule;
We don't make a decision until every member of our team completely agrees with it;
We listen to everyone's views and try to include something for everyone in our final decision;
We don't make a decision until most of us agree; or
We don't make a decision until most of us can accept it to some extent.
(b) Encourage each participant to tell you about a team decision-making experience and its outcomes.
(c) Refer the group to handout 3. Review the five decision-making processes and encourage participants to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Close the activity. Compliment the group for its hard work and contributions to the workshop. Recap the activity by emphasizing the following points:

A number of elements contribute to the success of the collaborative process.

Successful community partnerships call for a unique purpose, attainable goals, a distinct and structured membership, continuous communication and dialogue, and shared resources.

How decisions are made can also have a significant impact on a collaboration; experience shows that partners usually abandon a collaborative effort when they feel they have no voice in decisions.

In a successful collaborative effort, decision-making is shared equally by the partners; while collaborative organizers may have a plan in mind for a collaboration, they must be prepared to back away and allow the collaborative process determine the action.

Consensus may not always be possible. Instead of letting the lack of consensus stop the group's work, partners can agree to disagree and move on or seek another solution.

Activity 2-2: Effective Meetings
Purpose: To teach methods for holding effective meetings.

Preparation
For this activity you will need:

Handout 4: Choosing a Skilled Facilitator
Handout 5: Involving Everyone
Handout 6: Setting Ground Rules
Handout 7: Meeting Agenda and Summary
Newsprint/Markers/Tape

(a) Define effective meetings. Present the purpose of the activity. Point out that a successful collaborative involves conducting effective meetings. Ask participants to think for a minute or two about the meetings they routinely attend at work, at church, or at their child's school.
(b) Display the following questions as headings on separate sheets of newsprint and ask the group to call out responses, based on their experiences.

What makes a meeting good?

What makes a meeting terrible?

(a) Provide a practice exercise. Ask for five to eight volunteers to come forward and do an impromptu skit of a terrible meeting. Suggest that the volunteers choose three or more criteria from the newsprint list to illustrate in the skit. Give the volunteers about five minutes to prepare and ten minutes to present the skit.
(b) After the skit, ask observers to identify things to fix or change to make the role play meeting effective. Include these suggestions on the newsprint labeled, "What makes a meeting good?"
(c) Review with participants the module's background information on Holding Effective Meetings. Summarize the group's definition of effective meetings by reviewing responses to the first question in step 1(b) above.

Examine criteria for choosing a meeting facilitator. Point out that a skilled facilitator is a critical ingredient of an effective meeting. Review handout 4 with the group. Stress that facilitators must be able to involve everyone in meetings, know when and how to intervene at critical meeting moments, and remain neutral. Emphasize that when choosing a facilitator, it is important to look for the qualities or skills listed on the handout.

(a) Discuss ways that collaborative partners can contribute to effective meetings. Explain that all collaborative partners have a role in making meetings effective; the facilitators can not do the job alone. Ask participants to think for a minute or two about the tasks they might take on to assist or support a facilitator; for example, sending out meeting notices or drawing quiet partners into discussions. Encourage participants to consider their strengths, interests, and preferences as they think about the tasks. Ask participants to identify a task they would be willing to take on. Record responses on a sheet of newsprint.
(b) Next, ask the group to call out ways to involve partners in the tasks identified in step 4(a). Record strategies on newsprint. Distribute and review handout 5. Compare the newsprint responses to the strategies on the handout.

Examine ground rules. Explain that ground rules also contribute greatly to the effectiveness of meetings; one of the first tasks of collaborative partners is to decide how they will participate, set agendas, make decisions, communicate, and resolve conflicts. Distribute and review handout 6. Encourage the group to come up with other ground rule questions to add to the handout.

Close the activity. Quickly summarize the topics covered during the activity. Recommend handout 7 as a tool collaboratives may find helpful when planning upcoming meetings.

Activity 2-3:
Preparing for Collaboration Purpose: To assess the elements of successful community partnerships.

Preparation
For this activity you will need:

Handout 2: Elements of Successful Collaborations
Handout 3: The Decision-Making Scale
Newsprint/Markers/Tape

Initiate a warm-up discussion. Ask participants to pretend for a minute or two that they have a magic wand, which they can wave to improve services for Head Start children and families. Then, raise the question: "What would you have your magic wand do or change?" After listing the responses to the question on newsprint, explain that community partnerships can be like magic wands--they can make what seems to be the impossible come true. Choose one of the newsprint responses and ask:

What would make this community partnership succeed? (Probe for a unique purpose, attainable goals, distinct ad structured membership, continuous communication and dialogue, and shared resources.)

Examine the elements contributing to collaborative success. Explain that a number of elements influence the success of a community partnership. Refer participants to handout 2 and go over each set of elements, using the modules' background information to build on the information provided in the handout.

(a) Assign homework. For homework, instruct participants to assess a past experience with a collaborative. Ask participants to consider:

What was the purpose of the collaborative effort?

Did the collaborative succeed? Why or why not?

Which elements on handout 2 were part of the collaborative?

Coach Preparation Note: If participants have no collaboration experiences, suggest they meet with someone in the Head Start (or broader) community and discuss his/her experience.

(b) Allow two weeks for participants to complete the assignment. Set up a time for debriefing the homework.

Debrief the homework. Welcome participants back to the coaching activity. Review the homework and encourage them to give you feedback on the assignment. Encourage discussion by asking:

Which of the elements on handout 2 were part of the collaboration? How did they affect the collaborative's efforts?

Which of the elements were missing? How did their absence affect the collaborative's efforts?

What strategies could you (or the person you talked to) have encouraged or implemented to increase the success of the collaboration?

(a) Examine decision-making. Explain that shared decision-making is important to the collaborative's success. Ask participants to think for a minute or two about the way decisions are usually made on teams they are members of.
(b) Review handout 3 with participants and have them choose the team decision-making process that best characterizes a team they are on, or have been on. Point out that in a collaborative effort, decision-making is shared equally by the partners; while collaborative organizers may have a plan in mind for a collaboration, they must be prepared to back away and let the partners determine the action.

Close the activity. Ask participants to recall their response to the question: "What would you have your magic wand do or change?" Encourage participants to pursue their call for action. State that utilizing elements of success and shared decision-making could enhance their ability to pursue this effort. Point out that activities in the following modules will give participants practice in initiating a collaborative effort.

Activity 2-4:
Effective Meeting Planning Purpose: To provide practice in assessing the effectiveness of meetings.

Preparation
Preparation For this activity you will need:

Handout 4: Choosing a Skilled Facilitator
Handout 5: Involving Everyone
Handout 6: Setting Ground Rules
Handout 7: Meeting Agenda and Summary
Newsprint/Markers/Tape

Provide an overview of the activity. Stress the activity's focus--to assess what contributes to an effective meeting. Ask participants about their past experiences with meetings. Probe for their views on what made the meetings effective or not effective.

Identify effective meeting components. Using the background information as a guide, involve participants in a discussion on effective meetings. Include the following questions in the discussion:

What kinds of skills or qualities are most important for facilitating meetings?

What helps you to feel prepared and ready for a meeting?

What type of meeting place makes you feel most comfortable?

What format do you like a meeting to follow?

What do you think is the most important meeting outcome?

What helps you to feel involved, useful, or valued during a meeting?

(a) Examine what makes a meeting effective. Point out that a skilled facilitator is a critical ingredient of effective meetings. Review handout 4 with the group. Emphasize that when choosing a facilitator, it is important to look for the qualities or skills listed on the handout.
(b) Distribute and review handout 5. Stress that facilitators must be able to involve everyone in meetings, know when and how to intervene at critical moments, and remain neutral.
(c) Explain that all collaborative partners have a role in making meetings effective. Ask participants to think for a minute or two about the tasks they might take on to assist or support a facilitator. Then, ask participants to help you develop the list by sharing their thoughts on the tasks they would be willing to take on. Encourage participants to consider their strengths, interests, and preferences.
(d) Explain that setting ground rules also contributes greatly to the effectiveness of meetings. Stress that ground rules can make or break a team or collaborative effort; one of the first tasks of collaborative partners is to decide how to participate, make decisions, and resolve conflicts. Refer participants to handout 6, review the questions, and encourage additions.

(a) Prepare participants for a homework assignment. Ask participants to observe a meeting as homework and to take notes on what makes the meeting effective. Afterward, suggest participants meet privately with the facilitator to share what they learned though their observations, including: methods for involving all participants (handout 5), skilled facilitation (handout 4), and setting ground rules (handout 6). In addition, suggest participants refer the facilitator to handout 7 as a tool he/she may find helpful when planning meetings.
(b) Allow two weeks for participants to complete the assignment. Set up a time for debriefing the homework.

Debrief the homework assignment. Engage participants in processing the homework by raising the following questions:

How would you describe the meeting you observed? What was effective?

What might have made the meeting more effective? (Probe for recommendations on preparation, ground rules, meeting process, group process, and facilitation techniques.)

What was the involvement level of the participants? What roles did they assume? How did they assist or support the facilitator?

If you were the meeting facilitator, what would you have done differently?

If you had been a participant in the meeting, what would you have done to promote its effectiveness?

Close the activity. Summarize the topics covered during the activity. To bring this part of the activity to a close, emphasize the following points:

Effective meetings occur when partners set criteria for holding effective meetings and ground rules on how they will work together, have a skilled group facilitator, and get everyone involved in the work of meeting.

Meeting jobs are usually chosen or assigned according to the interests, talents, and skills of the partners.

Jobs can be shared or rotated to help ensure that all partners feel involved, useful, and valued.

Next Steps:
Ideas to
Extend Practice Follow-up training strategies to reinforce the concepts and skills taught in Module 2 are presented below. After completing Module 2, review the strategies with participants and help them choose at least one to work on individually, in pairs, or in small groups.

Refining Skills as a Group/Collaborative Facilitator
Explore possibilities for forming a mentoring relationship with a skilled group facilitator. Look for a mentor in the Head Start or broader community--someone who excels at the skills listed on handout 4. Get permission to observe the mentor two or three times as he/she convenes and facilitates a group meeting. While observing the meetings, take notes on what the mentor says or does to:

Build relationships among group members;
Keep the group informed and focused; and
Encourage the group to take action and move forward.
Look for the specific ways the mentor intervenes with the group at critical moments. Jot down examples of how he/she:

Brings together different ideas;
Interprets group behaviors;
Expresses his/her own feelings and reactions; and
Gets the group to focus on the work at hand.
After observing the meetings, arrange to meet with the mentor to go over your observations. Set up a time for the mentor to observe you facilitating a meeting. After the mentor observes you, meet with the mentor again to discuss your group facilitation skills and what you could do to improve on them.

Assessing the Collaborative Experience
If you are already involved in a collaborative effort that appears to be struggling, suggest partners take time to reflect on and discuss the elements that promote collaborative success. Use handout 2 as a guide for the discussion. Encourage the group to look at possible improvement strategies, such as: involving a skilled group facilitator; assigning partner roles and tasks; re-examining the collaborative's purpose, mission and goals; and recruiting new partners.

Making Meetings More Effective
Identify an opportunity to apply what you learned from the training about holding effective meetings. For example, if you participate routinely in staff, team, or collaborative meetings, suggest that time be set aside during an upcoming meeting for you to guide the group in:

Defining "effective meetings";
Setting ground rules;
Discussing ways to improve meeting preparation and arrangements, the meeting process, the group process, and information sharing; and
Examining and deciding on the role(s) of meeting participants (e.g., facilitator, notetaker, conflict resolver, information gatherer, monitor, and celebration organizer).

Handouts

Copyright © 1998 Head Start Publications Management Center
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