Acronym

What a grand question(s). Cooperation & collaboration are the norm; "Lone Rangerness" the exception. List & catalog examples to prove the point. Recall ASAE's Global Summit on Social Responsibility - shared purpose/mission; voluntarily dedicated energies & resources; common benefits as deliverers of service, with hoped for tangible, physical & emotional benefits for the recipients. Two of the most significant projects in which I was involved, mandated by their nature, hardy partnerships: (1) building the nation's largest statewide technological network of public safety information sharing databases - collaboration of public local, state & federal agencies with private vendor companies, & our NPO; & (2) international exchange programs, including formally written Memorandum of Understanding, with countries in the Middle East, Asia Minor, South & Central Asia, & South America - this from a state association.

Brafman's and Beckstrom's book, The Starfish and The Spider, elaborate on a variation of this partnership theme. Centralized, hierarchical structures have a place, but limits & vulnerabilities as well. Diffuse & decentralized "organizations" internalize purpose by the commonly held beliefs/perspectives of the players. The strength is in part the result of pervasively held focus on purpose, but also an energy of self-determination and self-committment to action, these energies manifested by many, in lots of places. This is one of the earnest elements of community and social network.

Just as we incorporated the benefits of "volunteerism" into our leadership program, you are applauded in your efforts to institutionalize the "tool in the toolbox" called "Partnerships."

Wasn't in the 1998 ASAE environmental scan that identified partnerships, collaborations, and alliances as one of the 14 most significant trends for associations? Seems no less relevant today.

Partnering has lead to a great deal of success in my association's career services program. What initially began as a small fair that we hired a vendor to manage, turned into a $1mil+ revenue stream that has led us to partnerships with some of the biggest (and smallest) other organizations in our field.

The scientific community that my field operates in, like many communities, has a great deal of disciplines, sub disciplines, sub sub disciplines, and so on and so forth. So the environment is peppered with associations, large and small, who are operating within this community. We set up an operation to bring all of our career fair management in house, and then forge partnerships without bringing in any outside vendors and simply partnering association with association, nonprofit with nonprofit. This keeps all the money within the organizations' themselves, and it implies an equality within the partnership that can sometimes be difficult to attain otherwise. Both parties have similar goals and mission that are mutually beneficial. Additionally, considering that we are all under the same 'scientific' umbrella, there is much overlap between both our employer companies (exhibitors) and our jobseekers (attendees) which we have leveraged to the advantage of all involved.

There have been some partnerships which have faltered due to misunderstandings, complications, or simply not enough interest to make it financially viable.. but by and large the program has been a resounding success and we are now looking to the future and to expanding our program and our overall visibility with international groups in Europe.

This discussion and the book reminded me of some thoughts I had when we were first reviewing early copies of Steve's manuscript ... I was linking the cases studies & narrative back to experiences with US Chamber & ASAE, and a past trade association position where I was establishing a services corporation. There are needless to say huge differences between business partnerships and advocacy oriented partnerships. There are also big differences in how we approach these partnerships as decision-makers as well, based on our own experiences and mindset. The aggressive attitude of a driven manager is often not as conducive to a partnering relationship, and I wonder how many of us on staff have the right mindset and orientation to make partnerships work.

I think back to my own attitudes before taking the trade assn position that required collaboration from being a Lone Ranger, or at least someone who was always accustomed to executing work inside the association with members, staff, well-defined vendor-customer interactions, and the occasional foray into interactions with total strangers for professional development purposes.

Some of our staff were responsible for our advocacy coalitions but it struck me as endless meetings, open-ended goals, and a seemingly unlimited number of potential partners all with their own agendas. One of my colleagues used to joke that he 'worked at the speed of partnership.'

I know in my own case I needed to adjust my mindset to develop 'partnership skills.' This subject may be a very interesting one that sustains more research, more discussion over time, more formal and informal case studies that help illustrate the variety and full spectrum of partnerships we have to forge today in associations.