Why Strategic Collaboration matters for charities
Why we need to work differently
Your organisation is full of great people. With their energy and passion for your cause, you should be punching above your weight. Sometimes you are. But all too often people are head down, focussed on the immediate things they need to deliver. They’re missing opportunities to join forces or to work more efficiently.
So, you try to get teams working more closely. You bring people from different areas together for brainstorming sessions. You create opportunities for people to input on each other’s work. The vibes are good, but project timelines aren’t speeding up, income isn’t increasing and efforts to collaborate just seem to be creating more noise.
Or worse, team’s creativity is taking them down opposing rabbit-holes; they aren’t pulling in the same direction. You know you could be greater than the sum of your parts, but effort is being wasted through poor communication and lack of big picture thinking.
Do these scenarios sound familiar? You know that your organisation needs to be more collaborative, but you need more structure and momentum. That’s where Strategic Collaboration comes in.
What is Strategic Collaboration?
Strategic collaboration combines the best of agile ways of working and lean start-up methodologies. It provides a framework for your organisation to collaborate in ways which are laser focussed on what you are trying to achieve together; the change you want to make in the world. Delivering through empowered teams, quick experiments and slick decision making. It might sound too good to be true, but these tools and ways of working are already helping charities collaborate in more effective and impactful ways.
The power of Strategic Collaboration
Many charities operate through rigid hierarchies, with decision-making concentrated at the top. This can stifle innovation, limit buy-in from across the organisation, and slow responsiveness to change. Projects are often planned in a linear fashion, with resources allocated upfront and work progressing according to a predetermined plan, regardless of external changes. This lack of flexibility also makes it difficult to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, respond to evolving needs, or to capitalise on emerging opportunities.
The solution is not to put people in a room together with a pile of post-it notes and flipchart paper and hope for the best. The antidote is to empower your teams with modern ways of working and a shared suite of tools that channel their enthusiasm and expertise; to be strategic about the way you collaborate.
For example:
At the leadership level – co-creating project objectives and measures of success upfront with key stakeholders improves buy-in from all the teams needed for success. Making strategic documents accessible to anyone in the organisation creates clarity around priorities and means that senior stakeholders can get a snapshot of progress any time they need it. No more relying on time-consuming project updates that take your team away from the work and become out of date as soon as they’re written.
The benefits of Strategic Collaboration
Improved efficiency and productivity
Working collaboratively can enable a organisation to be greater than the sum of its parts. By focusing on achieving specific outcomes, rather than simply completing tasks, teams can work smarter, not harder. Sharing knowledge and resources in an efficient way can also streamline signoff and avoid wasted effort.
Increased flexibility and adaptability
Strategic collaboration enables organisations to be more responsive to change. By breaking down projects into smaller, manageable pieces and completing work in iterative cycles, organisations can adapt their approach to harness opportunities that come their way.
Impactful communication
Strategic collaboration fosters open communication and encourages diverse perspectives. This leads to better solutions and a deeper level of engagement from all parties involved.
Enhanced innovation and creativity
Working in small, cross-functional teams enables new ideas to be delivered more quickly and to a higher standard. By bringing together the skills and expertise needed to deliver projects from beginning to end, teams learn from each other and develop new approaches to problem-solving, fostering a culture of innovation and creativity.
Achieve more with less
By working together, teams can achieve greater impact, in less time than they could alone. Collaborative efforts amplify individual strengths and resources, allowing organisations to tackle larger challenges and achieve more ambitious goals.
