Better Together: A Conversation on Collaboration
Our popular series of free and virtual quarterly Member Meet-Ups continued on June 15th and provided 24 members and seven guests the opportunity to learn, share and make connections.
As is the case with all Nonprofit Specialists events, this Meet-Up was organized by volunteers, including Sharon Combs, Kristen Illes and Laurel Molloy.
Laurel welcomed the participants with a reminder that the theme of the event—collaboration—is embedded in Nonprofit Specialists’ mission and lives in our values of community and caring.
Kristen Illes, event facilitator, shared the meeting purpose—to enhance our ability to collaborate with one another in order to achieve the greatest impact with each other and for nonprofit organizations. She also outlined the intended event outcomes, which were to:
• Deepen relationships with each other to catalyze future partnerships and referrals;
• Identify different pathways to collaboration via partnering and referrals and;
• Learn from each other’s successes and challenges in order to be poised for success.
A poll of the participants showed all had collaborated in some way, including an overwhelming majority who had provided introductions/referrals to other consultants and
received introductions/referrals to other consultants. A significant percentage had also invited a consultant/s to work on a client project and had been invited by a consultant to work on a client project.
The small group discussions focused on two questions and generated many ideas and take-aways. Here’re the results of some of those conversations:
Breakout Group 1:
What are some things you think/know are important to do or clarify before launching into a formal collaboration with another consultant or capacity-building organization or in making/receiving a referral?
• Make sure you can get along
• Set expectations for business development and overall responsiveness
• Trust and know what they will deliver and that it’s up to par with what you would deliver
• Understand roles on the project
• Be clear about who is running the project
• Find areas of compatibility between different consultants
• Lots of connections via referrals in both directions- what is your specialty?- have to be specific about the ask
• Coordinating vs. doing the work
Breakout Group 2:
What things do you want to keep in mind as you begin to formally collaborate with another consultant or organization or make/receive a referral?
• Trust, clarity and clear delineation of expertise (contract)
• Be frank with each other and use each other to grow through honest and productive feedback.
• Over do it when bidding together.
• Help each other provide the best response possible.
• Be willing to bounce back and go for the next one.
• Too much info is never a bad thing.
• Try, learn, fail, succeed
• Make sure pace and energy match and not just skill base.
• If someone refers you, take it seriously. Don’t let anyone down by not having enough time to do it right.
• Assess what the client wants to see in a proposal re: bells and whistles and consider that ahead of time.
• How exploratory is this in the mind of the other consultant you are bringing in?
• Create a contract that lays out all the parameters of the work and relationship, deliverables, etc.
• Trainings and other opportunities to get to know consultants you are working with better.
• Develop expectations and ground rules, up front. When two peers collaborate, it can feel presumptuous to set expectations, but it’s important.
• Agree on quality, degree of collaboration, timelines to present.
• If you are working with a friend who is also a colleague, it can be difficult to set professional boundaries.
• What roles can be established up front, rather than reacting to it on the fly.
Participant Take-Aways Shared in Chat
• Team-building
• Loved our group’s reflection on using collaborators to grow – through thoughtful feedback.
• Get as much lead time as possible to bid with our collective best foot forward.
• Need to think about getting an agreement like the one mentioned by colleague in breakout.
• Create a document to lay out all expectations for work and communications up front.
• Discuss what success looks like; discuss what failure looks like.
• Write an informal agreement between the consultant about our expectations and clarity on deliverables.
• Learn about other skill sets. Expand our effective network.
• Agreement on – what is success?
• I am going to market myself more to other consultants rather than just nonprofits. I focus on financial management, risk, policies and procedures and internal controls, a definite niche area
• Know how each person can support the other.
• I use independent contractor agreements. After this meeting, I will pay more attention when problems arise early on in these relationships with consultants. I will also focus more on ensuring we will work well together, have the same professional standards to produce high quality work.
Sharon Combs wrapped up the event with announcements about upcoming Nonprofit Specialists events and members-only showcase and peer advising opportunities. Look out for our next Meet-Up in September or October and do join us!
