Terry Sarten: Collaboration - hardly the emperor's new clothes

THE CALL for sectors and organisations to work together is becoming louder as the volume and complexity of issues creates increasingly elaborate pathways between services, agencies, and consumers. The word "collaboration" is often used as the gilded gold standard for inter-agency work but may be the wrong label, serving as a disguise for what is actually happening.

Like the emperor's new clothes, pseudo collaborations can create the impression something is there when it is not. This can be very damaging, resulting in frustration and a perception a project has failed when, in fact, it may actually be operating very well but in another guise. It may be that what is happening is consultation,

co-operation, a coalition, or

co-ordination, rather than collaboration.

Collaboration can be described as a process of individuals and groups working together for mutual benefit, with an emphasis on building bridges between people and agencies to bring together the needed skills and resources for the benefit of the patient or client. (Darlington et al, 2005; Howarth & Morrison, 2007; Padgett et al 2004; Sloper 2004)

At the intersection between social welfare, education, health, and justice, agencies need to work together as no single perspective is able to see the whole picture. The "silo" effect evident in most organisational systems can be a huge barrier to collaboration, both within organisations and the external agencies they interact with. Being clear from the start about the type of relationship needed to create change can be valuable for all involved. Will it be co-ordination, co-operation, consultation, a coalition, collaboration, or a partnership? All are equally valid ways of working across boundaries, but how they operate within different structures is defined by the power dynamic. It is the degree of organisational willingness to concede power that defines both the process and the outcomes.

The organisation that initiates consultation usually has the power to accept or reject the responses. Often consultation is maligned as a shallow ritual of engagement with no real desire to actually listen. Asking organisations and consumers for their thoughts, if done well, can promote change and lead to the development of other stages along the continuum but should not be confused with them.

Co-ordination can be defined as a negotiated willingness for organisations to work together around particular functions. This requires a degree of shared decision making but does not usually require organisations to relinquish their power.

Co-operation works at a higher structural level where organisations have formal arrangements to connect aspects of their differing roles around shared activities, rather than contesting ownership. This requires a degree of compromise and diluting power to allow all parties to work together.

Collaboration in its truest form requires organisations to trade away significant power in exchange for the potential gains of working together. When a relationship is actually functioning collaboratively the rewards for all participating organisations can be huge, but getting there is not easy.

To be effective it must operate at all levels, from senior management down, and be based on a long-term commitment that does not falter when its champions leave an organisation or restructuring throws a spanner in the works.

A coalition is usually a short-term arrangement built around a specific issue of shared concern. Partnerships function best when the partners agree to harness their institutional power together towards a common aim, recognising the need to consider and merge their diverse strengths and weaknesses, if they are to succeed.

Unlike co-operation, partnerships allow organisations to find ways to work together that are not bound to function alone but are based in a shared philosophy. The long-term, bigger-picture issues may always need the power of real collaborative effort to create change.

[This article is an updated/abridged version of a longer paper written for the CHW School Link Mental Health and Intellectual Disability Journal 2013 Issue 3 that remains as relevant now as it was then].

-Terry Sarten is a social worker, writer and musician.

Feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz.