Taking Time to Recalibrate

Fio helps collaboratives address issues by carefully designing decision processes, raising relevant information, and engaging participants in crafting solutions. Collaboratives have asked for our help with issues pertaining to:

• Learning – as in information is not easily shared, or important evaluation results are understood by some and not others, creating bottlenecks in addressing program improvements.
  
• Structure via growth or cutbacks, or a changed understanding of how the work should be executed. Both management and governance structures can show strain and gradually become dysfunctional.
  
• Culture – As the work evolves, the culture must follow. Ignoring the need to examine and update culture can easily strain relationships as individuals try to enact roles that the culture does not support.
  
• Capabilities are a continuous quality improvement question. Collaboratives must explore system failures and determine whether the right knowledge and skills are present.
  
• Infrastructure – As a collaborative grows, grants accumulate, and participant contracting becomes more complex, the need for adequate staffing and data systems must keep pace.
  
• Leadership – Collaboratives can outgrow early leaders, and founders can become an obstacle. Due to the loose nature of governance, these transitions, difficult in any organization, are even more challenging in collaboratives.
  
• Trust is the ultimate glue that holds a collaborative together. As roles shift and leadership turns over, trust can erode. Concerted effort is often required to restore trust.
  

Whether problems have cropped up suddenly or have festered over a long period of time, we can help. Contact us to start a conversation about getting your collaborative back on track.