Managing Partnerships

1
Managing Partnerships

• Steve Delaney
• Acting Chief Executive Director of Operations
• Urban Futures London Ltd.
• www.urbanfutures.org.uk

2
Managing Partnerships

• Why Me?
• - Acting CE of urban regeneration company
• - 4 to 7 million annual turnover public
  sector funds
• - 4 quality brands partnership working
  attached to them all (not necessarily our wish)
• - Devils Advocate approach
• - Time filler/ sop to our partnership working
  with MegaNexus

3
Managing PartnershipsA panacea or a pain in the
AE!?

• Love-in experience
• breathless, ecstatic, self congratulatory
  approach climaxing in.lets do it again
• Personal experience local authority internal
  partnerships, localised community group type
  partnerships, private sector partnerships

• Haemorrhoid experience
• intrusive, messy, and bloody painful
• Personal experience mainly relates to
  partnerships driven by central government offices
  with wider agendas

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Managing Partnerships

• Most partnerships somewhere between the polar
  positions at some point though most of the time
  will tick over
• Recognise that public sector/ quasi sector
  partnerships are more often than not different to
  those from the private sector focus endgame!
• Partnership members are very often widely varying
  organisations in terms of size, professional
  capacity, expertise, etc
• Partnerships (out-with the private sector) rarely
  have independent resource and very much rely on
  members to provide resource as and when required
• Accountable body role issues

5
Managing Partnerships

• Avoiding the haemorrhoid route
• Recognise the external environment question the
  need (partnership overload)
• Beware the dreaded new Officer strategise
  for it in advance!
• Absolute agreement on what the partnership is set
  up to do and what the measurable targets are
• Absolute agreement on who are members and why?
• Absolute agreement on roles and responsibilities
• Ensure any given partnership is not your totality
  of business
• Resource the partnership partnership officer
• Beware the accountable body get a division of
  roles from the outset (developmental versus
  professional)

6
Managing Partnerships

• Recognition factors
• In the real world, life is not that simple
• Relationship management/ networking/ lobbying
  approach
• Compromise!