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Adult Education Administrator's Manual

Collaboration

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Successful collaborations between adult education programs and the communities that the programs positively affect require considerable effort in the beginning phase and require continuous attention in order to be sustained. Programs should collaborate with the communities they serve in regards to develop and maintain partnerships that prove effective for all involved parties: students, adult education programs, the business community, and the social community.

Elements that assist the success of collaboration include a strong leadership and a convergence of needs and interests, legislative priorities, and the readiness of agencies and their personnel to work together for non-duplication of efforts and of sharing of resources. A project goal may be to develop a collaborative process using a shared governance approach to support the activities developed with a shared outcome to serve adults needing academic, employment, and/or training services.

Manageable collaborations strike a balance between the breadth and depth of membership. It is important to understand how organizations operate, their cultural norms and values, and their limitations and expectations. This is important because each member of the collaboration has specific policies and mandates which apply to that organization. For example, agencies will have to educate partners regarding limitations that both data privacy laws and related liability concerns impose, and the limitations that regulated use of multiple state or federal funding streams impose. Overlapping duplicative data collection and reporting requirements are examples as well.

In developing collaborations with other agencies, local programs are cautioned not to create new bureaucracies, but rather to take advantage of the strengths of each in the application of their own mission to facilitate information exchange, decision making, and resource allocation. Partners must each have a stake in the process of collaboration and expected outcomes. All members of a partnership must be involved in participatory decision-making. At all times, the client should be the focus.

Good communication is a key to building trust in collaborations. Communication is enhanced through setting up systems – personal, paper, and electronic – for information sharing, clarifying each entity’s responsibilities, clearly expressing expectations, and listening. Communication must be open and frequent, using formal and informal channels. Privacy issues for clients may be discussed among all partners for their similar and different requirements. Professional development training and materials are provided for cross-training purposes among the partners.

Collaborative partners should have a shared vision, that is, a common understanding of what they are trying to achieve, with an agreed-upon mission, objectives, and strategies. A shared vision builds trust and commitment. This vision must involve the community at large, and should make clear the expectations and responsibilities of each partner. Each organization should contribute uniquely to the collaboration to avoid duplicating efforts while respecting the mission of individual organizations. Concrete, attainable goals for accomplishing the vision heighten enthusiasm and sustain momentum in a partnership.

Programs should collaborate with their partners for the effective use of resources including funding, technology, staff, and professional development. Financial resources include those that member organizations are able and willing to commit and those that the group obtains from outside sources. Such outside resources may be comprised of in-kind contributions on the part of the partners including: paid staff time; facilities, including custodial services, utilities, supplies, materials, or volunteer time. Human resources that can be committed to projects can include skilled coordinators, committed leaders, and a bountiful mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities among the collaboration’s members.

The benefits of collaboration can include the delivery of services where they have never been delivered before, and often resulting in fewer resources; resolved propriety issues between organizations and agencies; a gain in ownership among all parties; establishment of a systematic and consistent approach to problem solving; provision of a cost savings and the potential for additional revenue generation. Shared resources can increase maximum capacity building capabilities and provide added resources to the programs and services of all participating partners.

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