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Partnerships: A long walk in the wind

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 57; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.outlook.2009.03.006

1528-3968

Marion E. Broome,

Organizational Leadership and Management Strategies

“Let's go and see everybody,” said Pooh. “Because when you've been walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody's house, and he says ‘Hallo, Pooh you're just in time for some smackerel of something,' and you are, then it's what I call a Friendly Day.”1Milne A.A. The house at Pooh Corner. Dutton Books, Washington1991Google Scholar Partnership is a common term bandied about so often as to make it almost meaningless. Partnerships are most commonly defined in the context of a business relationship, such as: “An association of two or more partners in a business enterprise.”2Definition of partnerships.http://www.yourdictionery.com/partnershipsGoogle Scholar This is rather dry and does not, in my opinion, capture the richness of most effective partnerships. The Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Development (SIPD) website at North Carolina State University provides a more dynamic definition: “Partnership is a voluntary collaborative agreement between 2 or more parties in which all participants agree to work together to achieve a common purpose or undertake a specific task and to share risks, responsibilities, resources, competencies and benefits.”3North Carolina State UniversityDELTA Marketing and Partnership Development.http://delta.ncsu.edu/mpd/Google Scholar But even this simple definition defies the essence of effective and meaningful partnerships. True, they are based on common goals and complementary talents of each of the partners. True, effective partnerships are based on common assumptions and values. In reality, though, they are primarily based on a relationship between 2 or more people, and as such, there is nothing simple, common, or easy about them. Partnerships in nursing often arise out of a common need to accomplish a goal (not always well defined), and usually reflect a deficit in knowledge, skills, or talent that can be provided by the other. Effective and sustained partnerships go much further. They are, like all relationships, complicated and require many hours of time to “work it out” to everyone's satisfaction. They are hard work, but usually result in growth for individuals and systems that occur as a result of the synergy produced. The outcomes and products often go way beyond what anyone envisioned when the partnership began. And this is wherein the satisfaction lies. Most partnerships require bold and brave leadership to be successful—especially in times of constrained resources. Bold and brave leaders come from all levels of an organization. In their book on The Quantum Leader, Malloch and Porter-O'Grady present a model of new leadership that moves an individual from the old model of orchestrating and managing people during a “change” to managing “movement.”4Malloch K. O'Grady T. The Quantum Leader: applications for the new worlds of work. Jones & Bartlett, Boston2005Google Scholar They define movement as helping people to engage in the challenges of their own journey.4Malloch K. O'Grady T. The Quantum Leader: applications for the new worlds of work. Jones & Bartlett, Boston2005Google Scholar And the individual and collective journey involves hard work— for all of those involved in a partnership. Leaders find themselves envisioning where things “could be,” challenging others to engage in what could happen, facilitating those who step out to try, cajoling those with the requisite talents needed for the partnership, and investing in others who are essential for sustainment. Exhausting work. The “engagers” in a partnership find themselves being asked to take a leap of faith, usually feel insecure about what they may not “know how to do,” but are intrigued with the possibilities, and sometimes feel they are risking too much for maybe not enough. Exhausting for sure. But what happens next is one of the more energizing experiences in one's professional life. The individual (and sometimes the system) fundamentally changes their way of looking at the world as well as how he/she interacts with others. And good things happen. These changes are a result of being actively involved in creating a new, innovative system that approaches old problems with new solutions, using energy and talent from lots of people—some of whom “speak our language” and some who do not. In this issue, several of the articles report on exciting partnerships forged out of a vision and made reality in order to make a real impact. The partnerships described in this issue span education and practice, education and rural communities, and three educational institutions. All started with a vision, followed by lots of relationship-building and persistent efforts to “walk in the wind.” They addressed barriers every partnership faces as a result of tradition, resource constraints, and individuals who have no intention of changing. The outcomes of these innovative and exciting partnerships all clearly reflect a synergy built on common goals that not only address a “problem,” but evolve a solution built on the partners' strengths and as a result, make real impact. In each of these partnerships, a time came when those engaged came out of “walking in the wind,” sat down for some “smackerel,” and found new friends and colleagues. And I think they could not help but feel it was a “friendly day.”