The Partnership Brokers Association

Short answer? A lot. In her PBA Accreditation paper, Vietnam-based Takara Morgan explores the challenges related to introducing partnership brokering approaches to existing collaborations. Examining and understanding the structural integrity of the partnership is key to help partners ‘retrofit’ and implement principles and practices, that will not only carry the dynamics of collaborative processes but lift the partnership’s effectiveness and ability for transformative impact.

“What can partnership brokers learn from engineers? Not much it might seem. On the surface, engineers may even be considered the antithesis of partnership brokers. However, if an existing partnership is considering introducing partnership brokering approaches, the partnership broker needs to understand the foundations on which the partnership was built. If there are cracks, these need to be addressed before applying extra loads. If not, there will be problems later on. This paper explores case studies on retrofitting partnerships with partnership brokering approaches, and suggests four pre-conditions that need to be assessed to determine if a partnership is ‘retrofit ready’.”

Read Takara’s paper here and tell us how you helped existing collaborations adopt partnership brokering practices, using #partnershipbrokers on Twitter.

In her PBA Accreditation Paper Anna Naupa explores her role as an internal partnership broker working on development partnerships in a head-field office context. She examines the plurality of roles for an internal partnership broker and investigates specific issues and dynamics that can arise in such contexts related to power, alignment and consensus.

Join Anna in her reflective journey as she navigates complex partnership issues in the unique cultural and regional setting of the Pacific region, characterized by strong cultural norms and practices for collaboration and remote and isolated islands.

“What role can partnership brokering play in navigating head-field office dynamics to foster sustainable development partnerships? This question is explored in the context of the author’s professional experience working as an internal partnership broker for multilateral, multi-national and regional organisations in the Pacific, where the challenges of distance, isolation and smallness necessitate head-field office arrangements that can efficiently address economies of scale. The paper explores the plurality of roles for an internal partnership broker in such contexts and unpacks concepts of power, alignment and consensus in head-field office dynamics. It explores how the central principles of effective partnership brokering can be applied.”

Read Anna’s paper here and let us know how many hats you are wearing when brokering collaborations in complex settings using #partnershipbrokers on Twitter.

Partnerships for the Goals: Is it time to reframe SDG 17 so it’s fit for transformation?

You can now watch the recording of the first in our series of Global Dialogues on Partnership.
SDG 17 – does it reflect an old paradigm of international cooperation? Of donor-recipient relations? Of developed-developing countries? Does it give primacy to economic growth? Why does it represent a narrow conceptualisation of partnerships, and use language that is contradictory to the language of transformation throughout Agenda 2030?

To watch please click here.

Why is managing trust a key issue in partnership brokering and what can partnership brokers do to establish trust?   Ukraine-based Susanna Mnatsakanova is an internal partnership broker for the French Red Cross, and her Accreditation paper tackles these questions in the context of donor-recipient relationships.

With her experience in the humanitarian and development sector Susanna explores how to address the power imbalance in donor-recipient partnerships and how local organisations can be empowered to move from local implementer to local innovator.

The term partnership is often used to describe donor-recipient relationships in the humanitarian and development sector. However, few of these relationships actually represent a partnership with equal relations between donors and recipients. To promote empowerment of local organisations and locally driven social change, equality is an important key. This paper explores the importance of establishing and managing trust in partnerships to raise equality, and how partnership brokers can re-shape donor-recipient partnerships to enable organisations and individuals to maximise the impact of their partnering work. 

Read about Susanna’s partnership work here.   How are you establishing and managing trust in your collaborative work?   In what ways did it impact the partnership outcomes?   Share your experiences with us on Twitter #partnershipbrokers.

More Stories from Practice.

When our associate Catherine Russ formally took the first step to becoming a PBA accredited partnership broker in 2013, she felt that the course helped her ‘fit all the pieces of her professional and personal development journey together.’ Feedback from numerous alumni of the Partnership Brokers Training (PBT) seems to mirror that.

Being able to identify and articulate what it is that many of us do intuitively in their collaborative spaces, is an important step toward becoming more intentional about directing our skills and resources for supporting transformative partnerships.

During the Partnership Brokers Training, we invite participants to call out skills they are using and seeing in their partnering work and to think about how these enable efficient and effective collaboration.

Emerging from practice, we collected a list of skills and competencies we frequently identified in successful collaborators whose work often seems intuitively guided by the question of what is needed next. The list is not an exhaustive one, nor should it be.

Cath used her accreditation journey to deeply reflect on how thought patterns and behaviors influenced the way she would understand and apply certain collaborative skills. Cath takes us through a colorful display of layered context, which reveals shifts in her consciousness that opened new possibilities for evolving and shaping her personal partnering style.

How are you finding your feet as a partnership broker? Exploring your personal approach to working with diversity in partnership understanding, equity and trust is exciting as it is daunting at times.

Read about Cath’s insights here and share your story of discovery and transformation with us on Twitter #partnershipbrokers.

More Stories from Practice.

Australia based Ally Lankester describes a challenge many internal partnership brokers face: How to enable more effective partnering in a hierarchical system? When a culture is well-established people more often than not don’t challenge the way things are done and business-as-usual prevails.

Embedded in a large hierarchical science organization, Ally decided to apply her PBA mentored practice to scoping and building new partnerships with a university and other large public organizations. In her PBA Accreditation Paper she lays out the impact of organizational culture on effective partnering, and what helped her foster a more flourishing landscape for effective collaboration.

This paper explores how the culture of a large organization can influence effective partnering, and how internal brokers can act to build partnering culture and stronger partnerships. I draw on the literature, my action learning to scope a partnership with two large public organizations, and the insights of four others with experience working in large organizations to support partnerships. Key themes of overcoming what were found to be common blockages associated with a hierarchical, siloed and customer/business-oriented culture include: understanding diverse positions and developing common goals; shared language and culture; building internal connection and communication; developing and sharing tools and resources that show the value of partnering; and, working with influential external agents that understand partnering. What becomes evident is that internal brokers are important agents shaping organizational culture to be more ‘fit for partnering’.

Read Ally Lankester’s paper here. Are you recognizing similar challenges in your partnering field? Why not share your experiences via Twitter using #partnershipbrokers.

More Stories from Practice.

The degree and level of how partnership brokers use aspects of art and science in their interventions is often driven by individual preferences. This month Netherlands-based Rita Dieleman invites us to identify our predominant side and to allow more space for the less commanding one to emerge.

Deeply rooted in scientific thinking, Rita consciously challenged herself to explore more art-guided approaches in her collaborative practice – with rewarding results.

Some people are by nature more ‘science’ persons, others have more characteristics of the ‘art’ side of brokering. This paper describes the journey of an external evaluator who is usually quite results-oriented, focusing on facts, analysing, puzzling, keeping her eye on the ball and pushing for progress. The author explores the art-side of brokering in her work and how she came to appreciate it more. This shift in approach also resulted in a shift in sense of ownership, from the individual broker to all partners involved.

Read Rita Dieleman’s paper here and share your science and art practices via Twitter using #partnershipbrokers.

In December we invited Mary Frankham to share her superb paper on dual roles for partnership brokers, which examines the tension between being a partnership manager whilst also representing a voice independent from all partners involved.

Following on to this topic, we are now presenting you with another excellent think piece on the issue of duality of partnership brokering.

In this edition of Stories from Practice, Australia based Gillian Pearl builds on her experience of cross-sector partnerships with companies like Microsoft, Visa and Facebook. She compares and contrasts the roles of internal partnership brokers and project managers by exploring the similarities and differences in the skill sets and how these are applied. The paper also looks at two key challenges many internal partnership brokers grapple with: a lack of awareness and perceived value of partnership brokering.

The author has spent the past twenty years working for and with the private sector and in this paper, she highlights her observations about the dual role that internal private sector partnership brokers must play when engaging in cross-sector partnerships. Internal partnership brokers are often expected to be both project manager and internal partnership broker and move fluidly between the roles.  The paper focuses on the three key areas:  the skill set required to perform both roles simultaneously; the way to address the lack of awareness and perceived value of the brokering role and; the ways to promote a better understanding of partnership brokering principles and skills.

Read Gillian Pearl’s paper here and share your comments via Twitter using #partnershipbrokers.

This edition of Stories from Practice takes us to Nepal where in spring 2015 devastating earthquakes killed thousands of people and destroyed over 750,000 homes and vital infrastructure.

Arthi Patel was appointed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs to support the UNDP in their provision of humanitarian disaster relief. The paper outlines how Arthi, in her role as donor representative and partnership broker, helped the earthquake recovery project to succeed amidst the urgency of delivering rapid relief action and tensions between partner organisations.

In the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquakes Arthi worked for DFAT and UNDP to assist 14,000 micro-entrepreneurs recover their livelihoods. This was a high-pressure environment with strained relationships and high expectations. Arthi fostered an adaptive management approach, and with the support of her PBA mentor trialled different forms of brokering, collaboration and reflection. A focus on a higher purpose of recovery for micro-entrepreneurs helped people to break through bureaucratic and institutional hurdles. The paper describes how collaborative practice was fostered and came to be valued by all parties in a pressured environment.

Read Arthi Patel’s paper here and share your comments via Twitter using #partnershipbrokers. 

Join us in this edition of Stories from Practice to explore together with Mariana Merelo Lobo how partnering processes will benefit from bringing awareness and presence into the collective collaborative space, and which practices to adopt to systematically cultivate awareness in oneself, partners and the collaborative field.

During her PBA Accreditation period, Mariana was based in Tanzania for Action Against Hunger working with organisations and individuals, including holistic health practitioners, local non-governmental and governmental organisations, INGOs, and the UN. What emerged from her partnership brokering practice at the time, was the idea to develop and explore collaborative spaces through awareness.

Based on the insight that by expanding our awareness – of the self, of the relationships, and of the wider system – collaborative processes achieve better results, this paper is focused on the importance of action-reflective practice in partnership brokering. This implies that a partnership broker must apply her or himself to three dimensions: subjective, objective, and inter-relational. Partnership brokers are part of a collaborative system; and therefore they have the responsibility (and opportunity) to do better to expand the collective (and generative) intelligence of collaborative efforts. This paper proposes an emergent way to developing and exploring a dedicated partnership brokering field – that approach is called Awareness Express.

Read Mariana Merelo Lobo’s paper here.

If you would like to share your comments with the author or us please email learning@partnershipbrokers.org, or perhaps tweet about it using #partnershipbrokers and following us @PBA_Brokers.

We are starting the new year with an invitation to reflect on your partnership practice by diving into experiences and insights from other partnership brokers in our series Stories from Practice.

Shahina Bahar embarked on her PBA Accreditation journey in 2015 when she worked as an internal broker for a large international humanitarian organisation, at a time where the humanitarian sector saw significant shifts in the external environment as part of reforms and localisation agenda.

In her paper Shahina introduces the idea of “tactical agency” as a strategy to navigate complexity in a partnership. She explores how advancing or withdrawing different aspects of her role, according to the situation and perceived needs of the partnership, may create more space, visibility, legitimacy and traction for a partnership broker.

The paper reflects on the brokering identity and how ‘tactical agency’, linked to notions of identity and awareness of opportunities and constraints in an operating environment, can be a useful strategy when navigating complexity. The paper provides examples of how tactical agency highlights the interplay of the broker as a change agent/actor; the partnership (phases, considerations, different models) and the external environment in which these partnerships operate as well as the tactical agency that partners exercise themselves. It can be a valuable device on how to traverse the ‘grey zone’ drawing from learning within the humanitarian sector.

Read Shahina Bahar’s paper here. If you would like to share your comments with the author or us, please email learning@partnershipbrokers.org, or tweet about your views and experiences using #partnershipbrokers.

In September we launched a new knowledge sharing initiative – Stories from Practice – publishing compelling papers which examine the realities of partnership brokering, and how practitioners navigate these to help partnerships progress and achieve transformation. These papers have been created by alumni of the PBA Accreditation Programme as part of their learning journey.

Continuing the launch theme of the art & science of partnership brokering, we have invited PBA Accreditation alumni Kate Hayes to share her paper which reflects on intuition as the art of brokering.

This paper argues that partnership brokering can be strengthened through both a science and an art orientation and explores how creative discernment – intuition – has been critical to the author’s art of brokering.  Throughout the partnership process the broker is responsible for shape-shifting from coach to facilitator to mediator to challenger to finisher. This shape shifting requires active and rational discernment. At key transition points in the partnering process, however, the author also learnt the value of ceding the rational and the scientific to allow her intuition to instruct and to inform.  Two case studies are provided that illustrate how at certain times a different way of seeing and discerning – an intuitive way – can lead to surprising and positive outcomes for the partnerships at hand.

Read Kate Hayes’ paper here. If you would like to share your comments with the author or us, please email learning@partnershipbrokers.org.

PBA is launching a new knowledge sharing initiative. Twice a month we will be publishing compelling, interesting, and sometimes thought-provoking papers which have been conceived and created by alumni of the PBA Accreditation Programme.

Inviting readers to dive into individual journeys of reflection, authors share the insights gained during their mentored practice. These individual stories of exploration of partnerships, of self and others, and of learning, are important pieces. Each of which is contributing to a colourful, diverse, and ever-growing mosaic of what partnership brokers do to achieve real transformation.

These papers have been entirely written by candidates, and have not been edited by PBA.

This month we are looking into the ART & SCIENCE of partnership brokering. Starting the series off, we are presenting you with a marvellous paper on artistic expression as a tool for deep self-reflection by CAROLYN WAYE.

The author’s background as a singer has taught her that song can often express mood and thought in a way that is hard to duplicate using other methods of communication. Mentorship and self-reflection helped the author find the strength to express her learnings through song thereby finding deeper meaning and connections to her work. The author hopes this exploration will help brokers be open to embracing courageous new ways of strengthening their brokering practises through artistic expression. This paper suggests that incorporating artistic expression into self-reflection and partnership processes can open the mind to insights in professional practise.

Read Carolyn’s paper here. If you would like to share your comments with the author or us, please email learning@partnershipbrokers.org.

PBA is delighted to announce the publication of Shaping Sustainable Change: The role of partnership brokering in optimising collaborative action. The idea of writing the book was first discussed in 2014 and, a year later, was given impetus by the positioning of multi-actor partnerships as central to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, increasing attention was being paid to the role played by individuals and organisations who acted as ‘boundary spanners’ and ‘bridge-builders’ for these relationships. Shaping Sustainable Change aims to make the case for partnership brokering and share information on this emerging profession. In order to offer a useful blend of theory and practice, the book combines the knowledge and experience of PBA’s international network of associates and alumni with perspectives from wider literature and the academic arena. The first section explores the profile and key activities carried out by partnership brokers, and the skills and competencies required to undertake this role. This is followed by examples of partnership brokering practice in relation to different contexts, sectors, themes and partnering phases. The process of compiling the publication has involved a committed group of authors, peer reviewers, editors and proofreaders to whom we are immensely grateful. We hope that the book does justice to the work of partnership brokers everywhere and reinforces the importance of their contribution to building transformational collaborative arrangements for a more equitable and sustainable world.

You can purchase your copy here.

Published as part of the Promoting Effective Partnering (PEP) project, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands, the report draws on the experiences of partnership brokers worldwide.  It explores the emerging lessons about partnering in diverse contexts – exploring the factors at national and local levels that impact what partnering is possible.

PBA is one of 5 partners in the project. The other 4 are: The Collective Leadership Institute, Partnerships Resource Centre, Partnerships in Practice & The Partnering Initiative.

To read the report: https://partnershipbrokers.org/w/learning/recent-current-research/

For more information on the project, visit the PRC website: http://www.rsm.nl/prc/our-research/projects/promoting-effective-partnering-pep/