The Partnership Brokers Association

Partnering invariably cuts through established, more traditional ways of working. It requires people from different entities, sectors and communities to cross their organisational boundaries and engage differently.

This process can be difficult. PBA identified the 5 most common challenges and developed a principled approach to turn challenge into value-add of the partnering approach.

Building on the 5 PBA partnering principles of Relishing Diversity, Building Equity, Promoting Openness, Ensuring Mutual Benefit and Courage To Be Different, Australia-based partnership broker SOPHIE CLAYTON tells us her story of how she approached the integration of these principles into the start-up phase of a two-year, multi-stakeholder collaboration.

She details her thinking on how a partnership broker can facilitate processes that support partners in setting principles that are real for themselves and their context. What does each principle mean in practice? In her work, Sophie builds on this question by proposing supporting behaviours and matching statements of intent.

“The partnering principles form the basis of practice for all partnership brokers. They are high level and open to interpretation – to be used as guides and inspiration. However, there is scope to add to the principles by associating them with pro-partnering behaviours. For each principle, this paper proposes behaviours and statements of intent, adding substance and specificity to help add meaning to the principles so that partners know what to do to reflect the principles in their actions. Also, a sixth principle – accountability – is proposed, to address unreliability concerns and build credibility among partners. “

Download Sophie Clayton’s paper here and tune into this short video to hear from Sophie about her PBA Accreditation journey.

When immersed in collaborative processes, partnership brokers often operate in a doing-mindset, using tools that help partners work through what’s needed now.

By turning our attention to developing our inner awareness – our inner condition as partnership brokers – we may experience a shift from doing to being.

During her 3-month mentored practice Australia-based internal partnership broker MICHELLE COSTELLO experienced just that. In her PBA Accreditation paper, she explores how cultivating inner awareness has fostered a much richer connection to the partners and the partnership’s potential and resulted in transformative outcomes.

“Developing personal awareness about the place from which we partner has the potential to deepen connection with partners, strengthen practice and enhance outcomes. This paper proposes a brokering practice continuum that can support brokers to delineate, appreciate and reflect on the difference between outer place and inner place focused partnering. It is an evolving collection and reflection of early insights into how and why the shift to inner place partnering can support: deeper connection with partners; greater alignment with the partnership’s emerging potential; shifts in outcomes that have previously been slow to gain momentum; and brokers to role model Partnership Brokers Good Practice Principles.”

Download Michelle Costello’s paper here and get in touch with her and other brilliant partnership brokers via PBA LinkedIn.

Meet Michelle through this short video. She tells us about her accreditation journey and how it impacted her collaborative practice.

This case study on the establishment and functioning of an innovative consortium model to address online abuse and exploitation of children in the Philippines was written by a PBA Associate and a colleague of hers. It was commissioned by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Click here to read the paper.

From idea to impact: Partnerships for innovation

All innovation requires some form of partnership to get through to scale or maturity. If you’re innovating, you’re not doing it alone.

Join us on 17-18 November, as we share a short taste of our new course ‘Innovation Partnerships: The Masterclass Series’, coming February 2022.

You will learn about practices, frameworks and skills that specifically support you in managing collaboration across the innovation cycle. Click here to learn more.

PBA Associates and innovation experts Ian Gray and Michelle Halse are pleased to invite you to a 90-minute learning space to share current thinking and approaches in this field. The live-webinar is a free taster for the new “Innovation Partnerships – The Masterclass Series“ brought to you by Gray Dot Catalyst and Living Collaborations in association with PBA.

Sign up now and share this opportunity with your colleagues.

Gandhi once said „The power to question is the basis of all human progress.“ The same could be said for progress in partnerships.

In this edition of Stories from Practice we present a paper on how systemising the art and science of posting questions can shape collaborative processes, and help unearth deeper layers of understanding.

Being confined to digital spaces during the pandemic, Australia based partnership expert KYLIE SHAE reflected on the changed setting and how this impacts the way she can initiate meaningful conversations to support her partnership work.

„In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded in 2020, this paper explores the use of questions as a powerful partnership intervention tool. When a partnership broker’s field of view is condensed to a zoom window, deep consideration of the questions that frame our partnership discussions can help maximise our effectiveness. Drawn from personal reflections and the concept of strategic questioning developed by Fran Peavey, a process for framing questions is introduced, emphasising clarity of purpose, consideration of how and by whom questions are delivered, and the partnership broker’s reflection on their qualities as questioner and listener.”

Read Kylie’s paper here and let us know how you integrate questioning in your brokering work on Twitter and LinkedIn.

At PBA we examine and explore partnership brokering through various lenses. One of them is the Art & Science lens. In this edition of “Stories from Practice” we present a paper related to visual-art meditation.

Meditation describes different mind-body practices that help cultivate clarity and calm independent of circumstances. Nepal-based Accreditation alumni and PBA Associate PRAJWAL SHAHI shares his experiences with a visual-art meditation technique and describes how it benefited his reflective practice and work as partnership broker.

„This paper explores the need for and value of meditative steps in reflective practice. It shows how a structured tool, such as Zentangles, can even focus on frameworks used in partnership brokering. One of the paper’s central themes is “learning is ever-evolving.” The author reflects on and re-engineers his problem-solving skills as Partnership Broker by using meditative art. For him it was an indispensable practice during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, where many had to learn how to do business differently. This journey has inspired him to deconstruct the partnership brokering framework using meditative art, to expand his understanding of it and to apply it creatively in a partnering context.“

Read Prajwal’s art-inspiring paper here and share about your reflective practices on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this edition of Stories from Practice we look at the question of transactional and transformational collaboration.

PBA accredited partnership broker ANNELIES CLAESSENS invites us to glimpse into the professional world of an internal partnership broker in an Alliance setting.

She explores ways of looking at added value, transformation and evolution of a complex partnership, and shares her reflections on helping partners move across the collaboration continuum. Annelies’ paper offers an excellent analysis of how collaboration can be both transactional and transformational, as well as an analysis of drivers and approaches to collaboration in the humanitarian sector.

“Imagine accepting the challenge of supporting a partnership of 15 Dutch aid agencies and the Netherlands Ministry of Affairs in moving from ‘transactional’ to ‘transformative’. I found out along the way that this process is not linear but that fluidity between different concept and processes is key. This article describes how an internal broker can assist in finding appropriate decision-making processes for managing such an alliance, whilst being accountable and vulnerable. To co-create, adopt and model the results of the alliance, the internal broker should pivot between providing traditional leadership and encouraging collaborative leadership of the individual organisations.”

Read Annelies’ thought-provoking paper here and tell us about your experiences on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The Partnership Brokers Association was commissioned by Charter for Change, through the Dutch Relief Alliance, to examine the interface between humanitarian and partnering principles, and contribute to the debate on principled humanitarian aid and localisation. The full report  ‘Towards Principled Humanitarian Action in Conflict Contexts – Understanding the Role of Partnerships’ captures the voices of over 120 local/national humanitarian practitioners in Nigeria and South Sudan, and provides some fresh insights into understanding how partnering might support/enable principled humanitarian action.

The report will be launched and discussed on Wednesday 2nd June at 2-3.30pm CET, at an online event moderated by PHAP. We invite you to register and join what will undoubtedly be an important and engaging conversation.

PBA’ s new service, 1-2-1 Professional Support for Partnership Brokers has been designed to support partnership brokers on-the-job, wherever they are in their practice. Whether you are taking on a new partnership brokering role, working through a challenge, aspiring to deepen your practice and grow your skills – you can benefit from 1-2-1 support. The service is provided by a Practice Partner – an experienced, PBA accredited partnership brokers – will work with you 1-2-1. You can choose the Practice Partner you would like to work with under one of the three support packages:

• Sounding Board: up to three focused sessions to navigate a specific partnership brokering challenge
• Deepen Your Practice: longer term professional development support, for example, one session per month over 10 months, plus sharing resources and tools
• On Demand: a set number of sessions to be used as and when needed, within a defined time, as agreed between you and your Practice Partner, a retainer-type agreement

More information on 1-2-1 Professional Support.

Download: 1-2-1 Professional Support brochure (pdf)

DAWN BAGGALEY‘s Accreditation paper explores how partnership brokering is central to creating sustainable change, and how the emerging professions of partnership brokering and sustainability compare.

In her role as Head for Sustainability for the NZ Post, Dawn draws her own experience as a sustainability professional and internal partnership broker and she invites the perspective of others in the field through a survey questionnaire.

She applies the concept of “Tempered Radical” – someone who “works within the system to change the system” – to examine how partnership brokering principles could help the sustainability profession to mobilise knowledge and skills to address systemic, cultural and organisational challenges.

Dawn’s paper sheds light on the skills, tool and strategies they use and how brokering is essential to creating sustainable change.

“This paper explores how partnerships and internal brokering is key for creating sustainable change within organisations in particular business.  Through the lens of Tempered Radicalism, the author is analysing the skills and strategies that have guided her work as a sustainability profession and identify similarities between partnership brokers and sustainability managers. A peer survey shows that over 80% are brokering as part of their day-to-day work.  There is huge potential for both professions to learn from each other and collaborate.”

Download Dawn’s paper here. What are you observing about sustainability and partnership brokering in your collaborative context?

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In 2020 PBA worked on a research on principles and partnerships in conflict setting in South Sudan and Nigeria. The research was commissioned by a coalition of organisations – Caritas Norway, DanChurchAid (DCA), Kindernothilfe (KNH), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA).
Below you can find four key messages derived from the research and actions to be taken. For the the full report “Towards principled humanitarian action in conflict contexts. Understanding the role of partnerships” follow this link.

Download: Messages on Principles and Partnership in Conflict Setting (pdf)

The Certificate in Brokering Partnerships Remotely is a five week course delivered online. The next training will be running from 8 September – 6 October 2021. Weekly webinars will be hosted on Wednesdays at 3:00PM UTC (8:00 Seattle & Vancouver / 10:00 Bogota, Lima & Mexico City / 11:00 Ottawa & Washington DC / 12:00 Brasilia / 15:00 Dakar / 16:00 Abuja & London / 17:00 Johannesburg & Madrid / 18:00 Nairobi).
The course is delivered in English but some of the materials (Course Manual) can be available in Spanish and Portuguese. Participants can also choose to submit their journals in Spanish or Portuguese instead of English.

To get more information and register for the course please visit the Remote Partnering website.

Over the last year, being able to collaborate effectively on partnerships, networks and alliances that are operating remotely has become a ‘must-have’ skill. Our online Brokering Partnerships Remotely course helps to grow your skills, confidence and competencies in brokering partnerships at a distance. This training is an opportunity to experiment and test out novel methods and solutions for the ‘new normal’ of operating remotely. Learnings from the course can be put to immediate use in your day to day partnering work.

Three regional cohorts have been planned for 2021 (more information and to register):

• Europe, Africa, Asia: 3 – 31 March 2021 with Bulbul Baksi, Ros Tennyson and Lola Gostelow
• Americas cohort: 5 May – 2 June 2021 with Catherine Russ, Helga van Kampen and Jocelyne Daw
  
• Oceania and South-East Asia: 18 August – 15 September 2021 with Julie Mundy and Kate Hayes

This course is also offered on commissioned basis. If your organisation might be interested, please contact info@partnershipbrokers.org.

Our first feature in the 2021 Stories from Practice series presents a paper on self-assessment and measuring the value of a partnership broker’s role and work.

The PBA Accreditation journey invited US-based BETHANY CRAIG to take an evidence-based approach to her performance as an internal partnership broker for the American Red Cross.

Assessing her effectiveness to understand how her role is contributing to better partnering outcomes was pivotal for strengthening capacity building across the organisation.

“This paper analyses how the process of reflection informed the approaches to design and test a framework for assessing the effectiveness of partnership brokering. As an internal partnership broker for the American Red Cross one of the author’s key responsibilities focused on building the capacity of colleagues to collaborate well with external partners. The paper examines how understanding one’s own capacities and how the process of partnership brokering is effectively adding value is positively impacting organisational learning.”

Bethany’s paper offers an excellent example of developing a practical tool that internal brokers can use to measure the effectiveness and impact of their collaborative work.

Download the paper here and let’s hear about your evaluation approaches. How do you make the impact of your partnership brokering role more visible? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Before we are closing this turbulent year, we would like to leave you with a thought-provoking and highly relevant story from practice.

In her PBA Accreditation paper Australia-based SAMANTHA GROVER shares about her experiences in integrating gender and equity as values in her partnership work. The relevance of a gender lens in partnership brokering and its contribution towards helping to establish equity moves beyond the man and woman relationship aspects.

Samantha works on environmental issues in an academic context. This invites another layer of significance to her work in that environmentalists consider the exploitation of nature to be supported by a patriarchal framework, while feminists speak about collaboration with nature, which resonates well with the partnering framework.

We all have a gender, but few of us are gender experts. Sustainability unarguably requires greater equity, and yet our internal and external processes are steeped in gendered institutional practices. As partnership brokers, we have the opportunity to help partners to recognise and change inequitable practices. Beginning with internal team practices builds buy-in and confidence. Deep capacity building will be required to mainstream gender and equity within research for sustainable development. Join Partnership Broker Samantha Grover as she weaves gender, academia, and sustainability research into a rich tapestry in this paper.

Read Samantha’s paper here and tell us in what ways you cultivate equity in your collaborative work on Twitter or LinkedIn.