Natural partners are people in the organisation who are good at developing partnerships, whoever those partnerships are with.
It's important to have natural partners in your organisation because some key challenges for local authorities, for example managing waste, driving down fear of crime and addressing anti-social behaviour are difficult, if not impossible, to tackle alone. And joint working can be a great way to save costs.
Partnering needs to be for a good purpose and must also lead to real action. Natural partners will constantly be asking the question, ‘How will this partnership ultimately make things better for citizens (via better service or lower costs)?'
How do I become a natural partner?
- Ensure your partnerships have a joint plan for realising and measuring benefits. Be honest about benefits that are not equally spread.
- Make partnership outcomes your core business, for example include partnership skills and outcomes in appraisals.
- Spend time with your partners to build trust.
Case study: Adur and Worthing
Adur and Worthing District Councils built trust, mutual respect and joint methods of working over a five year period by taking advantage of initially ad hoc opportunities to work together whenever they arose. This history of close working has now resulted in a large-scale sharing of services; the total value of services shared by the partners is over £3.8m per annum.