“Trust is key to having successful collaborations”: that was a major takeaway from the powerful Yankee Chapter PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Lunch & Learn session on Aug. 15th. Special thanks to moderator Jill Kimball, APR, Marketing Manager at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital and panelists Kate Luczko, Sr. Director of HealthForce NH and Peter Wright, President & CEO of Northwestern Medical Center, for sharing your insights.
Other Key Takeaways Included:
- Collaboration works when the participating organizations understand what they are going to get out of the collaboration. It’s very important to listen and not make assumptions – take the time to understand, what are their needs? What are their concerns?
- Trust is the foundation for effective collaboration. Everything comes back to trust – what is the history of trust? What are the psycho-social dynamics of trust? How do I build trust? “The more you are able to ‘let go’ to your partners, the more likely you are to get to that level of trust early in the relationship.”
- Define your shared vision and your objectives. “Take a step back and look at the big picture – where are we all trying to get to?” Define your goals and objectives – start with the low-hanging fruit to get some early wins. Use those goals and objectives to measure success.
- Be clear when you set expectations. This applies when working with all the collaborating organizations, but also when you are reporting back to your own organization – they may be looking for a “return on investment” sooner than is realistically possible. Communication about that is key. Sometimes the arrangements are more informal (e.g. feedback from an advisory board) and sometimes more formal (a signed Memorandum of Understanding)
- You need both accountability and flexibility. It’s important to have basic systems in place for clarity on how the organizations will share information, communicate between meetings, complete tasks etc. Meeting minutes will capture who is responsible and what deadlines are involved. Note: collaborations can start to fall apart when these expectations are not met – but sometimes, it is important to be flexible and “give each other some grace”. Even with a plan, it’s important to be open to what you don’t expect. “Sometimes we have to fix the plane while it’s moving.”
- Not everything will go smoothly – expect that and make time to discuss “lessons learned” as intel for moving forward.
- Find the common ground. What will be beneficial for both sides? Start with what is most easily acceptable and move forward. “For example, people may not want to give away all their trade secrets when it comes to recruiting … but they can rally behind a goal of, ‘What can we do collectively to make healthcare more attractive’?”
- Get the right people in the room for decision-making. It is difficult to control which representatives an organization sends to the meetings of the collaborating partners – and if they don’t have decision-making power, they need to go back to get organization’s blessing and that doesn’t always work well. “It’s best to define for the representatives what decision-making power they have, so they know that going in.”
- Renew and refresh. Specific partnerships may align for a certain period of time and in pursuit of a certain objective or audience. As organizational goals, priorities or circumstances shift, understand that partnerships – even long-serving relationships – may have to shift as well. Accept and embrace the opportunity, because it is a terrific way to align with new ways of thinking and foster additional beneficial relationships in your industry or community.
When asked what HealthForce is most proud of, Luczko talked about identifying barriers for hiring more respiratory therapists in NH. “Instead of playing the middleman, we got practicing respiratory therapists in a room together with members of NH OPLC (Office of Professional Licensure and Certification), the NH Hospital Association, and River Valley Community College (who offers the Respiratory Therapy program) and facilitated a discussion on how to solve the problem – while an informal collaboration for now, this felt like a big win.”
According to Wright, the New England Collaborative is working well, with some early group purchasing wins and they have established themselves as a legal entity, hired an Executive Director and reached agreement on how they would be funded. They are well-positioned for future progress. “Relationships are a marathon, not a sprint,” he said.
Robin Schell, APR, Fellow PRSA is Senior Counsel and Partner at Jackson Jackson & Wagner, a behavioral public relations and management consulting firm in the Seacoast of NH. She is currently serving as President of the Yankee Chapter of PRSA.