3 Planning a partnership

At this point you should be able to see that the Building Partnerships Map tool is useful for developing a partnership. Perhaps you might find it useful as a checklist, or to prompt discussions. What is particularly good about this tool is that it identifies stages and prompts thought and action on what may need to occur at each stage.

You may also recognise that partnerships rarely follow a straight path; this tool should therefore be used flexibly. It might be problematic to think that you cannot progress to a particular stage because you have not completed a previous stage. This rigid thinking can frustrate some stakeholders. The reality of partnerships is that these processes need to be somewhat iterative rather than entirely prescribed (Figure 3).

Cartoon of man standing in front of a display board which has a diagram of a box with the figure 1 in it and then an arrow to a box with the figure2. The man is looking at three seated people, one who has his hand up with speech bubble above him “Could you tell us again how we get to step 2”
Figure 3: The stages of a partnership should not be too prescriptive!

Activity 5

Timing: Allow around 10-15 minutes for this activity
By signing in and enrolling on this course you can view and complete all activities within the course, track your progress in My OpenLearn Create. and when you have completed a course, you can download and print a free Statement of Participation - which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

2.12 Sustaining or terminating

4 Using the Map to resolve difficulties and challenges