Multi-partner project development can be a pain in the backside. Often large amounts of project time is spent having meetings to give a sensation of action, without actually moving a project or campaign forward. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Group dynamics are notoriously tricky especially when organisational agendas take precedence over partnership aims. Starting off on the right foot, creating house rules or conventions, and a set of common values can seriously increase a partnership’s productivity, promote effective communication and reduce anxiety.
We can develop a workshop or set of workshops to help you build your collaboration with a positive start that is focused outwardly on a shared set of goals. We can also help you kick start things if you feel your partnership has stalled or diagnose where problems may lie.
GROW to help develop vision and agreement in partnerships and collaborations
In July 2018 our Director, Tehmina Goskar, was co-commissioned by Arts Council England North to create a facilitated workshop with the aim of bringing diverse theatre practitioners and organisations together in Yorkshire. Working with her partner Gemma Baxter of the National Theatre, they created a novel workshop called Working Together for Yorkshire Theatre.
ACE North wanted the workshop to help create collegiate conditions for funded theatre (NPOs) and independent creative practitioners to work towards the same set of goals. Using a combination of self-awareness activities and a unique adoption of the GROW model for planning, the participants took the opportunity to state and then prioritise the goals which were most mutually important. Each left with a set of actions that ACE North could use to support and unite the newly formed network. Using a facilitated approach we could ensure that this valuable opportunity was focused on positive, active and future-facing outcomes, while also giving space to air concerns and problems.