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63 APPENDIX D: SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS FOR DIFFERENT LEVELS OF COLLABORATION The following questions, found in earlier sections of the handbook, serve as the core infor- mation base for assessing the effectiveness or health of a collaboration. They are collected in this appendix to provide those interested in conducting an assessment with a central location, and possibly an assessment form, for the desired information. Starting a collaboration (or, in our terms, getting to the ladder) ⢠Who are the important participants in the collaboration? And which ones are critical for a successful outcome? ⢠Why would these participants want to be part of a collaboration? What benefits would they likely experience participating in the collaboration? ⢠How will these participants likely view the challenges being faced and the likely activ- ities of the collaborative effort? ⢠Are there influential champions for the collaboration who can convince others to par- ticipate? Or, if you are such a champion, are there cochampions who can help you organize the collaboration? ⢠If no champions exist, what incentives or rationale can be put in place to encourage the willing participation of key agencies and groups? Identifying and acknowledging common purpose, motivation and needs ⢠What is the purpose of the collaboration? Has it been clearly stated? ⢠How will progress be measured? Will this definition of progress be acceptable to those participating in the collaboration? ⢠Are there communication barriers to be overcome among the participants in the col- laboration (the first sign of this is a tendency to speak in acronyms)? Do those in the collaboration need to agree on a common set of terms? ⢠How will success (or failure) affect each participant? Which of the participants will benefit the most from success or be hurt the most from failure? ⢠What will each participant need in terms of resources and mutual support to partici- pate effectively in the collaboration? ⢠What does each participant bring to the collaboration? Is this contribution sufficient to achieve the desired goals? ⢠Do participants trust one another? If not, what is the best way to establish trust among the participants?
64 Establishing ground rules and a decision-making framework ⢠Who should take the lead in developing a proposed set of ground rules and a decision- making framework? Does this decision-making framework need to be formal or can it, for the time being, survive on an ad hoc basis? ⢠How will the needs and concerns of all the participants be reflected in the established process of decision making? ⢠What are the key intermediate and long-term results that are desired from the collab- oration and how does the decision-making framework lead to these results? ⢠What are the decision-making roles for those involved in the collaboration? (For exam- ple, in some cases, decision-making authority is given to an executive committee, with other participants having an advisory role.) ⢠Do those participating in the collaboration have the authority to commit their agencies or groups to carrying out jointly made decisions? ⢠Who at the higher levels of authority might have to be called upon to make decisions in the event of an impasse; that is, who will be the arbiters? Determining who will assume responsibility for collaborative activities ⢠What are the critical decisions that will have to be made over the life of the collabo- ration? What type of information will be necessary to support these decisions? ⢠What staff, financial, and information resources are available to make the work pro- gram successful? What resources are needed? ⢠Is the work program consistent with the cultural norms of the organizations that are participating? If not, where will opposition to the work program likely arise? ⢠Who should have what responsibilities for individual work tasks? ⢠What is the time frame for accomplishing different parts of the work program? Is this time frame consistent with the timing of the challenge being faced (e.g., an Olympics transportation program in place by the opening of the Games)? Establishing common communication among those in the collaboration through the sharing of information ⢠Who are the target audiences for decision-making or operations information? ⢠What are the critical pieces of information that need to be obtained for effective coordination? ⢠Who collects and analyzes the data that form the foundation of this information? ⢠Are consistent formats, terminology, definitions and technology used in order to fos- ter information sharing? If not, how will such a consistent framework be developed? ⢠Who will take responsibility for the overall communications system? Will it be cen- tralized? Or will it be coordinated centrally, but distributed among collaboration participants?
65 ⢠How will the purchase and ongoing costs of shared information and communications systems be funded? What type of updating strategy (and thus sharing of costs) will be necessary to ensure that these systems stay up to date? Coordinating activities of partner organizations, with each organization using its own standard procedures ⢠Is the decision-making structure established early in the collaboration still sufficient to provide the level of coordination needed at this step on the ladder? If not, what changes should be made? ⢠What components of the outcome of the collaboration need to be coordinated? Who is responsible for each component? ⢠What do each of the collaboration partners have to give up (if anything) to provide for coordinated activities? ⢠Are the standard procedures of partner organizations as they relate to collaboration goals sufficient to ensure coordinated outcomes? ⢠How visible will the ultimate outcomes be to the public? Does such visibility create addi- tional pressure on the collaboration for overall success or make the chance of failure less acceptable? ⢠What feedback mechanisms will be used to make sure coordination is occurring and that the activities will lead to the desired outcomes? ⢠What decision-making structure is in place to make changes to the coordination strat- egy if it is not producing the desired outcome? Coordinating activities of partner organizations, with mutually-agreed-upon standard practices established by the collaboration ⢠Is the decision-making structure established early in the collaboration still sufficient to provide the level of coordination needed at this step on the ladder? If not, what changes should be made? ⢠With respect to the collaboration goal, what decisions have to be made when? What are the current organizational procedures for making these decisions? ⢠Are there elements to the collaborative strategy that require common procedures or activities on the part of those participating? ⢠To what extent will the adoption of common procedures be opposed by those partici- pating in the collaboration? What incentives could be provided to support this change? ⢠To what extent should these procedures be adopted simply by the collaboration or by each participating organization through its own procedure adoption process? ⢠What decision-making structure is in place to make changes to the coordination strat- egy if it is not producing the desired outcome?
66 Coordinating activities through shared funding, management, and accountability ⢠Is the decision-making structure established early in the collaboration still sufficient to provide the level of coordination needed at this step on the ladder? If not, what changes should be made? ⢠Is a shared management and accountability arrangement enabled by legislation or administrative rule? If it is, what are the requirements of this enabling legislation? If it is not, should it be? ⢠How are the important decisions going to be made in a shared management structure? Who will broker disagreements? Who will arbitrate competing priorities? ⢠Will this decision-making structure likely change under different demands and con- texts? If so, how will such changes occur? And who is responsible for initiating such change? ⢠If something goes wrong, who will likely receive the first call? Who will receive the last call? (No, it cannot be done by e-mail!) ⢠Will any costs of the collaboration have to be jointly funded? If so, what is the most equitable allocation of these costs? ⢠What organizational mechanisms or structures are in place to support shared manage- ment activities? Where are there gaps between the need for such structures and their being in place? If needs exist, how will you design and implement the tools for accom- plishing a joint management structure? ⢠How is accountability for joint decision making going to be accomplished? What are the feedback mechanisms between outcomes and the decision-making structure? Establishing a new organization to pursue the goals originally established by the collaboration ⢠Is the creation of an organization enabled by legislation or administrative rule? If it is, what are the requirements of this enabling legislation? If it is not, should it be? ⢠How will relations with the original collaboration partners be handled? How will their support be continued? ⢠How will different partner activities be modified, transferred, or merged with those of the new organization so as to avoid inefficiencies and possible duplication? ⢠How will common relationships with participants external to the collaboration be handled? How will these communications occur? ⢠To the extent that members of the new organization are supplied by the original col- laboration partners, how will different organizational cultures be incorporated (if at all) into the new organization?
⢠How will information and analysis capabilities be structured to reflect the new orga- nizational culture? ⢠What training and internal education of employees are necessary to reinforce intended goals? Supporting and nurturing the level of collaboration that has resulted ⢠What have been the benefits of the collaboration to date for each of the participants? Do the participants understand or at least perceive these benefits? ⢠What actions or activities can be undertaken to reinforce such perception of benefits? ⢠Are benefits still worth the cost in time, dollars, and staff? ⢠Are the costs of the collaboration equitably distributed among participants? ⢠How can a reward or incentive structure be established for collaboration participants to recognize the important role they are playing? ⢠How can information exchange and personal contacts be maintained so that they can provide the foundation for other collaborative efforts? ⢠When new organizations or staff members join the collaboration, how should they be educated on the collaborative nature of the activities? ⢠How can the benefits of collaboration be better communicated to key organization decision makers, the media, and the general public? ⢠How is the collaboration going to be evaluated over time so that improvements can be made and benefits can continue to accrue to participating organizations? Through such feedback, how can the collaboration be made more efficient and effective? 67
