Category Archives: collaboration

How NOT to Treat Your Grant Project Partners

I don’t know about you, but I can learn just as much – sometimes more – from a bad example as I can from a good example.  I was in a grant partnership meeting this week and I witnessed a whole bunch of examples of how not to treat your grant project partners, so I thought I’d share some of those with you.

1. Don’t throw one of your partners under the bus for your own political agenda. I’m speaking figuratively, of course.  I assume none of you would actually throw anyone under a bus. In a partnership setting, you need to remember that the value of your relationships with your community partners will extend far beyond the issue at hand.  It might seem expedient to make one of your partners look bad now so you can gain something, but in the long run, it’s never a good idea and it almost always comes back to haunt you.  Besides, it’s just not very nice.

2. Don’t reprimand your staff in front of your partners. Any good manager knows that reprimanding staff in public is a lousy idea, but it can be particularly harmful in a partnership meeting.  If you don’t have confidence in your staff, why should your partners? Maybe your grant partners are much more comfortable working with your staff than with you. In that case, reprimanding your staff in front of them will make them defensive. Again, it’s just not very nice.

3. Don’t spring big decisions on your partners at the last minute. Just like you need time to carefully consider important decisions before you make them, so do your grant partners. Don’t show up at the meeting with a bunch of new and important information and expect a decision immediately.

4. Don’t jump to conclusions. In a complex collaborative project, there are many interests.  Some of those are complementary and some are competing.  Unless you have been part of every conversation about a particular topic, don’t assume you know everything that’s going on.  You probably don’t.  It’s especially important not to jump to conclusions if you haven’t been present for all of the regular partnership meetings.

5. Don’t insist that the group re-discuss issues from last meeting because you didn’t show up to the last meeting. If you are unable to make it to a meeting, you are responsible for getting the information and bringing yourself up to speed on things.  That may mean contacting your partners in-between meetings.  If you know that is an item on the agenda that is important to you, you should have a representative present who can speak to it on your behalf.

Building and nuturing partnerships is a complex task.  Months, even years, worth of work and trust can be shattered in an afternoon if you are careless about how you treat people.  Think of the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be rteated and you will rarely go wrong.

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How NOT to Treat Your Grant Project Partners

I don’t know about you, but I can learn just as much – sometimes more – from a bad example as I can from a good example.  I was in a grant partnership meeting this week and I witnessed a whole bunch of examples of how not to treat your grant project partners, so I thought I’d share some of those with you.

1. Don’t throw one of your partners under the bus for your own political agenda. I’m speaking figuratively, of course.  I assume none of you would actually throw anyone under a bus. In a partnership setting, you need to remember that the value of your relationships with your community partners will extend far beyond the issue at hand.  It might seem expedient to make one of your partners look bad now so you can gain something, but in the long run, it’s never a good idea and it almost always comes back to haunt you.  Besides, it’s just not very nice.

2. Don’t reprimand your staff in front of your partners. Any good manager knows that reprimanding staff in public is a lousy idea, but it can be particularly harmful in a partnership meeting.  If you don’t have confidence in your staff, why should your partners? Maybe your grant partners are much more comfortable working with your staff than with you. In that case, reprimanding your staff in front of them will make them defensive. Again, it’s just not very nice.

3. Don’t spring big decisions on your partners at the last minute. Just like you need time to carefully consider important decisions before you make them, so do your grant partners. Don’t show up at the meeting with a bunch of new and important information and expect a decision immediately.

4. Don’t jump to conclusions. In a complex collaborative project, there are many interests.  Some of those are complementary and some are competing.  Unless you have been part of every conversation about a particular topic, don’t assume you know everything that’s going on.  You probably don’t.  It’s especially important not to jump to conclusions if you haven’t been present for all of the regular partnership meetings.

5. Don’t insist that the group re-discuss issues from last meeting because you didn’t show up to the last meeting. If you are unable to make it to a meeting, you are responsible for getting the information and bringing yourself up to speed on things.  That may mean contacting your partners in-between meetings.  If you know that is an item on the agenda that is important to you, you should have a representative present who can speak to it on your behalf.

Building and nuturing partnerships is a complex task.  Months, even years, worth of work and trust can be shattered in an afternoon if you are careless about how you treat people.  Think of the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be rteated and you will rarely go wrong.

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Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Grant Writing is like a Bicycle Built for Two

So this morning I am walking to the coffee shop to drink coffee and use free wifi when a guy pedals past me on a bicycle built for two .…alone.
My first thought was that his girlfriend may be lying somewhere scratched and angry up the road but when I didn’t find her I began to feel sorry for the guy.
I wondered to myself if this wasn’t some sort of e-harmony  experiment gone awry.  Their online disclosures may have missed his fantasy for whisking her away on his bicycle; perhaps she had balked and rebuked his penchant for pedantic pedaling.
In any case, my mind soon turned to grant writing, as it frequently does, and I thought about clients I’ve had who after learning about the bicycle built for two that we needed to pedal together in order to get the work of the grant done, had similarly balked at sharing the load.
Completing a grant application successfully is a partnership between the writer and the client not unlike riding a bicycle built for two.  The client should steer the process to make sure that the grant goes where they want it to go.  They also need to pedal along with the writer –  there’s work for both to do.
So long as both parties pedal hard and long, the bike will take them to the desired destination: grant submission and with a little good fortune, full funding!
So writers and clients need to jump on that bicycle together, pedal hard, and steer well.  Don’t leave your grant writer sweating and pedaling along solo or the grant may not reach its destination successfully.  The writer, like the solitary guy on his bike this morning, may get tired, and let’s face it, the journey is more enjoyable with someone to chat with along the way.
By Derek Link, Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer
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Download our free Top Ten Grant Writing Tips webinar!

Grant Writing is like a Bicycle Built for Two

So this morning I am walking to the coffee shop to drink coffee and use free wifi when a guy pedals past me on a bicycle built for two .…alone.
My first thought was that his girlfriend may be lying somewhere scratched and angry up the road but when I didn’t find her I began to feel sorry for the guy.
I wondered to myself if this wasn’t some sort of e-harmony  experiment gone awry.  Their online disclosures may have missed his fantasy for whisking her away on his bicycle; perhaps she had balked and rebuked his penchant for pedantic pedaling.
In any case, my mind soon turned to grant writing, as it frequently does, and I thought about clients I’ve had who after learning about the bicycle built for two that we needed to pedal together in order to get the work of the grant done, had similarly balked at sharing the load.
Completing a grant application successfully is a partnership between the writer and the client not unlike riding a bicycle built for two.  The client should steer the process to make sure that the grant goes where they want it to go.  They also need to pedal along with the writer –  there’s work for both to do.
So long as both parties pedal hard and long, the bike will take them to the desired destination: grant submission and with a little good fortune, full funding!
So writers and clients need to jump on that bicycle together, pedal hard, and steer well.  Don’t leave your grant writer sweating and pedaling along solo or the grant may not reach its destination successfully.  The writer, like the solitary guy on his bike this morning, may get tired, and let’s face it, the journey is more enjoyable with someone to chat with along the way.
By Derek Link, Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer
———————————-
Download our free Top Ten Grant Writing Tips webinar!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Grant Writing is a Team Sport

Nobody likes to work alone more than I do. Don’t get me wrong.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy the company of others or the intellectual stimulation that only comes with working with others, but I love the feeling of getting into “the zone” when I’m writing, and that simply doesn’t happen when there are other people around interrupting the work.  OK, they may call it “offering ideas,” but when you’re deep into the writing, it feels like an interruption.

That said, it’s important to remember that grant writing is not a solo sport – it’s a team sport. Even if you are self-employed and you have no support staff, your client is part of your team.  He or she has information that you need to get the work done.  If you are the executive director of a non-profit organization who does all the grant writing for your organization, you may feel like you’re flying solo in the grant writing process, but you’re not.  You have a team of folks who all have bits and pieces of what you need to complete the task and do it well.

This means that all of us lone wolves (or prima donnas, depending on your perspective) need to remember what we learned in kindergarten – that it is very important to know how to work and play well with others.

I have had some clients who apparently never learned that.  They either act like the playground bully, shouting orders and demands, or they play off alone in their own sandbox and then wonder later why I couldn’t read their minds.

You can call it working together, or teamwork, or collaboration, but the reality is that you can’t do it well alone.  You need others to help you get to your goal.  The more you recognize that and embrace that, the more successful you’ll be.

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Related Posts:

The Importance of Networking

Our Favorite Clients

When Partnerships Go Bad

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If you really want some help with your grant writing, consider becoming a member of grantgoddess.com!

Grant Writing is a Team Sport

Nobody likes to work alone more than I do. Don’t get me wrong.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy the company of others or the intellectual stimulation that only comes with working with others, but I love the feeling of getting into “the zone” when I’m writing, and that simply doesn’t happen when there are other people around interrupting the work.  OK, they may call it “offering ideas,” but when you’re deep into the writing, it feels like an interruption.

That said, it’s important to remember that grant writing is not a solo sport – it’s a team sport. Even if you are self-employed and you have no support staff, your client is part of your team.  He or she has information that you need to get the work done.  If you are the executive director of a non-profit organization who does all the grant writing for your organization, you may feel like you’re flying solo in the grant writing process, but you’re not.  You have a team of folks who all have bits and pieces of what you need to complete the task and do it well.

This means that all of us lone wolves (or prima donnas, depending on your perspective) need to remember what we learned in kindergarten – that it is very important to know how to work and play well with others.

I have had some clients who apparently never learned that.  They either act like the playground bully, shouting orders and demands, or they play off alone in their own sandbox and then wonder later why I couldn’t read their minds.

You can call it working together, or teamwork, or collaboration, but the reality is that you can’t do it well alone.  You need others to help you get to your goal.  The more you recognize that and embrace that, the more successful you’ll be.

—————————-
Related Posts:

The Importance of Networking

Our Favorite Clients

When Partnerships Go Bad

—————————-

If you really want some help with your grant writing, consider becoming a member of grantgoddess.com!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Learning to Collaborate

Some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on schools and collaboration:

The Full-Service Community Schools Program Grant application has just been released so my thoughts have turned, once again, to the fact that schools just can’t take on all the problems of today’s children and their parents and, at the same time, focus on turning around a school labeled as “failing.” Schools need other agencies to share some of the responsibility.

Imagine a community school intentionally transformed into a neighborhood hub – open all the time to children and their families and, in this school, a range of support services is provided by community agencies to help students overcome the obstacles that interfere with their learning and success in school.

In order to create this system of comprehensive, coordinated support in a community school model, schools have to learn to work in different ways. Schools have tended to be isolated to a significant extent from direct intervention of other professionals; where they have had to work with other agencies, their relative size, statutory nature and high degree of control over what happens within their walls have often made them difficult partners (and I know many community non-profits working with children at school sites can attest to that!).

Educators and human service providers traditionally have been on different tracks. To collaborate, schools (and agencies) must be willing to negotiate on issues such as confidentiality, discipline, equipment, and transportation, to name a few. Many large educational initiatives (Safe Schools/Healthy Students, Healthy Start, 21st Century Community Learning Centers) insist on collaboration – often on the school site – and this has shifted the balance from control to cooperation. Principals and teachers realize that they need the cooperation of other professionals in order to reach the standards of performance by which their schools are judged.

Full service community schools are jointly operated and financed by a school district and a community-based organization. Each community school is unique based on what the neighborhood needs. Does the full service community school work? Preliminary research shows improved achievement, much better attendance rates, lower delinquency, and significant student and parent approval. Joy Dryfoos (well-known researcher and advocate of full service schools) states that the full service community school is a strategy – not a program – for “redesigning education to meet the needs of a modern, dynamic society.”

Learning to collaborate is a critical key in successful community schools. Collaboration benefits schools and community organizations in several ways:

  1. Working as a team leads to improved effectiveness, more efficient use of resources, better access to services and more productive partnerships;
  2. When schools and community based organizations cooperate to align resources with common goals, children and youth are more likely to succeed academically, socially, and physically;
  3. Collaboration among professionals provides opportunities to enlarge and deepen practice as school staff and community organizations learn from each other; and 
  4. Much more can be accomplished for children and families as a team than can be accomplished by any one organization in isolation.

Take a look at the Full Service Community Schools Program application.

For more information: Inside Full Service Community Schools, by Joy G. Dryfoos & Sue Maguire.

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Visit GrantGoddess.com for more great tips on collaboration and grant writing!


Learning to Collaborate

Some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on schools and collaboration:

The Full-Service Community Schools Program Grant application has just been released so my thoughts have turned, once again, to the fact that schools just can’t take on all the problems of today’s children and their parents and, at the same time, focus on turning around a school labeled as “failing.” Schools need other agencies to share some of the responsibility.

Imagine a community school intentionally transformed into a neighborhood hub – open all the time to children and their families and, in this school, a range of support services is provided by community agencies to help students overcome the obstacles that interfere with their learning and success in school.

In order to create this system of comprehensive, coordinated support in a community school model, schools have to learn to work in different ways. Schools have tended to be isolated to a significant extent from direct intervention of other professionals; where they have had to work with other agencies, their relative size, statutory nature and high degree of control over what happens within their walls have often made them difficult partners (and I know many community non-profits working with children at school sites can attest to that!).

Educators and human service providers traditionally have been on different tracks. To collaborate, schools (and agencies) must be willing to negotiate on issues such as confidentiality, discipline, equipment, and transportation, to name a few. Many large educational initiatives (Safe Schools/Healthy Students, Healthy Start, 21st Century Community Learning Centers) insist on collaboration – often on the school site – and this has shifted the balance from control to cooperation. Principals and teachers realize that they need the cooperation of other professionals in order to reach the standards of performance by which their schools are judged.

Full service community schools are jointly operated and financed by a school district and a community-based organization. Each community school is unique based on what the neighborhood needs. Does the full service community school work? Preliminary research shows improved achievement, much better attendance rates, lower delinquency, and significant student and parent approval. Joy Dryfoos (well-known researcher and advocate of full service schools) states that the full service community school is a strategy – not a program – for “redesigning education to meet the needs of a modern, dynamic society.”

Learning to collaborate is a critical key in successful community schools. Collaboration benefits schools and community organizations in several ways:

  1. Working as a team leads to improved effectiveness, more efficient use of resources, better access to services and more productive partnerships;
  2. When schools and community based organizations cooperate to align resources with common goals, children and youth are more likely to succeed academically, socially, and physically;
  3. Collaboration among professionals provides opportunities to enlarge and deepen practice as school staff and community organizations learn from each other; and 
  4. Much more can be accomplished for children and families as a team than can be accomplished by any one organization in isolation.

Take a look at the Full Service Community Schools Program application.

For more information: Inside Full Service Community Schools, by Joy G. Dryfoos & Sue Maguire.

———————–

Visit GrantGoddess.com for more great tips on collaboration and grant writing!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Virtual Collaboration

Here are some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on Virtual Collaboration:

Collaboration is a process of participation through which people, groups and organizations work together to achieve desired results. Starting or sustaining a collaborative journey is exciting, sometimes stressful, and even new for many. Successful collaboration requires focus on the goals of the team and on the development of trusting relationships. These relationships allow people to overcome problems that might arise through the collaborative process. While most of our collaborative tasks are still done in face-to-face meetings, technology has enabled us to collaborate from afar. It has given us the ability to be members of a professional learning community that may include people from around the globe.

Is collaboration on virtual teams as effective as collaborative teams that meet face to face? Dr. Jaclyn Kostner (author of Bridge the Distance) found that virtual teams tended to keep their focus on priorities better than face-to-face teams and, in fact, virtual meetings were frequently shorter; however, the virtual collaborative teams failed more often. One of the reasons for this higher rate of failure, according to Dr. Kostner, is that virtual teams did not develop the relationships that allowed them to work as a team to overcome problems – they did not collaborate in any meaningful way. As organizations move toward using technology to facilitate collaboration among teams that are split by distance what are some ways that teams can collaborate better at a distance? Here are a few tips:

  1. Don’t multi-task at virtual meetings. Close your email, turn off your alerts and pay attention. The only time an entire virtual team can collaborate is when they are meeting. If you want your team to collaborate and be a team make sure that everyone pays attention and participates in team meetings.
  2. Meet face to face as often as possible. While the technology tools that enable us to communicate virtually save time and money, there is no better way to develop relationships than face to face. This may not be a possibility for teams that are at long distances apart. Make sure that you do allow some virtual time to get to know your team.
  3. Create office hours when team members can be reached. Collaboration among team members is an important way to create relationships and overcome the barrier of distance. Because it is so difficult to get anyone live these days, set up hours for each team member when they agree to be available, answer their phones, and take the time to work with the other team member.

Dr. Kostner was the spokesperson for a study conducted by Frost and Sullivan (Meetings around the World) sponsored by Microsoft and Verizon. The basic conclusion from this study was “The more collaborative organizations are, the better they perform. Conversely, the less collaborative they are, the worse they perform.” So if virtual teaming is in your plan, pay attention to creating a virtual team that collaborates well.

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Would you like more of MaryEllen’s insight?  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com and visit the Coach’s Corner.

Virtual Collaboration

Here are some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on Virtual Collaboration:

Collaboration is a process of participation through which people, groups and organizations work together to achieve desired results. Starting or sustaining a collaborative journey is exciting, sometimes stressful, and even new for many. Successful collaboration requires focus on the goals of the team and on the development of trusting relationships. These relationships allow people to overcome problems that might arise through the collaborative process. While most of our collaborative tasks are still done in face-to-face meetings, technology has enabled us to collaborate from afar. It has given us the ability to be members of a professional learning community that may include people from around the globe.

Is collaboration on virtual teams as effective as collaborative teams that meet face to face? Dr. Jaclyn Kostner (author of Bridge the Distance) found that virtual teams tended to keep their focus on priorities better than face-to-face teams and, in fact, virtual meetings were frequently shorter; however, the virtual collaborative teams failed more often. One of the reasons for this higher rate of failure, according to Dr. Kostner, is that virtual teams did not develop the relationships that allowed them to work as a team to overcome problems – they did not collaborate in any meaningful way. As organizations move toward using technology to facilitate collaboration among teams that are split by distance what are some ways that teams can collaborate better at a distance? Here are a few tips:

  1. Don’t multi-task at virtual meetings. Close your email, turn off your alerts and pay attention. The only time an entire virtual team can collaborate is when they are meeting. If you want your team to collaborate and be a team make sure that everyone pays attention and participates in team meetings.
  2. Meet face to face as often as possible. While the technology tools that enable us to communicate virtually save time and money, there is no better way to develop relationships than face to face. This may not be a possibility for teams that are at long distances apart. Make sure that you do allow some virtual time to get to know your team.
  3. Create office hours when team members can be reached. Collaboration among team members is an important way to create relationships and overcome the barrier of distance. Because it is so difficult to get anyone live these days, set up hours for each team member when they agree to be available, answer their phones, and take the time to work with the other team member.

Dr. Kostner was the spokesperson for a study conducted by Frost and Sullivan (Meetings around the World) sponsored by Microsoft and Verizon. The basic conclusion from this study was “The more collaborative organizations are, the better they perform. Conversely, the less collaborative they are, the worse they perform.” So if virtual teaming is in your plan, pay attention to creating a virtual team that collaborates well.

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Would you like more of MaryEllen’s insight?  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com and visit the Coach’s Corner.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com