Decision Support Tool Overview

The tool is designed to provide a structured process to inform decision-making related to joint working/collaboration. It sets out a suite of key questions to guide and facilitate discussion with internal organisational members as well as between other agencies in the sector. 

Wherever possible, the activities should be completed by participating partners as a group. The discussion involved in working through the activities will help to strengthen the partnership by clarifying ideas and different perspectives. In some cases, it may indicate that the partnership is not working as intended. 

Where a lead agency has initiated or is coordinating the partnership, they would normally assume responsibility for facilitating the three activities. Completing the activities will take a number of hours because there will be a variety of perspectives among the partners and different evidence will be cited as a way of substantiating the views people hold. The various partners need time to reflect on the partnership and how it is working. The discussion that occurs around completing the tasks will contribute to the partnership because ideas, expectations and any tensions can be aired and clarified.

This tool is intended to serve as both an assessment of your current ability to collaborate and as guide to your future collaborative practices. The resources required for successful collaborations are cumulative, at both the organisational and sector levels. Organisations need to have resources they are able to commit to the process, trust in the relationships they have to other organisations, and a clear understanding of their vision and mission statement. The sector needs good governance structures in place, organisations able to take the roles of leaders and champions, accountability procedures, and the skills to build collaborative capacity between member organisations and in introducing new partners. 

The tool can be used at different times in the partnership. Early on, it will provide some information on how the partnership has been established and identify areas in which there is a need for further work. A year or so into the partnership, it provides a basis for structured reflection on how the partnership is developing and how inter-partner relationships are forming. With longer-term partnerships, it may be worth revisiting the tool every 12 to 18 months as a method of continuing to monitor progress and the ways in which relationships are evolving.

The tool may also be useful to a lead agency as a tool for reflection when forming and planning partnerships. Moving forward, we suggest that an organization readiness for change framework be used to explore the need for collaboration, appropriateness – and options as well as sectoral, organisational/individual readiness (competencies).