Product Description

Work together...and get greater results! Here's how to overcome obstacles to create a successful collaboration! Whether you're working on homelessness or building a rural farm cooperative, the Collaboration Handbook tells you what to expect and how to meet challenges in a way that strengthens your group and the results you're after. You'll learn how (and why) to: Find and attract the right people; Build trust among diverse groups; Change conflict into cooperation; Select the best structure for your collaboration; Keep people involved, enthusiastic, and motivated; Energize your supporters with a powerful collaborative vision; Deepen the roots of collaboration for lasting success. Practical, interactive tools keep your collaboration on track. Written by Michael Winer and Karen Ray, nationally recognized consultants in collaboration and organizational development, the Collaboration Handbook takes you step-by-step through the entire process. This unique handbook shows you: How to know if collaboration is the best way to accomplish your goals; How to get started and keep up the momentum; Whether your collaboration has the necessary ingredients to succeed; How to manage the four stages of collaboration; When it makes sense to test the waters with a pilot project. Plus, you also get: A case study following one collaboration from start to finish; Sixteen worksheets to help you solve problems, plan successful strategies, and document your progress; Special sidebars with helpful tips such as what to do at your first meeting, and how mandated collaborations can succeed; And much more!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157124 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
A very significant contribution to those of us who work in collaborations. I thank you many times over. -- Shelby Andress, Director of Consulting Services, Search Institute, Minneapolis, MN

Simple, clear, effective, up-beat. The general air of positivity and the 'can-do'attitude are inspiring. -- Julie Glover, National Youth Development Consultant, GloverKenny Associates, New York

Stimulating insights into ways that groups can work together. -- Arts Management magazine

The Collaboration Handbook is the best thing on the topic! -- Richard Silva, Senior Analyst, Washington, DC

This is brilliant and groundbreaking work. I am grateful for this publication. -- Cynthia M. Heelan, PhD, President, Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs, CO

“A very significant contribution to those of us who work in collaborations. I thank you many times over.” -- Shelby Andress, Director of Consulting Services, Search Institute, Minneapolis, MN

“Simple, clear, effective, up-beat. The general air of positivity and the ‘can-do’ attitude are inspiring.” -- Julie Glover, National Youth Development Consultant, GloverKenny Associates, New York

“Stimulating insights into ways that groups can work together.” -- Arts Management magazine

“The Collaboration Handbook is the best thing on the topic!” -- Richard Silva, Senior Analyst, Washington, DC

“This is brilliant and groundbreaking work. I am grateful for this publication.” -- Cynthia M. Heelan, PhD, President, Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs, CO

From the Publisher
Work together...and get greater results! Here's how to overcome obstacles to create a successful collaboration! Whether you're working on homelessness or building a rural farm cooperative, the Collaboration Handbook tells you what to expect and how to meet challenges in a way that strengthens your group and the results you're after. You'll learn how (and why) to:

* Find and attract the right people

* Build trust among diverse groups

* Change conflict into cooperation

* Select the best structure for your collaboration

* Keep people involved, enthusiastic, and motivated

* Energize your supporters with a powerful collaborative vision * Deepen the roots of collaboration for lasting success Practical, interactive tools keep your collaboration on track This unique handbook shows you:

* How to know if collaboration is the best way to

accomplish your goals

* How to get started and keep up the momentum

* Whether your collaboration has the necessary ingredients to succeed

* How to manage the four stages of collaboration * When it makes sense to test the waters with a pilot project Plus, you also get:

* A case study following one collaboration from start to finish

* Sixteen worksheets to help you solve problems, plan successful strategies, and document your progress

* Special sidebars with helpful tips such as what to do at your first meeting, and how mandated collaborations can succeed * And much more!

About the Author
Michael Winer: For more than 25 years, Michael Winer has been successful at bringing together diverse talents and perspectives to achieve common results through decisive actions. As the founder of 4Results Together, Michael is dedicated to growing individual, organizational and community resources into powerful results - hardy individuals, vital families, productive agencies, profitable businesses and healthy communities. 4Results Together offers training, consulting, coaching, facilitating and motivational speaking on how to grow the resources you have into the results you want. Michael has worked with community members and leaders have been from all parts of the country and all sectors: arts, business, community development, community services, education, family services, government, health care, hunger reduction, law enforcement, literacy & early education, long-term care, media, philanthropy, religion, rural development and violence reduction. Karen Ray: KAREN RAY is president of Karen Ray Associates, a consulting firm that specializes in training and organization development for government, community, and nonprofit agencies. She holds a masters degree in applied behavioral sciences from Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington, with a specialty in organization and human development. From 1977 to 1983 Karen was executive director of a literacy-focused agency mandated to collaborate by state and federal funders. Her consulting practice began when she decided to combine this collaborative experience with her training expertise to problem-solve with agencies involved in joint ventures. Collaboration is now the theme of her work with organizations in many states. Karen trains others in collaboration workshops and provides consulting services to ongoing collaborations. Karen Ray is available for interviews. She may be contacted at: thenimblecollab@visi.com.

Customer Reviews

Solid advice on how to make collaboration work between community organizations.
This text definitely earns its Handbook title. It is a complete 178 page manual on how to initiate, grow and support a successful collaboration between not-for-profits, community groups and institutions.

It starts with detailed story of a fictional "Tri-County Collaboration for Homeless Services" that goes through every stage of development. This story is then referenced through out the second part of the book which gives detailed insight and advice on the specific tasks, stages and milestones throughout the life of a successful collaboration. The manual concludes with annotated resources and 30 pages of simple template forms and worksheets that cover everything from meeting agendas and decision-making protocols to joint agreements, promotional plans and guides to systems change.

The book has excellent formatting with lots of easily digested and referenced lists, information boxes and sub-headings. The many illustrative examples help provide real world context and the side bar quotes are a nice spice that help keep the text light. The perspective and language is from the front lines of community organizations in the USA, although generally applicable to collaboration between any type of organizations in any location.

The target audience is definitely real world organization leaders and consultants who aim to coordinate effective teamwork between multiple organizations either for funding reasons or out of their own initiative. At times the language and metaphors may cause a raised eyebrow or two from a hard nosed executive director, but such flowery bits are brief and easily overshadowed by concrete tasks and experienced insight.

Michael Winer and Karen Ray did a great service in authoring this handbook back in 1994. It would be interesting to see what revisions would be made in a second addition that could take into account the web technologies and techniques that are now part of our everyday work. Until then this handbook is still a very useful resource for the good people who want to do good work together.