Waitakere - A case study in relationship building
Steps toward a Partnership Agreement
The relationship between WCC and Sport Waitakere began in 1992 as a funder/provider arrangement. By the early part of this decade, their relationship had deteriorated. There was poor communication, a lack of transparency, mutual distrust, a highly prescriptive contract, and lapses in the delivery of contracted services.
In a meeting between Sport Waitakere and WCC, in which Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) played a key role, changes were adopted or initiated that helped improve the relationship. These changes have provided the foundation for their new Partnership Agreement. Some of the key areas were:
Adoption of a new Strategic Plan: In response to difficulties in delivering services, Sport Waitakere was split into two organisations. One focused on the Trusts Stadium operations and the other tackled core business. The team in charge of Sport Waitakere core business moved quickly to re-establish the strategic direction of the organisation. They changed the focus away from delivering on-the-ground activities to positioning themselves as an enabler of programmes. This made sense for an organisation with a total staff of six. WCC ’bought into’ this change of direction, and the process helped to rebuild mutual confidence.
Greater institutional knowledge led to building trust: Regular communication, information sharing, and making the effort to learn more about the other’s organisation were critical in building greater trust between the two parties. A much stronger rapport developed between Sport Waitakere and WCC staff. The result of this stronger relationship is that there is now greater institutional knowledge, transparency and less potential for conflict.
Aligning goals enabled joint projects: WCC moved from funding specific projects to investing in SW business. Both organisations moved to align goals and taking a more collaborative approach to delivering them. This change allowed joint projects to evolve, (link to the examples of joint-projects discussed below) and the relationship to progress beyond the ‘funder/provider mindset’.
Simplification of targets and reporting: As late as 2005/6 there were contract/reporting requirements around numerous output deliverables with financial conditions attached. As the relationship between the two organisations improved, and the change in strategic direction was adopted, the number of key deliverables was reduced to a more manageable number – five in total. These projects were selected to provide an organisational overview. To assist WCC in ensuring accountability and performance around its investment in Sport Waitakere, the organisations also agreed that existing reporting by SW to SPARC would be used instead of SW preparing a separate report for WCC. This ensured consistent information flows and helped minimise duplicate reporting processes and unnecessarily close management.
Improved human resources, financial systems and procedures: Previously, there had been poor financial systems and procedures in place at Sport Waitakere, which made reporting clumsy and meant poor quality information was delivered to partners, such as WCC. The new management at Sport Waitakere recognised the necessity of getting their house in order and introduced new reporting systems and templates where appropriate. They maximised opportunities to learn from other organisations, particularly other RSTs, and share knowledge.
Following these improvements, in particular the increased and successful collaboration around projects, the two organisations began to consider a new type of arrangement – a Partnership Agreement.
Updated | 07 Oct 2008.
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