There are essentially two different ways to working with our partners: information sharing, which can extend to joint target setting and joint monitoring of performance, and joint working.  Sport may be the lead in these partnerships, or it may play a more supporting role in a wider set of objectives. Visit IDeA for more information on partnership working.

Information sharing
The principles of effective communication with partners are no different to any other form of communication with target audiences and include issues such as:

• benchmarking perceptions and information needs
• promoting a strong brand
• ensuring clarity of messages
• using appropriate communication channels
• making sure communication is relevant and timely
• ensuring two-way communication
• setting clear targets and tracking improvement

Increasingly, councils see partners as more than just one of their target audiences. Many councils regard active communication with partners as a way of harnessing partners' support for council aims.

We need to know the difference between management information, (resources, inputs, economy, efficiency) and public information (outputs, outcomes, effectiveness.)

Then we have to determine with our partners, their level of involvement in setting and managing these.

Ultimately we need to see these partnerships as a resource: a resource with which to share accountability, by being given performance information, and responsibility to do something with it, which means making decisions to improve services. As with all resources, our job will be to manage this process and to make sure it delivers, without necessarily being in full control.

The Local Government Employers has produced their own partnership tools which explore the benefits and lifecycle of partnerships and useful information on ground rules.

There are already a number of examples of sport and leisure departments working together with their partners, sharing information, setting goals and determining standards.

In Woking Borough Council the schools sports partnership involved the youth Sports trust to deliver government targets locally on increased participation in sport by school age children.

Opened in the summer of 2005, the SCORE Centre in Waltham Forest continues to provide affordable access to high quality recreational facilities for the Leyton and Leytonstone communities. The programme has generated £9.3 million of external investment and serves as a forceful example of joined up multi-agency delivery.

In Basildon – The Cultural services Department is part of the Community Safety partnership which has developed its own PM system of recording, and takes ownership for engaging all sections of the community in getting better crime figures, supported by the work of the council’s sports section.

Case Study - Positive Futures

Joint working
Many councils are moving beyond one-way communications with partners to more effective two-way communication and joint working. This joint work can take many forms:

• between different tiers of local government
• with other public sector bodies such as health services and the Police
• with community, voluntary and private sectors

Typical activities include:

• sharing resources and good practice on communication
• jointly providing information, for example to local residents
• undertaking consultation
• joint planning on communication and strategy

There are some common factors for success:

• clarifying objectives, respective roles and accountabilities at the start
• agreeing principles for branding and the content of communications
• being willing to give up some autonomy in exchange for wider benefits
• putting the time into building relationships and trust
• looking at creative approaches to sharing staff time and budgets

We have to recognise that not all partners will get a balanced return for their efforts, not all will be there for pure motives, not all will sign up to joint accountability, not all will want to put anything in - they may just like to exercise control.  But then, to some extent, that’s also true of ourselves and the people who work for us.

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