Is Partnership Delivering for your Authority? 5 Challenges that Stop Success

In today’s challenging environment, partnership is vital for local authorities in achieving goals whilst managing limited resources. However, partnership strategies are often not as effective as needed.

Public sector partnerships extend beyond cooperation. They often address complex challenges, requiring multiple, interconnected relationships to meet diverse community needs. A collaborative approach enhances efficiency and delivers practical solutions when resources are constrained.

So, why do so many collaborative initiatives fail?

With over ten years of experience building successful partnerships for Public and Private sector organisations, Fourth Story have identified five interconnected challenges that limit the impact of partnerships across the public sector:

1. No shared ambition (Why are we doing this?) - Often, partnerships are established with a sense of goodwill but without a joint ambition that combines and critically motivates all parties to succeed.

2. Limited clarity on objectives (What will we achieve?) – Working without measurable goals means you cannot assess your smart objectives to drive your ambition forward.

3. Lack of internal buy-in (Will we deliver our part?) – Teams from all sides need to acknowledge the benefits and costs of the partnership; they need to agree and support the ambition and be willing to work towards success.

4. Opaque management and governance (Who is in charge?) – Partnerships need transparent governance and control structures that recognise that power may be diffuse and that ‘contractual’ pressures may not exist.

5. Focus on procurement (How do we establish a partnership?) – Successful partnerships focus on shared value. Existing procurement processes often struggle in this environment because of their focus on contractual terms and financial value.

These challenges ensure that partnerships either never occur or become merely a service dressed as a partnership.

Fourth Story has profound, long-standing experience working with Local Authorities on complex challenges, to develop partnership solutions. Our Performance Design approach has successfully addressed the challenges that limit partnership success to ensure all stakeholders deliver on their ambition.

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Call Mark on +44 7525680288 or email Mark@fourthstory.co.uk to find out how we can deliver your partnership ambition.