High-Performance Partnerships - National Academy of Public ...

The CMS Employer/Caregiver
Workgroup Partnership exceeded
expectations for its ability to distribute
Medicare information. It
included organizations with related
missions and reached
employed caregivers through their
respective constituencies.
Examples are the National
Federation of Independent
Businesses (607,000 members),
Small Business Administration
(contact with one million small
businesses),Washington Business
Group on Health (175 employers,
40 million employees), Society for
Human Resource Management
(165,000 members), and
Administration on Aging (25,000
organizations in Aging Network).
Spencer Schron, Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services
way. The design labs did not identify fundamental
differences between leadership characteristics
in national partnerships and those at a
smaller scale. No matter what its scope may
be, the partnership must have a champion to
initiate, nurture, and make it work. The champion
of a local partnership primarily will be
concerned with the mission and strategy and a
common goal. The champion of a national
partnership may be concerned with keeping
the partnership together and making sure that
“noses do not get out of joint.”
For a national effort, partners may seek prominent
national sponsors or figureheads.
Increased visibility may cause more significant
time delays, scheduling delays, and potential
changes for agreed upon goals. National partners
should decide early the value of the leadership
sponsor in promoting the project given
potential trade-offs.
Leaders of national partnerships must recognize
the importance of local partners and
demonstrate their beliefs through interaction.
They must convey the partnership’s vision to
many layers of the organizations and engage
local leaders in design, development, and implementation.
Early on, leaders should spend time
with people responsible for implementing the
model in their communities and incorporate
local examples into the national message.
MISSION AND STRATEGIC
PLANNING
A partnership must have a clear and compelling
mission and strategic plan, regardless of its
scope. This characteristic may be even more
critical as the partnership grows. Coordinating
agencies from different sectors and geographic
regions is extraordinarily difficult without a
shared mission. A definitive plan outlining partners’
roles and responsibilities becomes more
critical as a partnership expands.
A partnership is more likely to agree on a plan of
action and achieve a shared mission when a single
neighborhood is involved. The opportunity
to reach consensus and mobilize action is easier
when the scope is smaller, as is the potential for
a bold initiative. The risks can be more readily
defined and easier to embrace, even if relatively
high. At the national level, the chances of success
increase the more diluted the mission and
risks. Mid-course corrections in the strategic
plan can be accomplished more quickly with
smaller partnerships, as well. Large-scale partnerships
cannot turn on a dime; they are not as
nimble as those with a local scope.
At the national level, a mission and strategic
plan may be viewed as the guiding concepts for
launching regional and local action plans. The
strategic plan should provide flexibility for
local complexities and the communities’
implementation role.
RESOURCES
Obtaining sufficient resources can cut both
ways in terms of a partnership’s scope.
Broader partnerships may suffer from the
“Daddy Warbucks” factor, as organizations
may perceive that resources exist at the state
and national levels. This perception can lead
some to join the partnership in hopes of
receiving some “mythical largesse,” only to
realize that the perception is wrong. At the
same time, the design lab participants noted
that leveraging additional resources is poten-
125 Powering the Future: High-Performance Partnerships