Effective interagency relationships: Aligning values and developing trust

Posted by: Pamela Spall and Shirley Watters
Spall Watters Group

Qualities of effective and sustained collaborative relationships

Collaborative initiatives can be easy to begin and hard to sustain.

Effective inter-agency relationships are a critical element of sustainable collaborative initiatives. They need to be set up and supported by systematic and early planning, clear documentation and ongoing review processes.

For effective relationships to be developed, there needs to be alignment of organisations' goals and values, and a basic agreement about:

  • the purpose of the collaboration and what the organisations will try to achieve together
  • mutual expectations about outcomes and processes, and
  • the principles or values by which the partners will operate. These principles need to include agreements to operate with transparency and openness in dealings with one another.

Lessons from formal collaborative initiatives indicate that the following are needed to sustain effective collaborative relationships:1

  • a strong commitment to shared strategic goals and a truly shared, achievable purpose
  • leadership at relevant levels to set the vision, direction, principles and a culture of collaboration
  • a strong commitment from partner agencies to developing effective and sustainable working relationships based on transparency, openness, a commitment to problem solving and building trust
  • clear parameters for the collaboration and identified roles and responsibilities of the collaborating partners
  • an investment of time and resources in relevant management and governance processes
  • regular and meaningful communication and timely and appropriate access to information for partner agencies
  • agreed processes for problem solving, non adversarial dispute resolution and partnership termination
  • flexibility to respond to change and to be innovative, while maintaining focus on the initiative's main objective
  • recognition of the commitment and capacity of those involved
  • requirement to develop as a bottom-up as well as a top-down process
  • feedback from relevant stakeholders, including clients where relevant, and
  • regular review as goals and partnership arrangements may need to change over time.

Investment in the collaborative relationship is essential to avoid the common problems of collaboration failure, which can include:

  • uneven workload distribution
  • inadequate planning
  • lack of enthusiasm
  • conflict due to differing values, and
  • unrealistic expectations.

Building collaborative relationships based on trust

Strong personal relationships across organisational boundaries based on inter-personal and inter-organisational trust and confidence are recognised as keys to collaboration success2. While it is widely acknowledged that trust is a, if not, the, critical feature of successful and sustained collaborative relationships, less is know about how to build and sustain trust across collaborating organisations.

The development of trust depends on the professional and personal knowledge, skills and attributes of the individuals involved and the attributes and behaviours of participating organisations. The key individual and organisational factors identified for the development of trust between organisations are:3

  • business sense and functional competence, e.g. parties have the skills and resources to do the job
  • integrity, e.g. commitment and good faith demonstrated in making and implementing agreements
  • interpersonal competence
  • open and honest communication
  • consistency of behaviour
  • loyalty
  • availability
  • discretion
  • accessibility
  • judgment, e.g. accurate appreciation of partner capacities
  • collaborative rather than hierarchical relations, genuine power sharing, shared decision making and leadership, and consensus building
  • predictability, e.g. realistic and balanced expectations of partner contributions

The efforts of organisational partners and their representatives to develop trust and good communication will provide a strong foundation for sustaining effective collaborative relationships.

It is also important that partner agencies' expectations of the relationship be documented in the same way that agreed tasks and outcomes are documented.

1 J Pratt, D Pampling and P Gordon in R Walker, Collaboration and Alliances: A Review for VicHealth, Literature Review, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Melbourne, 2001, p.3.
Henderson, M & P 2004, 'Partnerships for service delivery: review of the research and practice literature', Report to the Queensland Department of Communities, Brisbane. To access the Henderson report - Department of Communities 2005, Brisbane, viewed 28 November 2006

2 Henderson, M & P 2004, 'Partnerships for service delivery: review of the research and practice literature', Report to the Queensland Department of Communities, Brisbane. To access the Henderson report - Department of Communities 2005, Brisbane, viewed 28 November 2006

3 P S Ring in R Walker, Collaboration and Alliances: A Review for VicHealth, Literature Review, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Melbourne, 2001, p.20; and Henderson, M & P, p 8.

Sidebar Document: 
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