Learning to Collaborate Across Organisational Boundaries

In most communities, individual institutions will be pursuing their organisational goals in isolation. A college, for example, will be recruiting for and publicising provision. The university will have a policy which relates to the local community as well as a national and international mission. The leisure services department of the local authority will be pursuing their own agenda for increasing use of facilities. Local employers will be developing their own training strategies. Commonly, little attention is given to where roles overlap, and within the public sector, if there is an issue it is usually related to competition.

The purposes of partnership:

Regeneration and a culture of lifelong learning cannot be accomplished by any one authority alone

All organisations have a unique contribution to make, but they must work together to produce added value to individual activities

The need for partnership and the learning involved in its development are a key element in the infrastructure of a learning community

What does partnership offer?

• "We must recognise from the outset that the partnership is a mechanism for change"

• "A consequence of partnership is the maximising of influence"

• "The benefits of a partnership are being able to build a way of working for the future, something which will last longer than the life of a project. Equally, the partnership would have the common good at the core rather than a particular sectoral interest"