Creating Successful Collaborations

Essay - College Life

Creating Successful Collaborations And Partnerships

By Darrin Sorrells, Ph.D.
Learning Assistance Specialist
University of Southern Indiana

Regardless of the work environment and conditions, as we know, it is critical that we constantly strive to work with other people internally and externally to build and enhance our learning assistance programs. At the University of Southern Indiana (USI), the academic skills office was successful this past academic year in creating new partnerships and collaborations that have proven to be very beneficial. Below I will discuss some of the challenges and rewards of building professional relationships that were highlighted during my session at the 19th Annual NTA Conference in Anchorage in April as well as provide recent examples of successful partnerships and collaborations that were discussed at the session.

According to Merriam-Webster (2011), a partnership is defined as “the state of being a partner; participation,” whereas a collaboration is defined as “to work jointly with others or together, especially in an intellectual endeavor.” I make this distinction between the two terms for clarification. We frequently use the two words interchangeably, and while related, it is important to note the difference. Before entering into any type of professional relationship with another, it is beneficial to know what type of relationship you want. Is the relationship going to be a loose partnership where the two parties have infrequent communication? Is the endeavor for a short period of time? If so, perhaps a partnership most accurately describes this type of professional activity. On the other hand, if there will be more frequent communication and interactions, especially involving tasks that require higher-level thinking and planning, and the activity is on-going, I would propose that the relationship is more of a true collaboration than simply a partnership.

When considering whether or not to begin a partnership or collaboration, we need to ask ourselves some of the following questions:

Who do I know internally or externally who actually wants to “build a bridge?”
How will such a relationship support the mission and strategic plan of our units?
What resources will be needed to launch and sustain the relationship?
How will we use data to help inform us about the success of the relationship?
How will we communicate, how often, and through what channels?

During the 2010-2011 academic year, several new partnerships and collaborations were created to enhance tutoring operations and services within the academic skills office at USI. Examples of new partnerships included working more closely with the honors program to identify honors students who might be good candidates to serve as peer tutors; delivering an informational presentation about the academic skills office to students enrolled in a mentoring program offered through the multicultural center; and working with student leaders from fraternities and sororities on campus to promote services to their members. Successful new collaborations have included working with residence life to launch a new evening tutoring initiative targeting students who live in campus residence halls; providing satellite tutoring for the USI Classical and Modern Languages Department in their newly renovated language lab; and working more closely with athletics to design and implement a new peer coach program to promote student success for student athletes at USI. While sustaining these new partnerships and collaborations will require significant efforts by our entire unit, the benefits of such relationships have been quite rewarding already for all parties, and the future benefits far outweigh any challenges that may arise. I have always believed that individuals can maximize their performance when they effectively work with others. Rather than telling ourselves that we can’t do it, I propose that we can do it! We just need to know what we want the professional relationship to be, put forth the necessary effort to build and sustain the relationship, and the sky is then the limit!
Reference
Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2011). Available online at http://www.merriam-webster.com/.