You all have stepped up to the plate these last couple of weeks! Thanks to Monecia for getting the conversation started, and for all of you who are writing in. Keep it coming!
A lot of you mentioned Negotiation as a session of the MAPH that taught you a lot. Dee Dee Downey wrote about an interesting concept about negotiation: “Leave something on the table.” That is, when you’re negotiating, don’t try for the winner-take-all mentality. We're in this for the long haul: relationships are more important than winning.
Public health business planning is all about the long haul. To be successful and build sustainable programs, we have to be creating on-going relationships with partners, colleagues, local politicians, other organizations, and peers across the country. Not to mention communities of people who use and care about your activities. So besides not humiliating people you are in negotiations with, how can we put “the long haul” into action?
- Make note of those things left on the table. Every time you negotiate for something, write down what you wanted but didn’t get – this time. You might get them next time. Similarly, keep a list of the things your negotiating partner wanted but didn’t get. You just might come across an opportunity where what they want works for you.
- Note what your negotiating partner likes. Say you go to a potential funding partner with an idea for a dental clinic at the health department. They say, “We don’t do dental clinics; we do X.” Don’t waste your time tweaking the dental clinic idea for this partner. But do think about coming back later with an idea for doing X with their help. They’ll be more open to a new idea that fits in with their mission or goals.
- Keep a list of ideas that came up you hadn’t thought of before. They can be part of your next brainstorming session. Remember, long term thinking means there’s always another chance to launch an initiative.
- Always, always, always consider the Exit. We devote a whole chapter in the book to planning for the intentional or unintentional exit (Chapter 11). If you’re planning for the long haul, you know that sometimes over time programs need to change or end. If you plan to spin it off to a partner’s control, you’d better keep that partnership healthy throughout your planning and implementation phases!
We hear about great partnerships among our students and alumni. What examples can you share of partnerships you’re particularly proud of or hopeful about?
Anne Menkens
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5 comments:
I am hopeful about the Eat Smart, Move More Leadership Team, a multi-disciplinary team of statewide partners working together to increase opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity. http://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/aboutus/leadershipteam.html
The Leadership Team currently includes representatives from about 50 organizations and agencies in North Carolina. The Team’s organizational structure includes an Executive Committee and three standing committees: Advocacy, Communications, and Implementation. The Advocacy Committee is in the process of surveying members to prioritize nutrition and physical activity policy issues of interest to the Team, based on what members are (1) working on currently and (2) willing to advocate for.
I am hopeful that the Executive Committee will be successful in using the survey results to guide the Leadership Team in efforts to work on priority policy issues – whether through mobilization of community members in support advocacy efforts; through implementation of interventions to support a particular policy change; or through implementation of communications campaigns targeting policy makers and/or their constituents. The selection of priority policy issues and decisions regarding strategies for addressing those policy issues will likely involve negotiation. I look forward to participating in and learning from the process.
The Project Immunize Virginia coalition is partnering with new groups to implement 'Vaccinate and Vote'. Vaccinate and Vote is an initiative to provide flu vaccine at polling sites on election day. The new partner is able to bring a good deal of funding to the table to help us accomplish our goals. It has been quite the eye opener from doing this initiative on a shoe string budget to now having funding for it. We had to do some negotiating and change our paradigm so that all partners could be satisfied. We learned that getting what you want does not always mean doing it your way. We are a lot more open now to doing things differently to meet the needs of all partners. Thanks for bringing this issue up.
Thanks to both of you for writing in.
Deborah -- I love that quote -- "Getting what you want does not always mean doing it your way" -- isn't that the point of engaging partners-- you hear about other ways of doing things that actually work! This idea sounds like the kind of thing that might come up after reading "What Color is Your Parachute?" -- some of those exercises help you identify your passions and figure out how they can be brought together for a fulfilling career. This project brings together the goals of political involvement and public health - mutually supportive, but not often brought together.
Jenni -- I'm going to visit the "Eat Smart Move More" web site you list and maybe blog more that particular initiative. We find out more every day about how important preventing obesity is to our public's health. And increasingly it's clear that it is a multi-disciplinary problem with multi-disciplinary solutions.
As a 2007 MAPH graduate who has approached several community and government potential partners for project funding, but not yet found the keys to the gate, I can identify with and affirm the "long-haul" approach. These negotiations teach you about your partners and their ways, and open up future paths. They let you see things they can offer you that you might not have thought of before. And, just as important, things you can offer them you may not have recognized before. That's building relationships, which is the real long-haul goal.
Reading this blog I was reminded of the book I am reading - 3 Cups of Tea. A high altitude climber wanted to build the school and was pushing the people of the village to get it accomplished. He wanted, as many of us do, to show his funders his success in a short amount of time as possible. The village leader (I regret I can't remember the proper term) reminded the climber that the village had been there for years without a school. He told the climber that the people would build the school on their own time and according to their own priorities. (I don't want to give anything away in case someone is going to read it.) In no way was the village leader discouraging either. I am especially enjoying the struggles the climber is going through because I see that in myself - coming into a group of people, thinking I have the answers to their chronic conditions and/or prevention thereof. I had all this ruminating in my head as I talked to a maybe door keeper in a rural area of my new county that seems to have been somewhat left to their own devices but by whose decision or lack of action I don't know. I remind myself to pause and reflect on what is important overall. I think the key is to listen and work together to marry our visions. With me, it would have to be over 3 cups of coffee! Shirin Scotten
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