Example: improve and maintain networks and collaborative partnerships

Debbie is the project manager of her service’s integrated service delivery activities. This position involves interacting with a wide range of stakeholders and collaborators, and she wants to maintain and improve all these relationships.

Many of her collaborators are from smaller organisations, and Debbie knows that some do not know each other. To build a stronger network, she decides to hold a meet-and-greet network meeting so that her collaborators can get together and meet in person. She allocates some funding and investigates appropriate locations where all the collaborators could meet and share a meal.

Debbie also wants to know detailed information about each of the collaborators and their experience integrating services with her organisation. With each email invitation to the meet-and-greet, Debbie also sends out a short questionnaire asking each collaborator to identify:

• what benefits they have identified from the collaboration
• any gaps or concerns they have regarding the collaboration
• any other needs that they think could be met by the collaboration
• any suggestions for extending and improving the collaboration.

She closes the email with a personalised thank you to each collaborator, expressing her gratitude for their hard work and commitment to providing support services to community members. Debbie is looking forward to the lunch meeting, not only as a thank-you gesture to her collaborators, but as a way to form a more integrated network that could lead to even better collaborations and improved service delivery.