Readiness and Relationships Are Crucial for Coalitions and Collaboratives: Concepts and Evaluation Tools

Abstract

Collaboration is identified as an essential component for the successful implementation of a wide range of policies and programs. A major collaboration challenge, particularly in large community initiatives, is the need for multiple organizations to develop strategic partnerships around a shared purpose. Due to the importance of collaboration in achieving desired outcomes, the readiness of organizations to collaborate, and the quality of relationships between organizations are key, particularly in the formation stage. This is especially true of community coalitions, where collaboration requires comprehensive planning, shared decision‐making among stakeholders, and a high level of productivity and quality of relationships based on trust and mutual respect. In this chapter, we present two evidence‐based frameworks and evaluation tools that can be used to assess and build readiness and high‐quality relationships in efforts to improve community outcomes. This is illustrated in a case example of a new community coalition focused on increasing youth safety and improving police‐community relationships in a high crime neighborhood. Implications and lessons learned are discussed.

Program Barriers and Facilitators in Virtual Cancer Exercise Implementation: A Qualitative Analysis

“…Coalitions of stakeholders, including administrators and executive boards, public partners, academic partnerships, clinical providers, and others, were identified by our participants as contributors to their success. Coalitions can be used to develop local consensus for program support, recruit and train program leaders, and become a beneficial learning collaborative through the implementation process (28).…”

The Readiness, Resilience and Recovery Tool: An Emerging Approach to Enhance Readiness Amidst Disruption

“…In a related, but different aspect of exploring utility, the effect of using RRR to encourage collaboration and innovation as components of agility and resilience is of interest. Research from the management field shows that collaboration is a critical element for successful implementation (Hajar et al, 2020 ; Williams & Hummelbrunner, 2010 ), and one of the characteristics of resilient organizations is that they respond to change and disruption by distributing responsibility for innovation (Cullem & Davis, 2020 ). Given the importance of collaboration and stakeholder engagement in complex situations, the levels and diversity of stakeholder involvement in completing the RRR tool should be explored.…”

Leveraging relational analytics in human resource research and practice

“…Relational coordination is weakened by human resource practices that are siloed, and strengthened by those that are cross-cutting such as selecting and training for teamwork, shared accountability, shared rewards, and relational job design (Gittell et al, 2008;Gittell et al, 2010;Krachler, 2023;Lee & Kim, 2020;McDermott et al, 2019;Siddique et al, 2019). The theory has evolved from a linear theory of performance to a dynamic theory of change, recognizing the ability of participants to conduct interventions to develop higher performing relational networks (Burns et al, 2022;Gittell, 2016;Hajjar et al, 2020Hajjar et al, , 2023Thygeson, 2021). Thus far, relational coordination theory has received fairly strong empirical support across multiple industry and country contexts and at multiple levels of analysis (Bolton et al, 2021).…”