A habit I’ve picked up from an evaluation colleague is referring prospective clients to other colleagues who may be a better fit, even if I’m interested in the project.

I do this as I’d rather an organization choose the best person for their needs, rather than solely choosing based on referral.

I also make recommendations for other colleagues to be considered when building out a partnership or collaboration, especially if they have a specific skill set or expertise that a partnership would benefit from. For example, if I were invited to a space that’s more maternal health or birth equity focused, I’d carefully consider the partnership if a strategic planning, evaluation or research perspective is needed, and will refer to another colleagues if the partnership needs a different perspective.

Similar to choosing a consultant, there are several factors to consider when assessing if your organization should join a partnership.

And, sometimes, it’s ok to turn it down.

In a recent webinar I participated in as a panelist, an attendee shared, “I especially am taking away your point about examining whether an organization should have a role in a given partnership.”

Let’s talk about it.

Recently, the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) published data on the 2022 pass rate for the ASWB licensing exam. The analysis concluded major disparities in pass rates for Black test takers, older adults, and other marginalized groups.

The data were published as a result of years of advocacy and pressure from the National Association of Social Workers, schools of social work, other social work organizations, and individual test takers. Previously, data on pass rates were never released.

I’ve shared my experience with preparing for the licensing exam before, and while majority of test takers pass this exam on the first try, questions about the fail rates were enough to warrant looking into this. Lack of social work licensure can result is loss of job opportunities for many social workers, so it makes sense to explore why these disparities continue to exist.

This is an example of bringing together a group of individuals who care about an issue, and work together to address it. Test takers, professors, licensing exam prep experts, exam test question writers, and more were all needed for this process.

Part of my role as a facilitator includes facilitating partnership meetings.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies a partnership as “organizations that share a common focus and combine resources to implement joint activities, avoid[ing] duplication of effort, ensuring synergy of resources, and enhanc[ing] overall leadership.” From my viewpoint, this also includes individuals who may not be part of an organization but hold a significant amount of knowledge, power, and connections.

Partnerships may develop in response to an emerging issue (such as disparities in test taking scores) and ideally, you’re bringing together individuals that care about the impact of this emerging issue.

A tricky aspect of building a partnership includes understanding the partnership’s purpose and selecting the appropriate individuals and organizations. Every entity mentioned in the licensing example plays a pivotal role in how students prepare for this exam and how the exam is written and administered.

Another aspect of building a partnership is understanding that, while everyone cares deeply about the issue, they have their own ideas for addressing it.

So, how do we bring together various important perspectives to reach a common goal? Here are seven questions to consider for building a partnership: