Cultivating Partnerships

GENERALIST HELPFUL TIPS:

• Instead of just figuring out yourself, look to see what other resources or expertise are out there elsewhere in the County.
• Before implementing new software, system, process, reach out to see what there is elsewhere in the County you could partner on.
• Collaborate whenever possible.
• Be curious-ask questions.  When you can learn more about what someone else is doing, it helps you connect the dots for partnerships.
• Doing what you say you’re going to do.  This is a big part of the success or lack of success in the partnership.
• Making clear agreements.

SUCCESS STORIES:

After reviewing the Employee Survey Results, we reached out to department directors who met one of the following criteria:

• Their department's score was higher than the County average in this category.
• Their department raised their scores from previous years scores.

They provided us with insight, feedback, and suggestions for departments who would like to improve in this area.
 

"Jessica Plummer, our Program Manager of our Impact Fund (Grant program) is in regular contact with our grantees, throughout the year, to provide support and ensure compliance with the grant contract. She has created very strong relationships with grantees.  Developing partnerships is critical to the success of our Grant making program in BHS. We provided 29 grants to partners in 2019 and we provided 45 grants to partners in 2020. We also facilitate 3 community advisory groups, totaling 57 community members to assist in informing the funding decisions in our Grant making program."

Laurie Stolen, Behavioral Health Director

"Engineering touches so many departments, entities, and the public. We serve as in-house consultants, manage construction projects, provide peer review, work with citizen advisory boards, and so much more. It's important to our department that we develop and maintain strong relationships, because we're entrusted to share our expertise and guidance to various projects and programs. Long-term relationships are vitally important since many of our projects can take years to plan, permit, design and construct."

Mark Peterson, County Engineer
 

SUGGESTIONS & TIPS:

• Create a community advisory committee and seek input from the community on your work.
• Trust your employees to establish and maintain relationships; don't micromanage.
• Develop trust between yourself and your clients/partners.