Creating and Sustaining Fieldwork Partnerships
Creating and Sustaining Fieldwork Partnerships
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Learning Outcomes 1
Module Topics 2
A Community Engagement Model 2
Practical Activity 6
The Influence of Power 7
Networking 9
Emotional Intelligence 10
Additional Resources 14
References 14
15
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Creating and Sustaining Fieldwork Partnerships
Creating and Sustaining Fieldwork Partnerships
Introduction
Hello and welcome to Creating and Sustaining Fieldwork Partnerships
In this module you will explore relationships, their development and sustainability, within the context of delivering a fieldwork program as part of your leadership capabilities in fieldwork education.
Figure 1: Broker role from the Integrated Competing Values Framework
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module participants will:
· Identify and manage key fieldwork partnership relationships.
· Evaluate your own personal strategies for managing key fieldwork relationships.
· Develop a networking approach and strategy for your role as a Fieldwork Coordinator.
· Evaluate a range of influence building strategies which facilitate strong industry partnerships.
Module Topics
This module looks at the Broker role, adding to the other leadership roles that are explored in the Academic Leadership for Fieldwork Coordinators Program. Specifically, it explores creating and sustaining partnerships in the context of managing a fieldwork program and engaging the fieldwork community.
The topics to be covered are:
· Community engagement
· Managing upwards
· Using power and influence
· Networking
· Emotional intelligence.
Introduction to the Broker Role
When using the Broker role as a fieldwork coordinator you will establish and maintain necessary networks within and outside of the university. A range of skills are required for successful brokering, many of which are covered in this module.
When using your Broker role you will be:
· Influencing others, for example, WIL stakeholders to secure appropriate resources such as placements or academic staff to improve quality of teaching for Work Integrated Learning (WIL).
· Understanding the critical type of support needed – critical people, ‘stakeholders’ to escalate engagement with your WIL community.
· Building stable personal relationships.
· ‘Brokering’ the support of others.
· Developing and maintaining professional networks, for example, building relationships with professional associations and agencies for WIL placements.
· Building and maintaining a professional image.
· Using persuasive skills.
· Gaining the support of others.
· Promoting a positive image.
· Gaining support and getting the resources you need.
· Being politically astute.
When you overuse or inappropriately use your Broker role you will be:
· Politically expedient.
· Power hungry.
A Community Engagement Model
Introduction
The first question a fieldwork coordinator needs to ask is who is their WIL community? Portsmouth and Trede (2008) provide a synopsis of some key questions and considerations that need to be explored when working with a community, which are described below in the context of fieldwork coordination. A fieldwork community is a group of people who have something in common and in this case it would be WIL.
As a fieldwork coordinator it is important to understand who are the stakeholders in your community. By having a well defined community, that are loyal and supportive of your program, it is easier to tailor communication messages, strategies and brokering techniques (the focus of this module) that are sensitive to, and reflect the concerns and interests of, your WIL community. Part of your community will also include those within your own workplace, such as your Head of School, Deans and academic colleagues. So in defining your community you need to think of both the internal and external stakeholders.
Having a well planned community engagement model in place will also help you to strategically broker the kind of knowledge, values and initiatives you want to drive in your fieldwork program, and is integral for high quality communication (Piotrow et al., 1997). You also need to ensure there is adequate two way flow of information to ensure you are hearing what your community is saying. Freire (1970) actually states that an effective model involves listening to hear what the community already knows, dialoguing, to see what needs to change, and negotiating through this process and then acting to make these changes, which may start the cycle again. It has long been argued that education and communication interventions will fail if they are designed by professionals without taking into account the assumptions, expectations and perspectives of the community they are directed towards (Freire, 1970). Given the multitude of changes facing universities, and in particular WIL initiatives, fieldwork coordinators must understand how to engage the community.
Fieldwork coordinators can be caught between what their Head of School and/or University tells them to do, or against a community that wants to do something totally different. For successful win-win outcomes, fieldwork coordinators may need to give up some control to the community itself for a successful outcome. The challenge for the fieldwork coordinator is to deal effectively with often conflicting values and priorities and work with the community (both internal and external) for a successful fieldwork program to succeed.
What is Community Engagement?
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), in Victoria Australia, provides a rich set of resources which can be very applicable to thinking about community engagement in fieldwork.
The DSE see engagement including: consultation, extension, communication, education, public participation, and participative democracy or working in partnership. In the case of fieldwork education, these 'engagement' principles can be used as a framework to describe the broad range of interactions between the university and WIL agencies. It can include a variety of approaches, such as one-way communication or information delivery, consultation, involvement and collaboration in decision-making, and empowered action in informal groups or formal partnerships.
'Community engagement' is a planned process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people, in this case your fieldwork community or stakeholders. The linking of the term 'community' to 'engagement' serves to broaden the scope, thus shifting the focus to a collective concept.
There are some principles of engagement which Petts and Leach (2000) note are key to underpinning successful engagement with your fieldwork community. These include:
· Having clear objectives as to what you wish to achieve in collaboration with your community or WIL agencies. In other words, what each party provides to the other.
· Being clear on agendas, procedures and quality processes.
· Ensuring appropriate representativeness and inclusivity so that the community is fully represented.
· Opportunities for deliberation, learning and responsiveness, as well as valuing what all stakeholders can offer.
· Transparency and trust through open communication and authentic relationships.
So what steps can you, a fieldwork coordinator, undertake to broker a more effective community engagement model? Below are two different community engagement models which you can use to think about the various ways you engage with your community. Consider these all Broker role tactics and strategies.
Table 1 is from Brown and Isaacs (1994) and they have developed a Six ‘C’s model, which provides a set of basic principles to guide any engagement planning process, including fieldwork coordination. Each of the Six ‘C’s have been extended in the form of a question which asks you to consider your leadership role as a fieldwork coordinator in the community engagement process.
Table 1: The Six ‘C’s of Successful Community Engagement
The Six ‘C’s of Successful Community EngagementCapability / The members are capable of dialogue. Question: Who are your key stakeholders in your fieldwork program who have this capability? Who can provide excellent input in to your WIL curriculum and future plans?
Commitment / Mutual benefit beyond self interest. Question: Who are your key stakeholders in your fieldwork program? Who provides substantial commitment and will be an advocate and long term productive partner?
Contribution / Members volunteer and there is an environment that encourages members to ‘have a go’ or take responsibility/risks. Question: How can you reward and acknowledge the contribution of members who undertake responsibilities, and work in support of your fieldwork program?
Continuity / Members share or rotate roles and, and as members move on, there is a transition process that sustains and maintains the community corporate memory. Question: In an ongoing fieldwork program how do you ensure continuity while recognising those who volunteer and support the program will eventually need to move on? How do you consider succession planning and knowledge capture?
Collaboration / Reliable interdependence. A clear vision with members operating in an environment of sharing and trust. Question: What are the goals and long term innovations and plans for the fieldwork program? How are these created, communicated and shared across the WIL community?
Conscience / Embody or invoke guiding principles/ethics of service, trust and respect that are expressed in the actions of the community. Question: How do you model and acknowledge service, ethical practice, trust, respect and contribution to create a WIL community that is valued by its stakeholders?
Table 2 is adapted from the Public Participation Spectrum from the IAP2 - International Association for Public Participation. It provides different ways you might engage your community as a fieldwork coordinator, depending on the outcomes and objectives you want to achieve. It expands upon the Six ‘C’s model further by looking at the goals underlying the engagement model. A fieldwork coordinator must be clear on what they are going to promise to their public, or in the case of a fieldwork program, their stakeholders.
Table 2: Public Participation Spectrum
Inform / Consult / Involve / Collaborate / EmpowerPublic Participation Goal
To provide stakeholders with balanced an d objective information to help them understand problems, solutions and alternatives to fieldwork program / To obtain stakeholder feedback on analysis, alternatives and /or decisions / To work directly with stakeholders throughout the process to ensure stakeholder concerns and aspirations are understood and considered / To partner with stakeholders in all aspects of the decision making process, including development of alternatives, innovations and identification of preferred solution(s). / To give final decision making to the stakeholders
Promise to Stakeholders
We will keep you informed / We will keep you informed, listen and acknowledge concerns and provide feedback on how stakeholder input influenced decision / We will work with you to ensure stakeholder concerns and directives are reflected in alternatives and provide feedback as to how these concerns and directives influenced the decision / We will look to stakeholders for direct advice and innovation in formulating solutions and incorporating advice into recommendations to the maximal extent possible / We will implement what you decide
Example Tools
Fact Sheets
Websites
Open Houses / Public Comment
Focus Groups
Surveys
Public Meetings / Workshops
Deliberate Polling / Committees
Consensus Building
Participatory decision making / Ballots
Delegating decision
Community decision group
There are a range of activities that fieldwork coordinators can use to work with their various stakeholders and communities to build engagement. Some of them are listed in Table 2 as example tools. The DSE website provides a summary of other tools which may be useful, for example, brainstorming, mind-mapping, consensus conferences and open houses. They can be used to create a toolkit to help you build your community engagement strategy.
Practical Activity
/Activity 1: In what ways do you engage with your community in planned and purposeful ways?
Break out into groups of 4. Each group will be given one engagement strategy from Table 2 to unpack further and to look for examples they have used as a fieldwork coordinator.
Also discuss tools used and the benefits/risks associated with this engagement strategy. Use the table above to guide your thinking.
We will revisit these in the larger group and share examples and explore where we focus our Brokering activities in terms of community engagement.
Example: Introduction of new Professional Association Evaluation of Competency Tool.
Strategy: Inform: Informing WIL Agencies of new competency evaluation guidelines. Fact sheet, website and open house. Benefit: easy to administer, one way communication, gets information out quickly to all stakeholders. Risks: may have questions, may not apply tool correctly. How do you deal with issues and concerns?
1. Inform
2. Consult
3. Involve
4. Collaborate
5. Empower
Managing Upwards
According to research by Kotter and Gabarro (1990) and reported in the Harvard Business Review (January 2005), fieldwork coordinators and leaders who believe they need to manage the relationship with their superiors (Head of School and/or Dean, for example), and who take a somewhat strategic approachin doing so, enjoy greater job satisfaction, effectiveness and career success than those who think it's solely the manager’s responsibility to manage and direct them.
This section aims to provide fieldwork coordinators with an opportunity to think about their relationship with their supervisor and how they can manage that relationship for the benefit of all: you, your superior, and your fieldwork program. Your supervisor in this context is considered to be your line manager and may be your Head of School, Dean of Teaching of Learning or the Pro Vice Chancellor of your Faculty. In other words, the person to whom you report to directly. The benefits of improving your relationship with your supervisor are many-fold. You can reduce physical and mental stress, increase opportunities for recognition and promotion, andassist you to implement innovative ideas for your fieldwork program. Your self confidence and motivation will improve as well as your job satisfaction. It can also help you to anticipate and avoid problems with your supervisor. Your supervisor is part of the internal stakeholder group in your community and you have to engage appropriately with him/her.
Sometimes it feels easier to blame your supervisor or the systemfor problems instead of finding solutions. In fact, by apportioning blame, we very often absolve ourselves of any responsibility for finding a solution. Hence, managing upwards puts some responsibility back on to you to ensure that you can work towards solutions and increase your effectiveness as a fieldwork coordinator with your supervisor. One way of managing upwards and improving your relationship with your supervisor is to answer the questions on worksheet 1 for this module (see below) and see what results emanate. Once you get a greater picture of your relationship with your boss, you can enact specific strategies to improve and empower this working relationship.