private-public collaboration – sounds great, but hard to do! example of success: regional dairy...

Private-Public Private-Public Collaboration – Sounds Collaboration – Sounds Great, But Hard To Do! Great, But Hard To Do!

Example of Success: Example of Success: Regional Dairy Regional Dairy

Modernization Task ForceModernization Task Force

Kevin Bernhardt, University of Wisconsin-Extension,Presentation at the National Extension Risk

Management Conference, April 2007.

Today’s Presentation

• What is the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force – Brief Summary

• Brief Literature Review of Coalitions – Benefits and Challenges

• Principles of Teams• Being Successful• Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization

Task Force– What we did– Outcomes– Future




• Principles of Teams• Being Successful• Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization Task

Force– What we did– Outcomes– Future

Who and What is the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force?

• The “Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force” is an action team of the Southwest Wisconsin Regional Economic Development Coalition

What Is The Task Force?

PublicPublic

ProducerProducer

PrivatePrivate

Campfire For Campfire For Collaboration:Collaboration:

EducatorEducator

Campfire Currently Includes:Campfire Currently Includes:

What Is The Task Force?

• For organizing, coordinating, and leveraging resources towards the end goals of:

1. Improving producers’ ability to achieve desired financial performance and/or other farm business and family goals including health, quality of life, and farm transition.

2. Increasing milk production

3. Adding cows

4. Increasing economic activity

How?

• Target specific dairy operation systems and 1) enhance drivers of modernization and 2) reduce barriers to modernization – including skills, knowledge, social networks, entrepreneurial

confidence, facts and information, and/or negativism/lack of support by surrounding community.

• Programs, activities, and events will be organized to drive producers through the steps of:– Awareness of modernization topics, information, skills, networks,

etc.– Comprehension at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels– Trial and Testing via peer groups, tours, and on-farm workshops– Adoption/Implementation.

By The Way

• What we are, what we do and how we do it took about a year to figure out!!!!

– Collaboration may be very effective in the long run, but it is often agonizingly slow in the short run!

Patience is a Virtue!!Patience is a Virtue!!

Today’s Presentation• What is the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force – Brief

Summary


• Principles of Teams• Being Successful• Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force

– What we did– Outcomes– Future

Definition (Spangler)

• “A coalition is a temporary alliance or partnering of groups in order to achieve a common purpose or to engage in a joint activity.”

• “Forming coalitions with other groups of similar values, interests and goals allows members to combine their resources and become more powerful than when they each acted alone.”

Spangler, Brad. “Coalition Building.” Beyond Intractability. University of Colorado, Boulder. June 2003

Why Join a Coalition

• Member goals are similar and compatible.

• Working together will enhance all groups’ abilities to reach their goals.

• The benefits of coalescing will be greater than the costs.

Spangler, Brad.

Coalition Benefits

• Leveraging of resources– Material, dollars, labor, clientele, ideas

• Increases effectiveness of individual organizations in the coalition

• Creates broader appeal

• Creates secondary coalitions

• Reduces risk

Spangler, Brad.

Coalition Challenges

• Distraction from work at home organization

• Free-Riders

• Caving into the strong or to those with the most resources

• When goals differ

• Getting credit

• Need an understanding chief bottle washer

Spangler, Brad.




• Principles of Teams• Being Successful• Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization


References

• Scholtes, Peter, David Bayless, Gabriel Massaro, and Nancy Roche. “The Team Handbook for Educators – How to Use Teams to Improve Quality.” Joiner Assoc. Inc, Madison, WI. 1994.

• Kreitner, Robert. “Management.” 6th ed. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1995.

Performing Teams

• A small number of people with complementary skills who are equally committed to a common purpose, goals and working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

Teams Need To Develop

• Good teams do not happen just by coming together.– They must be nurtured, developed, cared for– Relationship building is not a waste of time!

All Members Bring Their Baggage With Them

I wonder how Mom is doing today, can she make it another week until I can get home to

see her?

This guy drives be crazy! I can’t stand him on the basketball court, as a

neighbor he drives me nuts, and his dog smells too.

Individual Member Concerns

• Am I an insider or outsider

• Do I belong

• What can I do to fit in

• Whose the boss

• Will anyone listen to me

• Should I say anything

• They’ll laugh at me

Team Growth Stages

1. Formin

2. Stormin

3. Normin

4. Performin

Team Growth Stages

1. Formina. Feelings of excitement, anticipation,

optimism, fear, and anxietyb. Behaviors of

• defining process,• How members act towards each other• Determination of member roles• Lofty and abstract discussions, idea

generation• Early feelings of dread and impossibility of the

task

Team Growth Stages

2. Stormina. Feelings of panic, resistance, anger,

despair

b. Behaviors of:• Arguing among team members• Defensiveness• Choosing sides• Blame game (stupid project, stupid class,

stupid teacher!)• Nothing getting done, it will never get done

Team Growth Stages

3. Normina. Feelings of relief, renewed hope,

friendliness, deeper relationships, sense of team spirit

b. Behaviors of:• Acceptance of task and team members• Helping each other• Being able to give and receive constructive

criticism• Excitement

Team Growth Stages

4. Performina. Feelings of understanding and knowing

how best to work with each other, satisfaction, elation.

b. Behaviors of:• Seeing real work done• Pride of accomplishment

Team Growth Stages

5. Complacencya. No new ideas, repetitive, loss of

excitement

b. Behaviors of• Boredom, • begin to lose members, • small role players peal away,

Team Efforts are a Roller Coaster

Optimism, hope, excitement

Boredom, impatience,

overwhelmed

Small victory, encouraged,

renewed hope

#^*@%*(@ Project!!

WE DID IT!!




• Principles of Teams

• Being Successful• Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization


Recipe for a Successful Collaboration

1. Include stakeholdersa. You are programming for producers,

make sure producers are part of the group!

2. Allow for sufficient time to build a strong foundation.

a. Take the time to get to know each otherb. Establish a shared visionc. Develop working principles & structure

“Essential Tips for Successful Collaboration.” Joint Work Group on School-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention in partnership with Center For Disease Control and Prevention and et. al.


3. Conduct a needs assessment4. Develop a specific plan of action

a. SMART objectives

5. Keep all members engageda. Create ownership

6. Maintain communications with and among all members

7. Monitor progressa. Monitor members ideas of progressb. There’s no foul in adjusting goals


8. Know how to use team/group toolsa) Nominal group techniqueb) Force field Analysisc) Brainstormingd) Small groupse) Fishbone diagramsf) Etc.

Recipe for a Successful Team

9. Have a party!

Recipe for A Successful Team

• Clarity of team goals• Implementation plan• Clearly defined roles for each member• Clear and open communications• Well defined decision procedures• Balanced participation• Established ground rules• Use the scientific approach

More detail provided in accompanying slides


6. Balanced Participationa. Every team member is important and has

important contributions to make

b. Indicators of problems• Meetings being taken over by one person or a

subset of members.• No ownership then no effort

c. What to do: actions that force inclusion such as structured brainstorming, gate keeping, or nominal group technique

Successful Teams Work Through Group Problems

• Floundering• Overbearing members• Reluctant members• Rushing to

accomplishment• Digressions and

tangents• Feuding team

members• Free-riders

More detail provided in accompanying slides

4. Rush to Accomplishmenta. Symptoms:

“We got something, let’s go with it.” Unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts

“Trust but Verify!” (Ronald Reagan) In God we Trust! All others must have data and facts!

b. What to Do about it: Review team mission, rules of conduct and

operation Remind all of the team rules such as

decisions based in fact! Designated doubter

Successful Teams Build a Successful Teams Build a Foundation for Successful Foundation for Successful

MeetingsMeetings

Meeting Agendas

• Topics with short explanations• Expected outcomes of each topic

• Decision, creation of alternatives, open discussion

• Who is presenting each topic• Time guideline for how long that topic will take

• Timekeeper may be helpful• Don’t overload the agenda!

• Reserve time to set next meeting’s agenda• Logistics: Date, time and place• Content

• Review assignments (what, who and expectations)– Never leave a meeting without something happening

before the next one

Meeting Agendas

• Might also include:– Team warm-up (favorite movie, book, etc.)– Quick review of agenda and any changes– Observers report or end-of-meeting

evaluation and what could be improved.

Potential Member Roles

• Facilitator

• Gatekeeper/Timekeeper

• Observer

• Recorder

Today’s Presentation• What is the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force – Brief

Summary• Brief Literature Review of Coalitions – Benefits and Challenges• Principles of Teams• Being Successful

• Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force– What we did– Outcomes– Future

Financing Partners

• Organizational Sponsorship– $5,000-$7,000 per year

• Grants– UW-Extension Kohl Dollar Grant, 2003– SW Technical College (USDA/Risk Management

Agency) grant, 2004– Value Added Dairy Initiative, Local Dairy

Development Grant (DATCP) 2005-06– North Central Risk Management Education Center,

2006-07

Impact

• Participation

– 26 events in past four years (2003-2006) – 4 events to date in 2007 (as of April 1)

• 230 total participants to date for this year

– 1,413 total participants over last five years

Impact - Participation

175130

422456

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Participation

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

230 To Date in

2007 with 4 events

left.

Impact

• From Summit II Evaluation– 21 producers returned a survey

• 12 stated they had modernized in last year– 10 of the 12 (83%) stated that the decision to do so had

been influenced by task force events

– 35 dairy industry professionals• 7 stated they had been part of modernization

planning for a client– 5 of the 7 (71%) stated that task force events had been

beneficial in the decision-making process

Impact

• From Summit III Evaluation-Industry– 22 dairy industry professionals answered that

they had helped a client modernize in the past three years

• 9 (41%) stated that the task force events were “very influential” in helping them help their clients.

– The total number of modernizations by this group of 9 totaled 67!

• 12 more stated that the task force events were “somewhat influential”

– These 12 accounted for 110 modernizations

Impact

• From Summit III Evaluation-Producers– Of 25 producers thinking about modernizing, 12 of

them (48%) answered that the task force events are “very influential” in their decision to potentially modernize, and 13 (52%) said “somewhat influential”.

– Of 16 producers who modernized in the last year• 7 (44%) stated that task force events were “very influential”• 7 (44%) stated “somewhat influential”• 1 stated the task force events had no influence

Impact

• From Summit IV Evaluation-Industry– 21 dairy industry professionals answered that

they had helped a client modernize this past year:

• 8 (38%) stated that the task force events were “very influential” in helping them help their clients.

– The total number of modernizations by this group of 8 totaled 32 (adjusted downward from one response of 400).

• 11 more stated that the task force events were “somewhat influential”

– These 11 accounted for 70 modernizations

Impact

• From Summit IV Evaluation-Producers– Two producers answered that they are “very seriously

committed to a modernizing effort” and both answered that task force events are “very influential” in their decision to modernize.

– Of the 15 producers who answered that they are “somewhat serious about modernizing, but not yet committed” 5 (33%) answered that the task force events are “very influential” in their decision to potentially modernize, and 10 (66%) said “somewhat influential”.

– Of the 25 producers who answered that they had modernized in the last three years

• 9 (36%) stated that task force events were “very influential”• 12 (48%) stated “somewhat influential”• 4 (16%) stated the task force events had no influence

Future

• Complacency• Too Much Success

– (organizational structure)

• What is success?– Number of heads– What the heads you have do

• Staying novel• Funding• Didn’t we say that collaborations are temporary!

Definition (Spangler)

• “A coalition is a temporary alliance or partnering of groups in order to achieve a common purpose or to engage in a joint activity.”

• “Forming coalitions with other groups of similar values, interests and goals allows members to combine their resources and become more powerful than when they each acted alone.”

Spangler, Brad. “Coalition Building.” Beyond Intractability. University of Colorado, Boulder. June 2003

Future

• Must show documented success as defined by coalition members– Public organizations

• Making a difference, showing results, stakeholder support

– Lenders• New business, new loans, better performing financial

situations

– Agribusiness• New business, new customers, public relations

– Producers• Better financial performance• Quality of Life• Family Goals


1. Clarity of team goalsa. Each member is crystal clear as to team

mission, goals, tasks, etc.b. Indicators of problems

• Frequent switches in direction, Disagreements and arguments, Lack of progress, Nobody understands what is going on

c. What to do: Take a time out, retrench, get on the same page, multi-voting, Nominal Group Technique

Recipe for a Successful Team2. Implementation Plan

a. Each member knows the steps of the process, knows each stage of progress towards the end goals, a written flowchart exists.

b. Indicators of problems• When something gets accomplished, team does

not know what to do next. Members just stop working, no next step.

c. What to do: Make sure you have a written flow chart, update if necessary, but have your next steps thought out and ready to go.


3. Clearly Defined Roles for Each Membera. Responsibilities are assigned, and everyone

knows who is doing what and by when.

b. Indicators of problems• Confusion over who is doing what.

c. What to do: Deployment chart


4. Clear and Open Communicationa. This one will sink the ship.b. Indicators of problems

• Confusion, anger, frustration, bullying, shyness, lack of involvement, steaming tempers just below the surface

c. What to do: honesty, encouragement, time out to speak as if I was someone else, designated observer, agreement to disagree


5. Well Defined Decision Proceduresa. Part of early team effort is designation of

a decision-making procedure that all agree to abide by.

b. Indicators of problems• Forced decisions by one person or clique

within the team, too frequent recourse to voting that is split

c. What to do: develop a process, test for consensus, use data and facts to guide decisions


6. Balanced Participationa. Every team member is important and has

important contributions to make

b. Indicators of problems• Meetings being taken over by one person or a

subset of members.• No ownership then no effort

c. What to do: actions that force inclusion such as structured brainstorming, gate keeping, or nominal group technique


7. Established Ground Rulesa. Attendanceb. Promptnessc. Regularly scheduled meetingsd. Participatione. Basic conversational courtesies

• you have two ears and one mouth – use them in that proportion

f. Assignmentsg. Preset agendas, minutes, and records


8. Use the Scientific Approacha. Let data and facts inform your decision-

making process

b. If you don’t have data, can you get it

c. Understand and use basic statistical tools

d. Dig for root causes of problems (fishbone)

Working Through Group Problems

1. Flounderinga. Symptoms: endless discussions with no

actions, loss of direction, frustration

b. How to deal with it: Review (maybe re-write) team mission and

process What’s holding us up (force field analysis) Let’s take a baby step, gain a victory, even if

small Absolutely force ourselves into a specific set of

actionable steps.


2. Overbearing participantsa. What to do?

Reinforce team rules that everyone’s opinion is important

Talk to the main culprit(s) privately on the side Discussion by written statement

Could be anonymous

More structured team discussions that force all to say something in an “around the table” fashion


3. Reluctant participantsa. What to do?

Reinforce team rules that everyone’s opinion is important and needs to be heard

Discussion by written statement Could be anonymous

More structured team discussions that force all to say something in an “around the table” fashion

Gatekeeper function that has one person riding herd over the team and assuring all are participating.


4. Rush to Accomplishmenta. Symptoms:

“We got something, let’s go with it.” Unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts

“Trust but Verify!” (Ronald Reagan) In God we Trust! All others must have data and facts!

b. What to Do about it: Review team mission, rules of conduct and

operation Remind all of the team rule – Decisions based

in fact! Designated doubter


5. Getting Off on Digressions and Tangents

a. Symptoms: A whole lot of time spent talking about matters that

have virtually nothing to do with the matter at hand

b. What to Do about it: Written agenda with “objectives to be

completed” Time & Task keeper whose sole job is to

remind everyone to keep on task


6. Feuding Team Membersa. Symptoms:

Usually obvious, watch the body language, people disconnecting/leaving the group

b. What to Do about it: Consider a code of conduct, well defined

roles, team building time consult conflict resolution ideas


7. Free riders!!a. Symptoms:

It is perceived at least that some members are not pulling their weight

b. What to Do about it: Be honest and direct privately Assignments Observers reports Discussion leader

private-public collaboration – sounds great, but hard to do! example of success: regional dairy...

Documents

drivers of modernization

educator slide

outcomes future slide

economic activity slide

successful example

todays presentation

coalition member goals

challenges principles