The CEIH Partnership Cycle

Scop­ing, acti­vat­ing, facil­i­tat­ing and evolv­ing part­ner­ships is often as com­plex as the issue being addressed. At the core of the Part­ner­ship Cycle (The Cycle) are the foun­da­tion­al skills need­ed by those work­ing in partnership.

Divid­ed into four key stages, The Cycle is an iter­a­tive process that pro­vides the ​‘how-to’ and allows for flex­i­bil­i­ty and revi­sion through­out the life of a part­ner­ship. The Cycle sup­ports part­ners to estab­lish trust and trans­paren­cy, shared under­stand­ing, and a com­mon purpose. 

New part­ner­ships start at the scope and dis­cov­er stage of The Cycle. Part­ners are iden­ti­fied and con­sid­ered to be part­ner-ready. This stage devel­ops rela­tion­ships, explores shared goals, and clar­i­fies con­tex­tu­al issues. 

Plan and acti­vate is the next stage in The Cycle and is an essen­tial fea­ture of qual­i­ty part­ner­ships. This stage iden­ti­fies sup­port­ive struc­tures and mech­a­nisms to guide deci­sion-mak­ing and part­ner­ship action. Com­mit­ment and lead­er­ship for the part­ner­ship is critical.

The fos­ter, facil­i­tate and reflect stage influ­ences the col­lab­o­ra­tion through­out the life of the part­ner­ship. Part­ners need to be sup­port­ed to reflect and acknowl­edge their col­lab­o­ra­tive con­tri­bu­tions and adjust the arrange­ment as needed. 

Last­ly, review and evolve explores the future state of the part­ner­ship, whether it has come to an appro­pri­ate con­clu­sion, will be sus­tained or to cre­ate new oppor­tu­ni­ties to deliv­er mutu­al­ly ben­e­fi­cial outcomes. 

The CEIH aims to build the capa­bil­i­ty of organ­i­sa­tions to col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly tack­le com­plex health prob­lems and achieve com­mon goals by pro­vid­ing tools and resources to guide part­ners through each stage of The Cycle. 

Stay tuned — these resources will be avail­able in the com­ing months.