Building Stronger Partnerships Across Surrey: Introducing the Collaboration Toolkit

Surrey VCSE Alliance launches the first collaboration toolkit following a series of workshops involving a wide range of organisations from across the county.

The toolkit titled, Working Together for Greater Impact: A practical guide to partnerships and collaboration in Surrey, was developed following the workshops, held in July.

Discussions generated valuable insight into what makes collaboration successful, the challenges organisations face, and the support they need to build effective partnerships.

Shaped by Surrey's Experience

The toolkit is a living document that will continue to be updated as more learning and case studies are shared.

Across Surrey, collaboration is already happening in many different ways where participants consistently recognised that partnership working is not an end in itself informing that the purpose of working together is to achieve something that could not be achieved as effectively:

- by working in isolation

- to improve outcomes for communities

- sharing expertise

- increasing resilience

- making better use of resources

The workshops were an opportunity to bring together individuals and organisations with different perspectives and experiences, to build a valuable knowledge base of local expertise, resources and real-world examples that reflect the Surrey context.

Workshop Insight

• Successful collaboration should be driven by shared purpose and community outcomes, rather than funding opportunities alone.

• Trust is the foundation of effective partnership working and takes time to develop through open conversations and strong relationships.

• Collaboration exists on a spectrum, and organisations should choose the level of partnership that is appropriate for their shared goals and capacity.

• Shared values and organisational culture are essential for building authentic, sustainable partnerships.

• Relationships are built through networking and understanding each other's strengths, not simply through directories or contact lists.

• Changes to commissioning and funding are creating new opportunities for collaboration, while also presenting challenges for organisations of all sizes.

• Clear governance, agreed roles and appropriate legal arrangements provide confidence and help partnerships work effectively.

• Open, honest and regular communication is critical to building trust and maintaining successful collaborations.

• Capacity matters, organisations need to ensure collaboration is adequately resourced without placing additional pressure on staff, volunteers and trustees.

• Practical approaches to data sharing and referral pathways can improve people's experience and reduce the need for them to repeat their story.

• People with lived experience should be involved in designing, shaping and evaluating collaborative approaches to ensure they remain person-centred.

• Tools, such as checklists, templates, guidance and self-assessment resources would support confident and effective partnership working.

About this toolkit

This toolkit has been developed to help organisations make informed decisions about collaboration. It encourages reflection before action aimed at helping partners understand when collaboration is the right approach. The toolkit is available in five sections with practical tools and frameworks included.

• New Collaborations and Exploring New Partnership

• Mapping and Reviewing your existing partnerships

• Health Checks for strategic and relational partnership

• Community and Lived Experience

• Common funding collaborations models

• Useful Links and Resources

The toolkit is available to download on from the Resources page