Collaboration is Tough:
Collaboration is Tough: How can you measure potential success?
How can you evaluate the potential success of a collaboration before you begin? How will you know that it will be worth the effort?
There are several considerations before launching into a collaboration. In the final analysis, it simply may not work. It’s better to know that beforehand rather than much later in the process.
Here are some ways you may want to measure the potential for a successful collaboration:
• Increasing revenue – Making money on the collaboration would be great. Breaking even is good. Although the financial outcome is a big piece of the puzzle, it may not always be the most important.
• Fulfilling missions – Does collaboration help each of the organizations fulfill their missions?
• Achieving buy in – Collaborating may be a sound strategy, but is everyone on board? Everyone from artistic to administrative staff has to be involved and invested in the collaboration to make it a success.
• Expanding educational impact – Can we expand or create new educational programs to reach more youth? Are we finally able to launch the programs that we have only been able to dream about?
• Expanding community awareness – Will we be able to gain awareness locally or nationally of our organizations as a result of the collaboration?
• Reaching new audiences – Can we cross promote programming, performances and events to expand our audience base?
• Improving performance quality – How will the collaboration impact performance quality? Is there a synergy that results from this collaboration that would not be possible otherwise?
• Heightening reputation – Will this collaboration add to our reputations as innovative, strategic organizations? Can it be leveraged among our donors?
• Maintaining sanity – Will artistic and administrative staff, and management be able to maintain their sanity with the increased workload? Will ongoing work suffer?
• Exploring new working relationships – Do the cultures of the collaborating organizations blend well? Are the cultures too different to allow for a successful collaboration? Artistic and administrative staff will be working very closely together before, during and after the collaboration. Can they work well together?