Leadership: Collaborative working

We live in a fast-changing world, one where many of the things we took for granted just five years ago have changed beyond recognition. Support from youth organisations needs to adapt to remain relevant to young people, innovative yet sustainable.

In this changing environment, collaborative working is vital and must extend beyond talk to tangible public action built on trust. Not because we need to share funding, or to meet government or public expectations, but because we all share a common purpose that requires massive collective effort, and because a little friendship and support can go a long way towards achieving it.

At UK Youth, our delivery model is based on this kind of partnership - with young people, with vibrant and diverse youth organisations the length and breadth of the country, with schools and colleges supporting extracurricular activity, with employers who hire young people, with government in support of the next generation, and with communities working to strengthen society.

We aim to be a connector, bringing these stakeholders together and partnering with them to identify what young people need, what works and what doesn't, and how we can apply best practice on a national scale.

Just before Christmas, I attended the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly with young members of UK Youth Voice to present policy calls they had devised in collaboration with young people from across the five nations through our partners Youth Cymru, Youth Scotland, Youth Action Northern Ireland and Youth Work Ireland. By working in collaboration with our nation partners, we were able to hear a range of young voices and amplify their policy calls from a regional to national stage. From this programme, and through working with our national network of members, it is clear local organisations understand the needs of local young people better than anyone else.

As a national organisation, our role is to work hand in hand with our network of grassroots youth organisations to ensure we can measure national impact and share learning to help bring about systemic change to the youth sector - advocating on behalf of young people and influencing policy.

Collective thinking

Over the years, there have been many great examples of youth organisations working together, some publicly recognised, with others happening quietly on a daily basis. On a national scale, some of the most significant policy decisions and initiatives of our time have been born from collective thinking and input from the sector, dating back to The Albemarle Report in 1960. Other examples include Resourcing Excellent Youth Services in 2002, Every Child Matters in 2003, Aiming High in 2007, Positive About Youth in 2010 and most recently The Youth Investment Fund and The #IWill Social Action Fund.

While these have been achieved through collaboration, working together is not always easy. To build trust, we must first be kind to one another. It is easy to lose sight of this when we are overwhelmed by pressing deadlines and financial pressure, but it is worth remembering that no one joins the youth sector without a genuine desire to make a positive difference for young people. We may not always agree with how another organisation seeks to make that difference, but we can respect their commitment to our shared cause. This generosity of spirit is a vital foundation for collaborative working.

None of us know all the answers. How can we? The answers to today's problems will not be the answer to tomorrow's. That is why we need each other, because two heads are better than one, and a whole sector is better than a single organisation. If we are honest about our organisational strengths and weaknesses, identifying where we can add value and where we can't, we will ensure young people get the best outcomes.

Just last month, I had a great meeting with many leading youth organisations as we began to plan next year's Creative Collisions conference. The event will bring together young people, practitioners and sector leaders to address key issues and inspire and foster collaboration. Partnering with chief executives, project officers and young people from across the sector, along with a corporate sponsor, has been a dynamic and invigorating process.

This, along with every successful collaboration I've observed, was built around the promise of a shared, mutually beneficial outcome. As leaders, if we don't - or can't - buy into that outcome because it conflicts with the aims of our own organisation, then we must either adapt our mission, or have the courage to voice our concerns and step out of the partnership. Soldiering on regardless invariably leads to conflict and disappointment in the long run.

As the issues affecting young people and youth services continue to change, we need to acknowledge we are doing more with less, address the current landscape together and be kind to each other on the journey.

TOP TIPS

• Go above and beyond to be kind, putting organisational differences aside for the greater good and having faith in one another's motives
• Trusting relationships take a while to build, but are crucial to successful partnerships
• A shared purpose must be at the heart of any new collaboration to ensure individual aims, objectives and visions are not conflicting
• Honesty and openness to identify strengths and weaknesses will help limit surprises along the way
• Having the courage to enter into the unknown, relinquishing some control and being bold in your choice of partners will create lasting impact