 Welcome to this webinar on the Art of Effective Partnering by Helen Altshull and Ewan Leborn. This webinar is the first module in a planned series designed to strengthen and coordinate partnership working across Ilrie as an institute and within the CGIAR research programme on livestock. In the next 20 minutes we will introduce the why and the what of partnering. Future webinars will focus on the how, including a framework and tools to help you broker new partnerships and manage ongoing ones and a methodology for identifying and engaging stakeholders at country and regional office levels. In this webinar we want to touch upon the why and what of partnering. Partnering is an art. Effective partnering is a delicate art. It's worth questioning what you may need or not need to start a partnership. But you need to know what it is, how to define it and what are the key principles. Then realise that partnerships are a balancing act between risks and rewards and contemplate the building blocks that make up partnerships. A partnering framework might be your safest bet here. Finally, we'd like to conclude this webinar with some key take-home messages and an overview of concrete steps going forward with this in the livestock CRP and other Ilrie programmes and teams. Ask yourself why may you need to partner. Transaction costs can run very high, so this simple question deserves a good answer. For society at large, the biggest reason for engaging in partnerships is the potential to address wicked problems. At Ilrie we are in the business of research for development with the ultimate aim of reducing poverty. However, poverty reduction is what is sometimes described as a wicked problem, meaning that it straddles organisational and disciplinary boundaries, involves multiple stakeholders with conflicting agendas, is multi-causal, has no clear definition, is never completely solved and any solutions are not right or wrong but better or worse. Working in partnership provides a better opportunity to develop possible solutions to such wicked problems than working on your own. Partnerships are crucial to the delivery of Ilrie's strategy but we are not always good at brokering and managing them. Ilrie has been talking about partnership working for at least the past ten years. Now we need to walk the talk. The CRPs have brought the issue of partnership to the fore, to the extent that the new CGIAR common indicators include one specifically focused on partnerships. Donors are also increasingly looking at how CGIAR centres and CRPs are engaging in strategic partnerships to address the systemic challenges identified in the sustainable development goals. We therefore cannot afford to work without partners. Good partnerships can help to reduce competition and achieve greater impacts than Ilrie can manage alone. But partnerships take time and effort and are a means to an end, not an end in itself. Our partnerships need to be targeted. You may be thinking that this is all very well but it's only relevant to your organisation and not to you. However, think for a second whether you're better off alone or with partners to generate new insights and innovate, access different networks, achieve more visibility for your research or gain more credibility. This webinar will introduce the basic concepts to help you nurture your current and future partnerships. So what is that art of partnering and what should everyone in the livestock CRP and Ilrie know about it? It's essential to understand that though partnerships are at the core of our strategy, there cannot be applied all the time everywhere with everyone. The essence of strategic partnering is also in deciding when not to partner. Partnering is only a pathway leading to something bigger. It's not an objective in and of itself. Luckily, in this maze, there are a lot of tools and processes that can help us do this partnering well. So with some good thinking and genuine caring, we really have everything it takes to do it well. But once we start with it, we're in it for the long haul. With constant nurturing and a clear sense of what is expected from each partner. Accountability helps us think about and do our partnerships more transparently. So what? You might think this is all obvious and we know how to do all of this. Everyone knows that we are great at partnering, right? Well, some evidence says otherwise. Here are a few things our partners say about us in various respectable sources, such as the Ilrie stakeholder feedback report from 2017, the livestock and fish partnership strategy from 2015, the audit of management research partnerships from 2014, or the Ilrie partnership strategy from 2008, in which we can read some of the following statements. Our partners see us as self-serving only there to gather data. We treat them as subcontractors. Our timeliness and respect for communication and partner protocols leaves a lot to be desired. We spend our time at their meetings behind our computers and smartphones. Of course, we do some good partnering work here and there, but let's not assume too quickly that we know it all. Partnerships are an important approach and even a way of working both for Ilrie and the livestock CRP. So let's dive into partnering properly now. We're going to now take some time to look at definitions of partnership. Partnerships and arrangement agreed between Ilrie and one or more other organisations. Firstly, to address strategic issues and or deliver specific tasks that Ilrie and the partner cannot accomplish alone. And secondly, when Ilrie cannot purchase the required resources or competencies through a contracting mechanism. Take a moment to think about this definition. The implication is that if you can do the work yourself or if you can buy the necessary skills or resources through a simple contract, you probably do not need to partner. There are many types of partnerships described in the literature. Some of these include for research, partnerships for upstream research, partnerships for applied research, public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder partnerships. And for research for development, agriculture research partnerships, agriculture innovation delivery partnerships, national or global innovation partnerships and many others. There are also different types of relationships. The Ilrie partnership strategy 2008 talks about contractors to Ilrie, equal partners with Ilrie and Ilrie as a service provider or subcontractor itself. Note that as per our definition, contractors and service providers are not partners in the true sense of the word and are thus not the focus of this webinar. What is the difference between a partner and a stakeholder? Ilrie has many different types of stakeholders at all levels, institutional, programme and project level, but not all of these are partners. Much of what Ilrie does with its stakeholders will be in informing, consulting or engaging or doing for our partners. This is shown on the slide as an engagement ladder with participation increasing as you go from the bottom to the top of the ladder. Some of what Ilrie does may be educating, doing to stakeholders and hopefully not coercing the bottom rungs of the ladder. What we're talking about in this webinar are those initiatives where Ilrie is either co-designing or co-producing outputs with its partners, doing with them. Those are the rungs at the very top of the engagement ladder. Partnering principles. Now that we better understand why partner, let's see what that means for Ilrie. Here is a set of five essential principles for laying strong and effective partnership foundations. Together, they form the word cares. C stands for communication. Ilrie will engage with partners in an inclusive manner, communicating both face to face and remotely at optimal intervals to maintain energy levels, commitment and a sense of connection. A stands for accountability. Ilrie as an institute and Ilrie staff as individuals are accountable for making partnerships effective. As an institute, Ilrie will periodically review the effectiveness of its partnership strategy and will support the development of partnership management capacity. Individual Ilrie staff are responsible for improving Ilrie's partnerships through transparent engagement including participation in partner activities and events and regular partnership health checks. R stands for respect. Any partnership is slowly built and easily destroyed. It needs an attitude of mutual respect, curiosity and willingness to learn. Of particular importance are dimensions of power imbalance and cultural differences which should ideally be clarified at the outset and subsequently be part of the ongoing discussion among partners. E stands for efficiency. Ilrie will ensure that responsibilities and tasks are shared such that each participant can work to their own individual and organizational strengths ensuring a balance between equity and efficiency within the partnership. Finally, S stands for synergy. A partnership is a means to an end, not an end in itself. When entering into a partnership, both Ilrie and a potential partner will identify clearly their shared values and expected mutual benefits to articulate evidence of synergy. Ilrie cares about his partnerships and their effectiveness. We're going to talk now about the risks and rewards of partnering. Each partner organization needs to assess the potential risks and rewards of being involved in a partnership initiative and also to understand the potential risks and rewards of their fellow partner organizations if they are to commit themselves to genuine collaboration and the principle of mutual benefit. While it is common for each partner to believe the risks to their organization are greater than to any other, most categories of risk apply equally to all partners. Organizational risk may arise in any of the following areas. Reputational impact. All organizations and institutions value their reputation and will rightly be concerned about whether that reputation can be damaged either by the fact of the partnership itself or by any fallout in future should the partnership fail. Loss of autonomy. Working and collaboration inevitably means less independence for each organization in the areas of joint work. Conflicts of interest. Whether it's strategic or operational levels, partnership commitments can give rise to split loyalties or to feeling push to settle for uncomfortable compromise. Drain on resources. Partnerships typically require a heavy front end investment especially of time in advance of any appropriate level of return. Risk assessment is important but easily ignored in the enthusiasm for the potential benefits from collaboration. Partners should encourage each other to undertake such assessments at an early stage of their collaboration and, wherever possible, find opportunities for addressing concerns together as a partner group in an open and non-judgmental atmosphere. There are many areas of benefit that may be common to all partners, some of which are shown on this slide. They include innovation. Partnership can inspire great ideas. Increased access to information, networks and resources. Sharing of experiences. Increased capacity including opportunities for professional development. Improved efficiency including efficiency of operations. Improved validity of outputs. Increased visibility for the partners and for the partnership itself. Enhanced credibility and last but not least, greater impact. Drivers are the pushes and pulls that determine behaviour. Drivers include incentives that motivate organisations to engage in the partnership and obligations that force organisations to participate since not doing so would result in a sanction or penalty. The table on this slide shows some of the potential drivers for organisations from different sectors to engage in partnership. For example, the private sector may be interested in partnership because they want to demonstrate social responsibility, it gives them a licence to operate, they want to mitigate risks, they want to develop new markets or products and to differentiate themselves from their competitors. When you are partnering with another organisation from a different sector, it's important to bear in mind what their drivers may be. How these differ from those of your own organisation and how both can be accommodated within the partnership processes and activities. Let's imagine we have identified a strong rationale to enter a new partnership. Successful partnering relies on building blocks that help us anchor a strong understanding of our partner relationships and stimulate a set of practices that give flesh to happy, lucky, healthy partnerships. What you see in this word cloud is the crux of the matter in partnerships. The words and issues that keep coming back as important to address in partnering work. In this process of unpacking these building blocks, we'll look at both the ideal picture, what a healthy partnership should look like and also what happens when the reality kicks in. In other words, partnerships and practice. One of the holy grails of successful partnering is trust. Trust really is the lifeblood that eases everything in the relationship. It helps co-create the joint vision, develop thorough plans, implement activities and review joint work in a positive and mutually reinforcing way. And it adds that je ne sais quoi that distinguishes great partnerships from all right working relationships. But that is indeed a holy grail, not the first step. The ideal picture starts with a clear vision. What future do you want to achieve and how can a partnership help you get there? That vision should ideally be backed by specific goals that matter. For Illry, this relates to the four livestock pathways we have identified in the Illry strategy, each putting specific partnerships at the centre. Ideally, a strong partnership has also delineated roles and responsibilities clearly so that everyone knows without a doubt what is expected of them and ideally everyone is playing to their strengths, adding inputs where they are best placed to do so. This means being fully aware of one's strengths and weaknesses, which is not a given in every organisation. In relation with roles and responsibilities, the next logical step in an ideal partnership is to have a very clear and transparent governance structure and decision making process. That is, who takes decisions on what, following what particular rules and how is all of this communicated between partners. Not just the organisations generally, but the different people involved in the partnership. The risk otherwise is that decisions are taken obscurely and confuse, irritate or even downright alienate the parties. When that happens, a good partnership agreement will include mechanisms for resolving disputes. That's also part of good governance. The next step in this ideal picture is to have a collective approach to planning and implementing activities and to mobilising resources to that effect. But then, often reality kicks in and it makes a strip. Which brings us back to trust. No one disputes the central importance of trust in partnerships. The reality, however, is that trust is, initially at least, only a vision, an objective. We cannot just push the trust button on and building trust doesn't happen overnight. A better proxy towards trust might be to treat each other with respect, curiosity and active listening. By doing so, we progressively improve the image and credibility that our partners bestow upon us and gain their trust and, hopefully, the opposite is true too. It may be counterintuitive, but partnerships are not always meant to last forever. Sometimes you have a specific goal to achieve together and once you have accomplished it, you can let go of each other. Again, it's a means to an end. Having sustainable partnerships is not necessarily critical, though, of course, it helps to have long-standing partnerships to keep on doing joint work together. The reality of partnering is that there is no blueprint, no silver bullet. It's all about context, though there are some tools that can help you across context. These tools will be covered in more detail in future webinars, but to wet your appetite, I want to briefly introduce a framework which is helpful when involved in partnership working. This framework, adapted from the partnering cycle developed by Tennyson 2011, divides the partnering process into 12 steps organised into four phases. The first phase is scoping and building for preliminary identification and planning of your partnership. The second phase is managing and maintaining for implementation of activities. The third phase is reviewing and revising for monitoring and amending where required. And the fourth phase is sustaining outcomes for scaling and moving on from the partnership. Details of these phases and steps and tools that can help you to carry out these tasks will be covered in the next webinar. And now we come to our key take-home messages. First, define partnership. Understand why we partner, what partnering and partnerships are, and when it does not make sense to partner. Remember to strike the right balance between risks and rewards and always seek synergy. Consider the systems and processes at your disposal, such as communication, monitoring and evaluation, finance, et cetera, as the building blocks of your partnering approach. There is a framework at our disposal and in the next webinar we'll explore this further. And we have some plans to make this work. Finally, remember and apply our five partnership principles. Communication, accountability, respect, efficiency, synergy. Show that Ilri cares about making his partnerships effective. What are the next steps? Ilri is working to ensure a common understanding of its partnering approach to build the knowledge and skills of staff and to share simple partnership planning and management tools so that Ilri staff can nurture their current and future partnerships and also be held accountable for their implementation. As previously mentioned, this webinar is just the start. Future webinars will cover the details of the partnering framework and tools and methods to help you build your knowledge and skills. And if you are interested in sharing experiences, tips and tricks with other colleagues, plans are in place to develop a community of practice for partnership practitioners. So watch this space. Thank you for listening to our webinar.