North East Together 24: Gearing up for your collaboration journey (May 2023)

We gathered with around 35 people on 25 May 2023 for North East Together’s 24th event for our first whole network event of 2023.

This was the first event in a four-part event series — a learning journey, if you will — we’re embarking on together in 2023 and 2024, using the North East Together collaboration framework as a guide.

We know our region faces challenges and opportunities that no one person or organisation can resolve or respond to alone. We also recognise the need to embrace complexity and systems thinking when we reflect on the health of our social systems in the north east to develop more nuanced and ultimately effective interventions. Embracing complexity and systems thinking requires a fundamental commitment to working collaboratively.

The final event in this series in November 2024 will find us at the 10th anniversary of starting the network. We’re really curious to see what’s changed. We hope you’ll travel along with us as we share what we’ve learnt in our collaboration inquiry since we started out.

Together we can.

Gearing up for your collaboration journey

We bring NET members and friends together for mutual support, inspiration and collaboration, and each event includes these three elements. The event’s advance information pack and slidedeck tells you more about the event…read on for our write up.

Inspiration: North East Together collaboration framework and toolkit

We introduced the collaboration framework, toolkit contents and how it can support our collaboration journeys.

Here’s a summary of the collaboration framework. We shared the full toolkit with those who came or sent their apologies. If you’d like a PDF copy, just ask.

Inspiration: Gearing up for collaboration: North East Youth Alliance — the journey so far

We heard from Kevin Franks, Youth Focus North East about the story — so far — of North East Youth Alliance. The NEYA has been created to support the development and sustainability of the people and the organisations working to improve the lives of young people across the region. Its ambition is to support a culture shift across the youth and community sector — to get people thinking and working differently. The triggers and motives for the collaboration included a clear alignment of vision, relationships, honesty and bravery from partners and funders. Plus a “realisation WE were doing it wrong” and conflict.

The journey so far has included thinking about and working on

• language — alliance rather than partnership, recognising the power imbalance in partnership; and start with what you bring — not what you can get
• sharing and giving up power, which isn’t easy
• building trust and connections — people connect and matter; and we connect with people — not organisations — when people move, organisations change
• shared purpose — our different agendas and strengths; no organisation can achieve everything; and ‘better a sum of our parts’ — shouldn’t be JUST a phrase
• being open and honest — having a safe space where we can share what we are actually thinking and feeling — be intentional about this.
• capacity (investment in capacity) to have time away from the day job — colloboration takes time!! — funders need to understand this and be equitable partners in creating and sustaining collaborations.sharing and giving up power

Kevin ended with: “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin”. Collaboration is difficult but not impossible; changing culture is difficult but not impossible. Try it — at the end of the day it will benefit everyone.

Mutual support: Our reflections…why collaborate

We talked in pairs to reflect on Kevin’s story and what it means for us and our collaborations and work with others. Our prompt questions were…

• What struck you/resonated the most?
• What excites you about this?
• What concerns you?
• What is your takeaway from Kevin’s story?
• And once you both shared your responses, share your thoughts on What does this tell us?

Inspiration: Gearing up for collaboration: Leaders Together for North Tyneside — deepening relationships and building trust

We heard from Mandi Cresswell, Meadow Well Connected about Leaders Together for North Tyneside on how a focus on relationships is growing strong roots for future collaborations. The work emerged from the established North Tyneside Chief Officers Group, who decided in February 2021 to change how they collaborated and represented the VCSE sector in North Tyneside. The group agreed to create Leaders Together — a group committed to collaboration — and we would take part in a year-long transformation programme. Mandi Cresswell, Meadow Well Connected and Robin Fry, VODA volunteered to pick up this task with more thinking, imagining and designing. Mandi and Robin secured funding from North Tyneside Council towards the programme and collaborated with local social enterprise Yes We Can CIC to co-design and co-deliver Leaders Together.

In telling the story of the Leaders Together for North Tyneside (so far), Mandi shared the successes including taking the initial ‘leap of faith’ without knowing the outcome and benefits; committing sufficient time and energy to the programme; and, establishing positive, supportive relationships with a strong group who range across fields of work and geographies. And shared her learning

• You must be brave and curious to make collaboration work
• You can only achieve things through building trust, and you must work at the speed of trust
• You need patience and determination

Collaboration: Collaboration toolkit in practice: Making the purpose of your work together clear

We used the Liberating Structure Nine-Whys to facilitate a generative activity to give everyone time to explore their purpose for potential collaborations. Our intention was to help people gear up for their collaboration journeys, helping them make a confident first step

In pairs, we took turns to ask each other…

• Question 1: What is the purpose of your collaboration and why is it important to you?
• Question 2: Why is that important to you? (repeat x 9)

Our experiment with time

As an experiment, we shifted the whole network event timings, running it as a mini-conference in the afternoon rather than an early evening, after work, event. Our intention was to be a little more mindful of people’s energy towards the end of the day and to sit the event as part of — most people’s — working day.

We think this will be an opportunity to not only network and connect with each other but learn together and intentionally ask: how we can commit to working collaboratively. We’ll still have time afterwards to continue our informal networking over food and drinks

Thank you

Thanks to all our members for showing up and being there for each other. This is what it’s all about and we appreciate being part of this community in the north east. We hugely grateful to Mandi and Kevin for sharing their experiences, telling it like it is and inspiring us. We’re also grateful to Dr Joanne James and Cissie Tsang from Newcastle University Business School for continuing to collaborate with us with North East Together. Thank you all.

We need to say extra special thanks to Cissie who is moving to a different job at Newcastle University. Thank you for keeping us all organised, for finding the budget for snacks (lunch this time!) and being generally brilliant. Our loss is your new department’ gain…they are very lucky to have you.

About North East Together

North East Together is the network for social change leadership in the north east.

Our collective mission here at North East Together is to create the conditions, and platform for, collaboration to become the norm in the north east and to nurture a healthier social change system.

Our network offers mutual support, enables collaboration and inspires social leaders. We offer a series of dynamic network events; whole day events, self-organised collaborative working groups; pathways into coaching; and independent social change events. Our events are supportive spaces where leaders can meet one another, explore issues of social change, network and begin to collaborate. It’s for leaders from the voluntary, charity, social enterprise, education, public and private sectors. It’s for experienced, new and future leaders of organisations, work, and ideas.

North East Together is hosted by Yes We Can and is a collaboration between Yes We Can and Newcastle University Business School. We’re grateful for the support both organisations give to North East Together.

Next events

These are our current plans

• 12 September — NET Connect, 16:00–17:15, online book your place — bringing together North East Together members and network friends to connect, grow and nurture our relationships
• 22 November — North East Together 25, whole network event, 13:00 for 13:30–16:30 + later for more informal networking — we’ll open bookings as soon as we can

We’ll also host more NET pop ups to inspire us and nudge us to collaborate as topics and opportunities come up. If you’re feeling inspired to hold your own NET pop up event, don’t forget the NET team can collaborate with you to host your own. Talk with Robert, Marie or Stephanie if you’d like to do this.