The current pandemic has us all rapidly adjusting to new ways of working, particularly the way we connect with colleagues. Partnerships Director Lottie Turner shares her thoughts on how to partner through uncertain times like these.
There’s no doubt about it: the current COVID19 pandemic has forced us all to rethink and rework how we do what we do. Recently Health Justice Australia CEO, Tessa Boyd-Caine published a great think piece on the pandemic and the implications for the people HJPs are here to help.
But what does the move towards physical distancing mean for the partnering efforts of HJPs? How do you build and maintain a partnership when all of a sudden one or more partners have to radically shift their priorities or one partner can no longer provide the in-person support the others have grown accustomed to? While some of the answers to these questions will remain driven by your partnership’s individual context and circumstance, there are some universal principles to keep in mind. In no particular order, I’ve pulled together a few of my go-to ways of partnering through change, distance and uncertainty. How will your partnership respond?
Communicate
(this one’s so important I dedicated an entire blog to it)
If you’re in a partnership and you know you’re facing circumstances that will divert your energy/resources/ability to ‘show up’ and work in the ways you have up to now, share this with your partners. We’re all reviewing and shifting our focus to a certain extent at the moment, and we all understand change in practice will be inevitable.
If you need to, talk with you partners about what a scaled-back version of your current approach might look like. Conversely, if now is the time to deepen engagement across your partnership for folks who are particularly vulnerable or at risk, name this with your partners and talk about what is possible and realistic given everyone’s changed operating environment. Whatever approach is needed, provide an opportunity for all partners to share what their expectations are given the current context, and actively look for where the alignment is in those expectations. Talk about what you might need – both in terms of resourcing and partnership mindsets and behaviour – in order to achieve what’s needed over the coming period.
In communicating with your partners, try to agree on a timeframe for circling back and reviewing your current operating environment.
Distancing ≠ disconnection
In times of crisis it can be easy to fall into individual and siloed ways of working. When faced with uncertainty and disorder, we seek out certainty and order. There’s an element of unknown that comes with partnering, and leaning into that unknown can feel too risky when overwhelmed by things we can’t control. But by not reaching out to our partners in a time of uncertainty, we might miss a valuable insight, idea or opportunity.
One of the beauties of partnering is you have access to an even wider pool of knowledge, experience and ideas. Working in partnership is often about finding a new, third way to tackle the most vexed and wicked problems we come up against. What is more wicked and vexed than the public health crisis we all currently face? What if your HJP partner could contribute to your thinking or response to COVID19? You won’t know if you don’t pick up the phone or get online and talk to them about what you’re experiencing. If you’re a current legal partner, check in with your health partner. Actively engage them in a conversation about how their priorities might have shifted as a result of COVID19 and how you can offer your assistance and support.
While we may want to close off in a crisis, I encourage you to stay open – to not knowing, to asking, and to sharing.
Reach agreement on how you’ll manage change
An important opportunity for all HJPs to consider is how they’ll manage change, both now and into the future. I often talk to partnerships about the power of a mutually agreed HJP change strategy. It sounds overwhelming and complicated, but it doesn’t have to be! All partnerships will face change – in personnel, in priorities, in partners, in funding and in policy environments. A partnership change strategy can remove the guesswork for how partners respond to change, and guide partnerships through some of the most destabilising environments.
You might do this now, or you might agree as a partnership to review this when the time feels right. Brainstorm a handful of the most likely change scenarios you’ll face (for HJPs this is often loss of key personnel, the need for one or more partners to reprioritise/shift resources, and loss of/uncertain funding). Picture each of those scenarios, and have each partner share their thoughts on:
- what the scenario might look like for the HJP
- what resources, skills and mindsets will be required to manage the change
- what they expect of themselves/their organisation during the change
- what they expect of other partners during the change
- how partners might communicate and reach agreement during the change.
Actively seek out where there’s alignment across partner observations, and be open to talking through different perspectives. Document and share what you agree, commit to periodically reviewing what’s been agreed, and use this as the basis for how you manage change.
For HJP practitioners looking to connect with peers about managing change through COVID19, we’ve got you covered. On 22 April Health Justice Australia will be hosting a special online networking event for HJP practitioners. You can register for the event here or find out more by contacting me at lottie.turner@healthjustice.org.au.
As always, Health Justice Australia is here to support you through even the thorniest of partnering challenges – we’re only a Zoom meeting away.
