The four stages of collaboration

In our first two blogs, we discussed why is it important to collaborate, the advantages that a conscious collaboration can deliver and how to identify the correct partners considering multiple parameters.

In our final blog, we will explore how to shape and manage a collaboration process that will be beneficial for the federations involved.

Stage 1 - nurturing collaboration

Have you yourself ever worked in a team and found it difficult to collaborate with people who have different approaches or perspectives from you?

The first important matter to consider in a collaboration is the respective cultures of the federations. Each federation has its own values, vision and objectives which define their working habits. In fact, our research has found that national federations' cultures vary quite markedly, with each organisation made up of people from different professional and educational backgrounds, making a collaborative endeavour a challenge.

Thus, in order to build an effective and efficient collaboration project, it is fundamental to define a set of common objectives that define the path of the collaboration. In this way, each federation will acknowledge and accept the priorities and working habits of the other side, limiting the risk that could compromise the whole collaboration with conflicts. The result will instead leave the participants collaborating actively towards the agreed goals and seeking potential new opportunities.

Stage 2: building a communication system

Once the federations have accepted their respective cultures and working habits, it is fundamental to define a good communication system.

Why is this important? The communication system is crucial because it is the process that lets information flow across the federations that are involved, allowing knowledge sharing, correct resource management and conflict resolution. The communication system allows the federations to work towards the same goal, without wasting time and resources in adjustments due to reciprocal matters.

In fact, conflicts arise with misunderstanding and incomprehension, and, as we will see later, these generate extra wasting of resources. Moreover, a lack of communication will lead to ineffective and inefficient collaboration, resulting in the opposite outcome of the initial project. But, an effective communication system will lead to efficient performances that will benefit all the federations involved in the collaboration.

Stage 3: deciding how to manage resources

Assuming that the communication system in place works efficiently, then it is crucial to manage the resources that the federations contribute to the collaboration. A correct allocation of resources will determine the achievement of the collaboration's objectives.

Depending on the sizes of the federations involved in the collaboration, the objectives may vary. For instance, our research found that smaller federations are driven to try to save their limited resources and maximise their possible outcome, tending towards cost cutting policies.

On the other hand, bigger federations tend to better utilise those resources that are not fully exploited or that overlap with other tasks. In this way, they can reach an optimisation of their resources. Whether big or small federations are involved, if the prospective outcomes and shared objectives are not reached, then conflicts will arise.

Stage 4: conflict resolution

As we have seen so far, there are three moments in a collaboration in which conflicts can arise.

• Firstly, at the beginning of the whole process, when federations meet to define their shared objectives;

• secondly, when the communication system is put in place and it does not deliver properly the fundamental messages to make the collaboration work;

• finally, when there is a poor resource management system in place.

In terms of consequences, on the less severe end of the spectrum, the conflict can be managed but leads to slight inefficiency since conflict management is time consuming and a waste of resources. In the more extreme cases, the conflicts can lead to the termination of the whole collaboration altogether – with the agreed objectives left unachieved and opportunities left not leveraged. Regardless, we advocate that a conflict management system be set-up, and we set out that system in more detail in our research paper (see blog 1).

To conclude our series of blogs, it is obvious that cross-sport collaboration can yield significant benefits for the federations involved. What we have sought to do with our research is develop a framework for how to collaborate to ensure those benefits are fully realised.

The first key step in that framework is to pick the right partners, and we believe that sports mapping, and in particular the multi-variable sports mapping model we have begun to devise, is the tool that can allow federations to do so at a more sophisticated level, involving a large variety of parameters.

However this alone is not enough, and the second key step in the framework is to establish a set of systems and processes that will help the partners define shared objectives, communicate effectively with each other and manage resources efficiently. Only through this step can conflicts be avoided and efficient collaborations be executed to the satisfaction of the partners involved.

If you have any questions regarding cross-sport collaboration and our research, please do not hesitate to contact the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

Read FIFA MA Blog 2

Read FIFA MA Blog 1

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