Process: good processes
Effective partnerships have good processes.
They have agreed processes for running meetings and they have written operating procedures. Processes for running meetings help to avoid the frustration of long meetings and difficult decision-making.
Operating procedures provide clear, written policies and procedures that set the ground rules for the partnership. These will generally be established by the lead agency and may include:
Procedures should be considered for:
Once agreed, your partnerships processes should be formalised in a Partnership Agreement, Memorandom of Understanding (MOU) or Terms of Reference (TOR) document.
Your partnership can refer back to the Partnership Agreement, MOU or TOR as necessary. They help to keep the partnership on track and provide a useful induction tool for new members.
Tools and Resources
Action-based resources
DPCD has developed a number of for meetings including templates for Action Sheets (Word 116 kb), Agendas (Word 146 kb) and Minutes (Word 116 kb). Used together these resources can help to create efficient, focussed meetings.
Agenda setting and consensus building
Developed by the Improvement Service,
Working Effectively Across Boundaries: Agenda setting and consensus building offers advice on developing agendas, running effective meetings and building consensus within the partnership. Help sheets for boards and committees
Our Community has also developed a series of
Resource Centre Help Sheets for Boards and Committees. These provide guidance on a range of issues related to running a committee including meeting processes, troubleshooting and strategic planning.Information sharing
Alternative means of sharing information may also be useful for your partnership, particularly when you are bringing together a large number of people. The Victorian Government’s
my connected community (mc2) offers a range of tools that allow you to establish a virtual meeting place - including the capacity to share files amongst members, run discussion forums, establish mailing lists and advertise events. Project management
A project management framework is provided by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s
project management resources that can assist in planning your partnership’s tasks and activities.Communications Protocols
Communications Protocols (Word 234 kb) have been developed by the School and Community Partnership and outline how the partnership should represent itself to the public.
Progress Reports
A Progress Report Template (Word 240 kb) was also developed by the School and Community Partnership.
Documenting your achievements
As well as documenting your progress, the Department suggests that you set up a system for regularly documenting your achievements. See DPCD’s Evaluation Step-by-Step Guide for more details.
Additional partnership documentation
Further examples of partnership documents are contained in Shared Facility Partnerships developed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
Partnership agreements
Some examples of DPCD’s partnership agreements are provided below:
Partnership Agreement - The Shepparton Aboriginal Partnership (Word 432 kb)
Memorandom of Understanding - Hume regional sustainable communities strategy (Word 244 kb)
Terms of Reference - Transport Connections in Wimmera (Word 244 kb) and Shepparton Aboriginal Partnership working groups (Word 217 kb)
Go to Performance.
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