Are You Ready to Create Partnerships with the Healthcare Sector?

When we think about change, it’s easy for it to feel like one big, complicated, overwhelming thing. But when we think of change in the context of transformation – specifically of reshaping the health of our communities and fostering cross-sector partnerships to get there – change is and requires so much more than just one thing.

Is there a way to un-complicate the idea of partnering to create change?

Among community-based organizations that seem to flourish in pursuing partnerships with healthcare payers and providers to collaborate for change, we tend to find a set of key characteristics on display. In fact, we see seven dimensions of readiness that community-based organizations must examine to see how ready – or not – they are to pursue healthcare partnerships with the intent to take health from what it is now to what it could be:

1. Change readiness: It’s critical to prepare internally for the changes required, encompassing new mindsets and new ways of doing business.
2. Strategic direction readiness: This process demands that you assess the strategic direction of your organization and determine if developing cross-sector partnerships is in alignment with this direction.
3. Leadership readiness: Strong and adaptive leadership that is committed (with words and behaviors) with the partnership strategy is one of the most important areas of readiness.
4. Operational readiness: You’ll need to analyze whether you should develop or repackage a service model, then consider the costs, infrastructure and resource needs, and pricing options for the model.
5. Management readiness: Evaluating your staff structure for accountability and sustainability is essential for long-term success.
6. External market readiness: It’s critical to understand the healthcare landscape, the drivers for change and potential partners within your local market.
7. Partnership development readiness: You’ll have to be able to articulate organizational value, which begins with a strong message that resonates with multiple healthcare entities and a strategy to approaching potential partners.

To get to the root of how to prepare for and approach partnerships with the healthcare sector, we collaborated with the Aging and Disability Business Institute to develop an easy-to-use Readiness Assessment tool.

You can use this tool to answer questions across each of the seven dimensions of readiness to better understand your own organization’s readiness for successful cross-sector partnerships designed to drive change. When you’ve completed the assessment, you’ll receive a detailed report with feedback on your current state of readiness and your areas for capacity building moving forward.

In fact, we often use this assessment with our clients to help them develop capacities where they’ve identified partnership readiness needs. We believe that tools work best when they’re given a task to tackle, so when you get your result, let us know how we can help un-complicate partnership readiness so you can realize your full potential in your community.

Turning Ideas into Action:

• Take the Readiness Assessment to see where you land on the seven dimensions of partnership readiness. Are there certain dimensions where you feel more prepared than others? How will you put the results into action at your organization?
• Sitting inside a health provider or payer organization? Don’t feel left out – we have an Assessment tool and process designed to help you evaluate and select community based organization partners in your area. Get in touch to learn more.