Six Key Requirements for Effective Collaboration

Susan Jackson, Vice President and Chief Learning Officer of WakeMed, is an active and passionate advocate for our community here in the Triangle. In her keynote speech at the recent Girls Collaborative Forum at North Carolina State University’s The Science House, Susan shared the following six key requirements for effective collaboration:

1. Consideration of the ENVIRONMENT of your organizations and communities in order to identify unique challenges.
2. Creativity and moving out of the “business as usual” comfort zone to recruit your collaborative MEMBERSHIP.
3. Carefully defined PROCESSES and STRUCTURE for your collaborative group to guarantee effectiveness of effort.
4. Clear and timely COMMUNICATION that goes beyond reporting to seek feedback from collaborative partners.
5. Common MISSION and PURPOSE that is evidenced by seeing identifiers for every member in a collaborative’s objectives.
6. Commitment of RESOURCES that is both honest and realistic to ensure successful attainment of your collaborative’s goal and objectives.