Collaboration Tools

Therehammer are a growing number of manuals, guides, and toolkits for collaboration available online. Here are some I recommend:

  • The DOJ’s Human Trafficking Task Force e-Guide is available at https://www.ovcttac.gov/taskforceguide/eguide/3-operating-a-task-force/resources-34-addressing-common-operational-challenges/
  • The University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development provides a Community Tool Box online. It includes a section on multisector collaboration that has excellent material and resources.
  • The Intersector Project’s Toolkit can be found at http://intersector.com/toolkit/
  • The resource section of the Collective Impact Forum can be found at http://collectiveimpactforum.org/resources
  • The Collaboration Multiplier, developed by the Prevention Institute, is an interactive framework and tool for analyzing collaborative efforts across fields. It is designed to guide an organization to a better understanding of which partners it needs and how to engage them. It is also designed for organizations that already work together, so they may identify activities to achieve a common goal, identify missing sectors that can contribute to a solution, delineate partner perspectives and contributions, and leverage expertise and resources. The Prevention Institute also offers a useful Collaborative Effectiveness Assessment Activity.

  • PARTNER (which stands for Program to Analyze, Record, Track and Networks to Enhance Relationships) is a free online social network analysis tool which can be used to collect, analyze, & interpret data to improve collaboration within community networks. According to PARTNER’s developer, Dr. Danielle Varda at the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver, the tool can be employed to analyze interorganizational relationships in three ways:

    1. Create visuals to see who is connected to whom.
    2. Assess network scores including metrics on the number and quality of relationships, the trust between partners, the value that each partner brings to the larger collaborative, and assessments of the roles that each member of the collaborative play based on how they are connected to others.
    3. Assess outcomes measures to indicate process and products achieved as a result of collaborating across sectors.