Teamwork Exercise: Obtaining External Support and Recognition

Introduction

Although collaborative teams, when established properly, include the agencies and individuals who have a stake in the ultimate success of the effort, it is often true that support and recognition from outside the team will at some point in time become critical to the successful implementation of the team’s work products. Teams must therefore consider, well in advance, the kinds of support that will be needed –– whether an endorsement from the Mayor, approval of a new policy by an agency administrator, agreement from the bargaining unit to the redeployment of staff time, or consent from the school system to creatively use facility space –– and develop a strategy to secure this support at the appropriate point in time. In addition to making possible the implementation of the team’s work products, securing external support and recognition can also provide the often needed extra incentive to complete the work of the team.

Exercise Purpose

The purpose of this exercise is to identify those agencies and individual whose support is critical to the success of your team’s work, develop short and long–term outreach strategies to inform these stakeholders of the team’s work, and secure needed their assistance when it is needed.

Exercise Instructions

Working as a team, identify your team’s short and long–term needs for external support and/or recognition. Identify the specific outcomes your team will seek. For example, will stated public support from the elected Prosecutor be needed to successfully implement some of the strategies you envision? Will new funds from the county council or legislature be essential to your success? Will a series of newspaper articles help to gain public support for a new treatment program? Make a list of the various kinds of support/recognition that will be needed.

• Recognizing that your teams’ need for support will relate to the timing of your roll–out plan and the lead time that will be required to secure the assistance you seek, indicate next to each need area when the support will be required (e.g., immediately, over the long–term, etc.).
• Next to each item on your list, identify the agencies that are best positioned to provide this support.
• Within these agencies, identify the specific individuals who can be of greatest assistance to you.
• Consider the optimal methods to reach out to these individuals. Perhaps a member of your team has a long–standing relationship with one of the individuals on your list, or works closely with one of the individuals on another project.
• Develop a specific outreach strategy for each person on your list. Consider the following:
  • What are the specific messages the team wants to communicate to this individual? Be clear and specific regarding the products the team will produce, and the specific ways in which this individual and his/her agency can aid your efforts.
  • Develop talking points as needed.
  • Will it be necessary to have written materials to share? Consider the utility of providing a brochure, written summary of the team’s efforts, specific data to highlight the need for identified changes, or a report or strategic plan that can be referenced and provided to your potential supporters.
  • Will a single meeting with this individual suffice, or will a series of informational meetings or discussions be necessary to secure the support you seek? For example, it may be reasonable to get a commitment from the Prosecutor to endorse the team’s policy proposal in a single meeting—especially if it is in keeping with his or her stated position on a particular matter—whereas securing the agreement of a local journalist to prepare an article series may require an invitation to sit in on your team meetings for a number of months before even asking for this kind of commitment.
• Develop an action plan to put your ideas into action. Be sure to include a detailed task plan with identified persons responsible for carrying these out, and specific timelines team members agree to follow.