Implementing your project
Multi-agency working: pitfalls and challenges

Forewarned is fore-armed. Below is a summary of the main kinds of problems you are likely to face - but don't panic! You will not have to deal with all of them. See earlier section on problem-solving t o help you think about how to respond.

A very common problem in partnerships is lack of clarity/ agreement on key issues. These might be around:

the purpose of the project;
the scope of the project;
the responsibilities of each agency and each project team member, especially the leadership role;
how the project will be resourced;
the communications strategy;
how risks will be managed.

It is important to discuss all of these before the project starts, and review them as it progresses.

Personal/ organisational upheaval

If relationships between the partners are generally good, you might hope at least to be given enough notice if any of the following happen. If not, this project may be putting too much strain on an already fragile partnership. Your senior management/ community engagement champions etc may be able to help. If they want to pull out, you may find that those in influential positions in partner organisations can negotiate with them.

partner drop-out;
key worker drop-out;
partner/ senior management change of direction.

Practical difficulties

The following list could apply both to the project as a whole and to individual partners. For example, moving offices could lead to a major disruption which impacts on the project timescale.

resourcing
time/ timings
recruitment
venues/ logistics
transport
IT
natural disasters (!)

Relationship with the community

Particular partners may be experiencing difficulties with sections of the community/ service users - eg if a hospital is about to close. This may distract partners from focussing on the project at hand, but the project itself may be able to improve those other relationships. It is vital for all partners to communicate well and work effectively together, rather than narrowing their focus on to their own problems. All partners should be aware of the impact of the following community experiences:

feeling under-consulted;
feeling over-consulted;
feeling under-informed;
impact of negative publicity pre or post event;
impact of external factors (eg political issues/ controversial police story etc)

By thinking about these in advance, you can avoid some of the above becoming a problem. You should also remember that partners may be able to help as well!

Differences in organisational capacity

The ability to attend meeting/ dedicate resources to the project etc will depend on a number of factors, including the size, location and budget of the organisation. An organisation whose offices are at some distance from the other agencies, which relies heavily on volunteers, or has very limited resources, including limited access to IT, may find it more difficult to participate in the project.

Such organisations may need financial or other help if they are to contribute fully to the project. For example, if you want to involve people with disabilities, voluntary groups are likely to have excellent networks but they may not be able to pay for specialised transport to get participants to the venue. If yours is a long-term project, you may want to think about developing a parallel process of 'capacity building' to strengthen particular voluntary or community sector organisations, so as to enable them to make a sustained contribution both to this work and other initiatives.

Different ways of working

Different organisations have different ways of doing things. This is most likely to be a problem where it is unacknowledged - by agreeing ways of working at the start, you will avoid many misunderstandings.

It will be helpful if working practices are kept as simple as possible, so you may want to encourage all participating organisations to be as flexible as they can. However, if it is not possible to agree a common way of working, or if certain processes need to be different for some reason, everyone simply need to be clear what the processes are, and to take them into account. This may involve awareness of:

• internal organisational deadlines;

• internal sign-off procedures;

• differing roles/ names and functions of particular teams or departments;