Take time to ‘onboard’ new partners
As you get a second project up and running, they’ll need to see what good looks like and get a bit of a steer on how to get there.
We all know that manuals have a habit of gathering dust on bookshelves, so less is often more. Go back to what you do, how you do it and put together a list of what is a ‘Must’, what is a ‘May be’, and what is ‘Forbidden’.
Use checklists, examples and diagrams to get across your point and add into the mix some face-to-face time with your partner or a few videos to show how it can be done.
Establish mutual expectations
It’s also worth putting together a contract to make clear what your expectations are in terms of who does what, fees, safeguarding and the use of your name and branding.
The world isn’t perfect, things go wrong, people move on, and sometimes initiatives just run their natural course. Having a written agreement will just help everyone navigate the inevitable twists, turns and bumps in the road.
Review and revise
Once you’ve got a project up and running – it’s just the start! You’ll want to see what is and, more importantly, what isn’t working. Build monitoring and evaluation in from the start so you can continually improve the way you support your partners.
And, to return to our point at the beginning, if you want to grow big, grow slow. All the hard work you put in to lay strong foundations will pay dividends in the long run. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was MacDonalds!