Is competition killing collaboration?

 

I recently presented to the Lloyds Bank Foundation Board away day on the current issues facing small charities. To help me do this, I asked some charity leaders across the West what they thought – and they did not hold back! They provided me with a long list of issues. Some were positive, like having new opportunities to deliver services that were previously run by councils. And there were lots of negatives – most of which, unsurprisingly, were related to funding such as the problems with payment by results.

One theme that came through really strongly was the impact of the shift to commissioning. Examples were:

• the ‘big players’ who have come in and won large contracts at the expense of small, local charities;

• charities who shared information about local issues and needs with a large provider on the understanding that they would become a sub-contractor only for these sub-contracts never to materialise;

• problems in partnership working as partners were reluctant to share knowledge that could be taken to strengthen another’s bid.

The impact has not just been on the loss of funding or the frustration with the new regime. This increased competition has also made people more guarded. It is a climate of competition not collaboration.

If this is your experience, how do we preserve the values of openness and collaboration in this increasingly competitive environment?

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