Worksheet2 What's the driver?
What's the driver? | 2.2
It is easier to form a successful cluster if you know what is binding you together, or you have a specific and significant task on which to focus.
In the case of the pilot projects, there were two key drivers:
- concern about threats to Supporting People funding for smaller providers — both as a result of cuts in levels of grant, and of changes in commissioning practice (an increase in competitive tendering and a move towards larger contracts), and the need to find ways of reducing these risks;
- having to decide how to spend the budget of £15,000 which hact was offering.
be clear about what binds you together
If the cluster doesn’t have a pot of money to spend, it becomes all the more important to identify what it is that makes it worth meeting. This could be a need to respond to threats in the environment, a wish to establish a collective voice or to respond to an opportunity – it could be as broad as that expressed by one pilot group of “trying not to be alone”.
These might also be issues which can be dealt with by looser networking arrangements; the difference between these and a cluster is that the latter has a more specific business focus which is the intention to develop the strength and capacity of each organisation through collective action and some form of mutual exchange.
While it is unusual for clusters to start with a clear idea of the specific goal which they are trying to achieve (this emerges in the course of the clustering process), it is important for there to be a degree of shared analysis at a basic level about the nature of the problem which members are interested in addressing.
Key learning points
Keep it small — it depends on developing personal relationships and a sense of responsibility to the other members of the group.
Base it on existing relationships between at least some of the key players
Keep it local — or at least strongly thematic — this makes it easier to meet and means that you are more likely to have significant issues in common and contacts/knowledge you can pool:
Pick organisations which share a common driver
In short: pick organisations you think you can work with
These will all help you get a head start and cut down on the “storming” stage which bedevils attempts to develop collaboration from scratch.