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RESOURCES

Competencies

A competency is a group of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and behaviors necessary to successfully complete a given task required by a particular job.

Managing by Network and Collaborative Conservation: Partnerships in Practice feature knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors associated with partnership and community collaboration competencies, as defined by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

We have grouped these competencies under five core competencies below. Our work also addresses the overarching competency of Communication.

These OPM definitions set the standards for Partners and Partnerships

Partner

Partner is an umbrella term that refers to individuals, organizations and other entities interacting in a relationship with an agency, or its bureaus or offices, to achieve a common goal in support of the agency’s mission.

Partnership

Partnership refers to a voluntary and mutually beneficial collaborative relationship between the agency and one or more partners, built on the contributions of each partner and formed to achieve or assist in moving toward a common goal. Partners bring resources to the relationship that allow the agency, bureau, or office to accomplish objectives that, individually, neither party could achieve. A partnership may involve one partner utilizing another’s unique abilities, or it may be sharing a resource (money, time, knowledge, equipment, etc) to accomplish short- or long-term objectives agreed upon by all participating partners. Some partner relationships are informal; others are covered by welldefined agreements or regulations.

Partnering (Leadership)

Develops networks and builds alliances, engages in cross-functional activities; collaborates across boundaries, and finds common ground with a widening range of stakeholders. Utilizes contacts to build and strengthen internal support bases.

Partner Culture Awareness

Acknowledges, understands, respects and communicates respective partners’ cultures that are based upon missions, practices, people, governance, traditions, financial structure and capacity, and institutional histories. Finds ways that partners’ cultures can contribute to strengthen the mutual endeavor; values the difference and finds ways to integrate these differences into a workable operating culture for the overall partnership.

Team Building

Inspires, motivates, and guides others toward goal accomplishments. Consistently develops and sustains cooperative working relationships. Encourages and facilitates cooperation within the organization and with customer groups; fosters commitment, team spirit, pride, trust. Individual develops leadership in others through coaching, mentoring, rewarding and guiding employees.

Teamwork

Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit; works with others to achieve goals.

Leveraging Partnerships

Builds the sense of a team and culture that understands the importance of partnership work, embraces the value added by doing work in collaboration with others and continually acknowledges the importance of each entity’s contributions and shared resources to the Partnership. This skill transforms individualism into shared stewardship towards achieving the agency’s mission and reinforces the importance of partnerships through words and actions.

Community Collaboration 

Identifies, engages, and works collaboratively with communities of place (tiered to physical space through geography), communities of identity (tied to each other through social characteristics) and communities of interest. Such collaborations mutually benefit the community while fulfilling the agency mission and fostering long-term stewardship.

Collaborative Leadership

Enables people to join together from different units or organizations to accomplish a task that none of them could accomplish individually; leads as a peer, not a superior. Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit towards mission accomplishments; works with others to achieve goals and realize a sense of shared accomplishments and rewards.

Conflict Management

Manages and resolves conflicts, grievances, confrontations, or disagreements in a constructive manner to minimize negative impact.

Facilitation

Individual carries out a set of functions or activities that enables others to self-manage to meet common objectives. Individual provides non-directive leadership to help others arrive at decisions that are its task. Assists and guides without controlling.

Strategic Thinking

Formulates effective strategies consistent with the business and competitive strategy of the organization in a global economy; examines policy issues and strategic planning with a long term perspective; determines objectives and sets priorities; anticipates potential threats or opportunities.

Vision

Understands where the organization is headed and how to make contributions; takes a long-term view and recognizes opportunities to help the organization accomplish its objectives or move toward the vision.

Entrepreneurship (Leadership)

Identifies opportunities to develop and market new products and services within or outside of the organization. Is willing to take risks; initiates actions that involve a deliberate risk to achieve a recognized benefit or advantage.

External Awareness

Identifies and understands economic, political and social trends that affect the organization.

Partnership Management

Knowledge of the principles, methods, and procedures related to establishing, nurturing, maintaining, evaluating, sustaining, troubleshooting, and dissolving partnerships.

Influencing / Negotiating

Persuades others to accept recommendations, cooperate, or change their behaviors; works with others towards an agreement; negotiates to find mutually acceptable solutions.

Political Savvy (Leadership)

Individual identifies the internal and external politics that impact the work of the organization. Approaches each problem situation with a clear perception of organizational and political reality, recognizes the impact of alternative courses of action.

Developing and Managing Agency Agreements for Partnerships

Requires knowledge of concepts, policies and practices related to partnership agreements and authorities including agreement development, essential components, monitoring, evaluating and terminating. Understands the role of and works effectively with Procurement and Solicitor’s Office to develop and manage agreements.

Donation and Fundraising Activities in Partnerships

Knowledge of the concepts, policies and practices related to donations and fundraising including appropriate donation uses and types, authorities, role of the Agency partners, ethical considerations, challenge grants, funds accountability, annual recording, fundraising campaigns and donor recognition. Individual uses knowledge to collaborate with various sources of the philanthropic and grant-making communities to leverage funds.

Accountability (Leadership)

Individual assures that effective controls are developed and maintained to ensure the integrity of the organization. Individual holds self and others accountable for rules and responsibilities. Individual can be relied upon to ensure that projects within areas of specific responsibility are completed in a timely manner and within budget. Monitors and evaluates plans, focuses on results and measuring attainment of outcomes.

Consensus Building

Raises issues, seeks to understand other’s views, and then cooperatively, often through compromise, develops an agreed upon resolution.

Financial Management

Prepares, justifies and/or administers the budget for program areas; plans, administers and monitors expenditures to ensure cost-effective support of programs and policies; assesses financial condition of an organization.

Planning and Evaluation

Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of their organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes.

Download the full list of competencies featured in our training here.
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