Working together effectively

Across all examples, successful neighbourhood working was not delivered through discussion and agreements between senior leaders in a system. Although the failure of senior leaders to engage and support communities fully with neighbourhood working was seen as having the potential to undermine it. 

Success meant working together in a way that enhanced the ability of partners to have a positive impact on the neighbourhoods in their area, and together achieve what each individual could not achieve alone. 

Many of the non-statutory representatives in our research discussed the effect of a ‘power gradient’ between statutory and non-statutory partners, linked to control of funding and other decision-making levers as a barrier. Addressing this imbalance requires statutory organisations to step outside of their organisational comfort zones and embrace non-statutory groups as equal partners, sources of expertise in their needs and possessing valuable assets, including the ability to catalyse transformational change.  It also requires the acknowledgement by statutory services of the different but equally significant power held at the neighbourhood level - the power that exists through connections, relationships and trust - and the power to undermine statutory interventions if people living in local communities do not feel those interventions have been designed with them in mind.

The connections between partners need to:

• be aligned on objective, purpose and outcomes
• be able to manage gaps, overlaps and resources as partners in change
• be focused on problem-solving for individuals and the neighbourhood as a whole
• share key information and resources (including training resources) in ways that reduce friction and address local needs, while respecting individual rights and privacies.