Partnerships or Mergers

Do partnerships really work? We have tried a few with voluntary sector agencies, but in all honesty have stuggled with the differring working practises and organisational cultures which can lead to confused staff, watered down services and most importantly - unhappy service users. I am often confused myself at the expectation that there are "equal partners" in any joint funding bid. One will always benefit more than the other. If you are in a partnership at the moment, can you truly say you will do further bids with the same partners when new funding pots are announced?

Are mergers the way forward? Well if the big banks and larger corporations can do it, why not smaller charities? What are the benefits and dangers of mergers? Again, is there a single winner out of 2 merging bodies? I think in today's financial climate, mergers are a way forward, as long as the main beneficiary is Jo Public! Those who know me are very aware of my "big fish swimming in my little pond" saying. Over the last few years i have seen bigger fish venturing into our regional pond. It has since been our vision at The Disability Syndicate to bring groups together to frighten them off leaving local services run by local people. Some groups are quite positive about this, some aren't!

Some smaller groups see The Disability Syndicate as a big fish - there's a blog for another day!

Agree?     Don't Agree?

Amo

Thought of The Day - Boards/Trustees

I'm very fortunate to have a forward thinking board which does not believe in micro-management. Unfortunately many boards "out there" can limit the decision making process and slow down the development of the organisation. Disability Direct's strength is a strong board with a strong senior management team which are in regular dialogue about the present and the future. The disability movement is quite righly advocating the need for user-led organisations (ULO's) to talk directly with partner agencies including statutory bodies, yet the movement needs to recognise that there is a need for speedy if not sometimes instant decisions. With the correct level of delegated powers, ULO's can still be effective without running to memberships on every decision!!! Our way works for us, may not for you!!

Agree? Don't agree?

Welcome!

Welcome to what i hope will be a regular update from me to you about my thoughts and plans for The Disability Syndicate and our member bodies. With our AGM a few days away, we are waiting for annual reports to come back from the printer - talk about 11th hour panic! Not really!!! - It's all under control.

This year we will be launching a brand new service - Magic-T Solutions. An IT support service for small businesses and you the public. Watch this space for for more news in the coming days.