Social Impact at Scale

Model

Partner Profile

Build strategic alliances by defining partner criteria, instilling confidence in collaborations and mapping potential partners

How will this tool help?

Whatever your pathway to scale, collaboration with new stakeholders is crucial. This may include implementing, referral, or technical partners. Establishing criteria for prospective partners is crucial, guiding recruitment efforts toward those who align with strategic objectives. This tool will help define partner criteria, instil confidence in collaborations, and start to map out potential partners, offering a systematic approach to building strategic alliances.

Doing this has a number of benefits:

It can help you to ‘recruit hard and manage easy’ – it is easier to promote quality in your scaling model by ensuring that partners have appropriate skills, qualities, and knowledge at the outset rather than trying to correct mistakes after they arise;
It can promote reasonable expectations and accountability, as well as allow partners to ‘self-select’ (saving you time and effort in the recruitment process).

STEP-BY-STEP

To use the tool worksheet, please follow these steps:

Make a copy to your own Google Drive folder: Click file -> Make a copy > Entire presentation > Select your personal Google Drive folder, OR
Download a copy to your desktop: Click file > Download > Microsoft Word (or other file type)

Open worksheet

Step 1

Identify the essential and desirable criteria

In the worksheet, use the following table to map out the essential and desirable criteria that any prospective partner would have to evidence for you to be confident working with them to deliver your solution at scale.

Consider what you expect partners to do* and the qualities needed to meet those expectations. You will also want to consider what a prospective partner needs to have in place before engaging with you and what skills or qualities can be developed later.

* Please refer to the roles and responsibilities tool if necessary.

The categories help structure your brainstorming, but please consider any other factors you believe would be necessary for your scale model.

Bear in mind that different partners may have different criteria – you may need to complete this exercise multiple times depending on your proposed scaling model.

Step 2

Reflect on your partner profile

Take a step back and reflect on your partner’s profile. For each criteria that you have set, answer the following questions:

What was your reason for setting this criteria?
Are you confident this criteria is required to allow a partner to deliver impact? Have you properly categorised that criteria as either essential or desirable?
Must this criteria be satisfied before working with this partner? Is it not something that a partner can develop in their role?
Are the criteria, assessed as a whole, overly restrictive?

Step 3

Assess prospective partners

In the worksheet, use the table below to map out potential partners that you believe could fit your partner profile. This map could include specific organisations or a general class of partners (such as CCGs, Academy Trusts, etc). You should assess the pros and cons of each group concerning your partner profile and any other factors you consider relevant.

Reflect on the following questions:

How easy was it to map out your potential partners?
What might this tell you about your implementer profile? Is it too restrictive or permissive?
Do you have any other reflections?

Step 4

Test your partner profile in practice to assess

Are your chosen criteria appropriate for identifying partners who can deliver your solution’s impact at scale?
Are the partners who meet your partner profile interested in and capable of working with you?

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Next steps

You are now ready to move onto the 'Roles and Responsibilities' tool define what you need from your partners

Head to the tool

Roles and Responsibilities

Set and assess roles and responsibilities for all partners you intend to work with

Appears in these Collections

Working with Stakeholders

Doer and Payer at scale

Establish who will deliver your solution and who will pay for it once it's scaled to ensure you're doing it sustainably

Learning Roadmap & Tracker

Reduce risk and accelerate learning as quickly as possible by testing your assumptions

Value Proposition

Show the benefits and advantages your scale model offers the stakeholders you aim to engage at scale

Roles and Responsibilities

Set and assess roles and responsibilities for all partners you intend to work with

Support Packages

Ensure your partners have the skills and knowledge to deliver impact as part of your scaling model

Partner Profile

Build strategic alliances by defining partner criteria, instilling confidence in collaborations and mapping potential partners

Prepare to scale up

Scale Readiness Diagnostic

Assess your scale readiness and address areas for improvement

Design your Core

Define the essential elements that drive your impact and sustainability

Sweet spot for scale

Critically assess the scalability of your solution by ensuring it has impact, value and sustainability baked into it.

Social Objectives

Identify and align your social and organisational objectives

Quality management

Ensure that delivery remains high quality over time

Roles and Responsibilities

Set and assess roles and responsibilities for all partners you intend to work with

Partner Profile

Build strategic alliances by defining partner criteria, instilling confidence in collaborations and mapping potential partners

Project Planning

Create a customisable plan for effective scaling implementation

Alignment Building Facilitation Guide

Unite your organisation around scaling plans

Communication Plan

Communicate your scale model with key stakeholders

Learning Loops

Harness continuous learning to enhance your scaling efforts

Related Tools

Social Objectives

Identify and align your social and organisational objectives

Scale Readiness Diagnostic

Assess your scale readiness and address areas for improvement

Design your Core

Define the essential elements that drive your impact and sustainability

Choosing a scale pathway

From replication to building a movement - explore different pathways to scaling impact

Building a Storyboard

Draft a map to achieve your intended impact at scale

Learning Roadmap & Tracker

Reduce risk and accelerate learning as quickly as possible by testing your assumptions

Sweet spot for scale

Critically assess the scalability of your solution by ensuring it has impact, value and sustainability baked into it.

Doer and Payer at scale

Establish who will deliver your solution and who will pay for it once it's scaled to ensure you're doing it sustainably

Roles and Responsibilities

Set and assess roles and responsibilities for all partners you intend to work with

Quality management

Ensure that delivery remains high quality over time

Support Packages

Ensure your partners have the skills and knowledge to deliver impact as part of your scaling model

Value Proposition

Show the benefits and advantages your scale model offers the stakeholders you aim to engage at scale

Case Studies

Case studies

How will this tool help?

STEP-BY-STEP

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK

Want to take the next step on your scaling journey?

Sign up for 'Getting Scale Ready'

You are now ready to move onto the 'Roles and Responsibilities' tool define what you need from your partners

Appears in these Collections

Working with Stakeholders

Prepare to scale up

Related Tools

Case Studies

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Treating depression at scale

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