“Synergy is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a thousand! It's the profound result when two or more respectful human beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge.”

--Stephen Covey

 

Did you miss the Diversity Partners webinar on Partnerships and Business-led Coalitions?  In this engaging webinar, Diversity Partners staff Jeffrey Tamburo, from Cornell’s Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, introduces attendees to a topic critical to our success as employment service professionals: How to effectively partner with businesses on behalf of job seekers with disabilities.  The webinar also features Kat Cunningham from Moresource Inc. and The Mid-Missouri Business Leadership Network, and Jessica Mahon from ACT (Alternative Community Training), who relate their setbacks and successes when forming Missouri’s Columbia Employment Consortium.  Click here to view the webinar.

 

5 Key Points from the Webinar!

1. Successful partnerships with businesses require not just the efforts of frontline employment staff, but also the buy-in and support of their supervisors, managers, and organizational leadership. The Diversity Partners Leadership Toolbox contains resources, tools, and planning guides to create a climate that emphasizes effective business engagement strategies among frontline personnel, while encouraging strategic planning related to changing policies and workforce dynamics that impact the demand for qualified candidates with disabilities.

 

2. The four essential elements of any successful partnership are trust, mutual respect, a shared vision, and honest, open communication. Diversity Partners offers an array of interactive learning modules on the topics of Building and Sustaining Relationships with businesses.

 

3. A partnership is more likely to survive when it has a champion. The champion will ensure that momentum is maintained, and the goals of the partnership are achieved. Who are your “business champions” and what steps are you taking to build effective partnerships with them?  Check out the Diversity Partners learning module Partnerships and Business-led Coalitions to learn why formal business partnerships should be a priority in every organization providing employment services to job seekers with disabilities.

 

4. Community-level change on behalf of job seekers with disabilities begins with community organizations not only cooperating, but collaborating. For example, when the Columbia Employment Consortium was forming, community organizations started with “low risk” collaborative elements, such as providing ADA training for all providers, developing fact sheets and marketing materials, developing a group name and logo, and designing a website.  The Diversity Partners Leadership Toolbox offers a host of resources to guide organizations to effectively engage with their service network. 

 

5. Successful partnerships don’t happen overnight, but with time, effort and commitment, the needs of all partners can be met. Return on Investment impacts not just the business partner, but also the employment service organization, job seekers with disabilities, and the entire community: The business gets a qualified, capable employee, employment service organization obtain more job placements through strong employer partnerships, the job seeker obtains all of the benefits of employment, and the community as a whole benefits by having a workforce that is reflective of all community members. 

 

To learn about this topic and more, register for a free Diversity Partners account today!