Partnership as a Community Response

Dear Tangelo Tree Community,

A recent gathering of Minnesota human services CEOs began with anxiety about the world's challenges and looming risks. Then Michael Anderson and I kicked off our program: a partnership readiness assessment. Within 45 minutes, the room's energy transformed; participants were fired up, envisioning what they could build together that none could achieve alone – a stronger, more influential voice for the people and families they serve.

What changed? We reframed partnership not as a defense against risk, but as a path to larger, systemic goals demanding community response. As our colleague Bethany Snyder says, we "lifted our gaze" to the bigger picture, ready to claim a larger voice.

In follow-up conversations with each CEO, Michael and I revisited their anxieties – workforce issues, reimbursement changes, programming costs. These are real and urgent concerns. But in each discussion, we also made time to reflect with them on the powerful, positive energy for partnership that had ignited in the room.

Here’s the truth: big challenges demand all of us, working in concert, whether informally or through formal partnership. For real impact, partnership can't be an afterthought. Systemic change is a long game, and we're already behind.

So, can you cultivate this readiness? Can you find and fuel the energy in your own community for what partnership makes possible?

Let’s find out together.

Partnership can't be an afterthought.

Systemic change is a long game.

If you’re part of a cohort or community of practice curious about what more might be possible through partnership, reach out to us, or reply directly to me at robin@tangelotree.org. We can design experiential learning that enables you to explore collectively what partnership can do.

Readiness for powerful partnership awaits, and with it, the power to transform.

Robin Neidorf
Senior Consultant

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