Build and Bridge Workbook
POWER MAPPING AND FINDING ADDITIONAL PARTNERS
Building thriving partnerships.
We are stronger when we work together. Partnerships can expand their capacity and impact by engaging new partners and communities whose skills and assets support shared goals. This work begins with identifying who is at the table and who may be missing.
Power mapping is a way to understand how people and organizations are connected and who holds influence. It can help partners find needed expertise and resources, connect with others doing aligned work, and explore ways to address power differences and share power. As new partners join, the partnership’s vision, goals, structures, and practices for sustainability and accountability may need to evolve.
Building Partnerships and Expanding Capacity through Power Mapping.
Use the reflection questions and resources below to understand existing relationships and discover potential new partners who help strengthen your work.
Reflection Questions
1.
What partners or people are missing from this partnership? What assets or skills are missing from the current partnership?
2.
Who is your inner circle, invested friends, self-interested allies and opportunistic recruits? What organizations in your community do aligned work, or have shared goals? What organizations are the communities (who are not yet at the table) a part of and leading?
3.
Are there organizations you can’t work with? If so, why?Have there been conflicts, or differences in approaches or visions?
