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By Bethany T. Lee
Whether you’re a freelancer, consultant, or part of an in-house team, grant work will require collaboration. Partners come in many forms: clients, content experts, implementers, program officers, etc. All provide valuable insights for your proposals, projects and/or programs, and it’s vital to bring your most effective professional self to these interactions.
Choosing how you work together is crucial. Who leads, and who follows? How do you leverage everyone’s strengths? You’ll likely adapt to each situation, but identifying potential approaches and roles in advance can make the process more seamless. Consider not only your natural talents but also your partners’ needs and where you can grow.
Below are some options to jumpstart your roster:
Courier: Part messenger and part town crier, Couriers ferry helpful information and resources, leaving it up to partners to interpret and use (or not).
- Strengths: Never spin information; allow partners to take ownership of processes and materials
- Weaknesses: May not provide enough guidance
Curator: Curators operate meticulously, cataloguing all materials but only sharing the most pertinent and high-value items, guiding partners’ attention and energy to the right exhibits.
- Strengths: Help maintain group focus; accurate and thorough
- Weaknesses: May get too focused on details and lose sight of the full process
Liaison: As natural people connectors, Liaisons bring groups together, gathering ideas, bridging divides, and building cooperation.
- Strengths: Supportive; excel at convening and driving genuine consensus
- Weaknesses: May be reluctant to actively manage others
Diplomat: By attuning themselves to everything partners communicate, from the explicit to the unspoken, Diplomats navigate and balance team interests, adjusting as they go.
- Strengths: Nimble and suave; smooth over challenges and rough edges
- Weaknesses: May sacrifice or downplay items to keep the peace or assuage egos
Chess Master: Chess Masters function in perpetual “planning mode,” examining projects from every angle and looking for future opportunities and strategic alignments.
- Strengths: Astute, long-term thinkers; set organizations and partnerships up for success
- Cons: May miss details or lose sight of present tasks
Captain: Good Captains manage the full process, juggling input from other crew members and ensuring the team makes it to every port of call.
- Pros: Decisive and take-charge
- Cons: May dominate the process and miss valuable input from quieter or less assertive team members
If you’re working alone, you’ll likely cycle through multiple roles with each partner and/or project. When you’re working with a set project team, you might be able to stay within a range of roles as long as the team is balanced. For example, a Curator + Diplomat combo may call for a Chess Master or a Captain as a counterweight. A Courier paired with a Chess Master may find they can stretch to become a Courier-Liaison to boost team impact.
Centering the needs of the project will often help clarify which role(s) will create the best outcomes. But don’t be afraid to have a little fun selecting (or developing) a character that suits you and your superpowers.
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Bethany T. Lee is a Funded Partnerships Senior Writer at the American Hospital Association.
