Starting, but then maintaining, a worthwhile collaboration.

With tight fiscal conditions, school systems are finding that effective business-education partnerships can lead to increased learning opportunities for students.

Successful partnerships, however, require school leaders to understand the keys to approaching corporate leaders and to maintaining a partnership once it is initiated. In working with businesses during the past 20 years, we have found certain actions to take and others clearly to avoid.

Starting Points

Your first steps in approaching a potential partner can establish a foundation for long-term success or destroy your partnership before it ever begins. By observing these three tactics, you'll get off on the right foot.

* Do your homework.

It's a big mistake to randomly approach any business or corporation without knowing its interests. Investigate the organization's website and learn its philanthropic philosophy and focus. Many businesses spend their charitable dollars on a single cause, such as health care or the arts. If you seek assistance from a business that doesn't involve itself in education, you are wasting your time. On the other hand, if you demonstrate you are knowledgeable about the company's philanthropic efforts, you get off to a strong start.

* Find a point of entree.

Don't make a cold call to a corporate leader. Instead, find someone who has a relationship with the business leader you want to approach and ask that individual to make an introduction. Frequently you'll know colleagues in civic clubs who are connected with local business leaders. You also can review a list of your graduates or contact staff members to find connections.

* Begin by developing a relationship.

Talk with business leaders about building a mutually productive relationship and look for natural points of contact. For example, The Principals' Partnership, sponsored by Union Pacific, started with leadership development for high school reform. That relationship led to conversations about school-to-work transitions, and the company now provides information to high school principals for helping their graduates learn about high-paying jobs in the transportation industry.

Also, most corporations have well-developed training programs for their management personnel and frequently will be able to fit another person or two into that training. Because many leadership skills are just as critical to school as business leaders, the corporation may be willing to allow a principal or central-office administrator to join its management training. If that happens, be sure to provide feedback to your corporate contact about the value of the training and how it has helped the educator.

Maintainence Steps

Once a partnership is initiated, important concepts remain for the school leader to understand and practice. These four proven points will help ensure a partnership operates smoothly for years.

* Understand that the education culture is significantly different from the culture in business.

Responding to the client is an integral aspect in business culture, and corporate leaders see everyone as a client. Educators see their primary function as working with students and teachers and don't always view returning phone calls and communicating with those outside the school district as a top priority. However, if communication is not quick and responsive with a business partner, the relationship can be fractured.

* Provide a turn-key opportunity for the business partner.

Businesses cannot afford to divert their leadership resources to manage an education project, so there has to be a contact person on education's side who is passionate about the partnership and has the time to give it the necessary attention. This individual has to be willing to handle as much of the coordination as possible so the corporation doesn't feel burdened with paperwork and similar tasks.

* Prepare a written plan that clearly states the partnership's vision, mission and direction.

The plan drives the program and ensures that each side understands expectations and responsibilities. However, the plan should be flexible and be revisited frequently by both partners. It might include planned activities, resources the district will contribute, number of students to be influenced, anticipated outcomes, timeline and assessment means.

* Embrace accountability.

Businesses want to know what has changed as a result of the partnership. Business leaders respect quantitative data on improved performance and expect to see it in the assessment plan. However, they also want to know about the human or qualitative side of the project as well. Focus groups, case studies, interviews and observations all provide rich sources of data to show how a partnership is affecting people in the school.

The focus of the assessment should always be on the big picture: what's different, what's better, what has changed?

Enlightened Views

Business-education partnerships always should be win-win situations. As we found in The Principals' Partnership, many corporations understand their future, like that of the nation, is tied to the quality of the high school graduate pool. They also look for ways to give back to their communities and demonstrate good corporate citizenship.

With that enlightened viewpoint, many corporations are willing to provide much needed resources to educators to improve schools, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is in their own best interest. It's a classic case of win-win, and the big winners are the students.

James Hoffmann is executive director of The Principals' Partnership, sponsored by Union Pacific. He can be reached at 28 Eagle Drive, Fairfield CT 06825. E-mail: [e-mail]