Red / Blue Partnering Exercise

Red / Blue Partnering Exercise

About the course

Collaboration is great in theory. In practice, we often undermine effective collaboration, partly as a result of natural biases towards mistrust and zero-sum competition. 

The Red / Blue Partnering Exercise addresses misunderstanding and mutual distrust in teams and between teams. It supports participants to identify their default to partnering and negotiation and identify key principles for building trust-based relationships in project teams and in relationships. Participants also identify dynamics of relationship building and implications of trust-based and risk-averse strategies.

The session has been used in corporations, organisations, within teams and between teams to simulate these dynamics and identify strategies for moving in the direction of genuine collaboration.

It also offered a shared language for addressing distrust and impasses in negotiation between teams, surfacing dynamics that are undermining effective collaboration.

Target Audience

NGO staff, community development workers, people in social change movements, peacebuilders, faith leaders;

Course Goals

• Participants learn to identify their default to partnering and negotiation and identify key principles for building trust-based relationships in project teams and in relationships.
• Participants learn to identify dynamics of relationship building and implications of trust-based and risk-averse strategies

Duration

4 hours

Location

Online or onsite

Language

The course is offered in English.

Number of Participants

Ideally between 12-30 people. Larger groups can be considered.

Trainers

Rob Lancaster (Australia) has worked on trustbuilding projects and programmes in Asia, Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe with over 30 different teams, primarily of Initiatives of Change. His experience ranges from leadership programmes in Caux, to the reconciliation process and grassroots consultation in South Sudan. Rob has Honours degrees in both Law (LLB) and Arts (International Relations/French) from the Australian National University, as well as a Master’s of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of Oxford. He currently works with Oxford Policy Management, an international development consultancy, managing a peacebuilding programme in South Sudan. He likes fresh cinnamon doughnuts.

Bhavesh Patel (UK/Moldova) designs and facilitates learning and development for people, organizations and networks. He believes that in an increasingly uncertain world, there are no off-the-shelf ideal pre-defined solutions. Instead organizations can find their evolutionary capacity through engaging the hearts and minds of their own people. This leads to a variety of work from strategic development to helping community groups discover their shared vision. He also works as a trainer, delivering workshops that explore skills in self-management, communication, training and facilitation. Bhav has a Master’s in Management Psychology and has worked in over 30 countries for a mix of social and corporate clients.

Prerequisites to attend

No prior knowledge is assumed or necessary

Cost of Training

Interested in this course? Please get in touch with us for further details: CONTACT