The principle of partnerships the Walk Together Design refers to Goal orientated, synergistic, leveraged partnerships.

Goal-oriented: The word “leader” in modern English comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to walk together along a path.  Leadership among partners implies this original meaning, where people walk and work together, taking comfort that the trials of the journey can be shared.  An important part of the concept, however, is the idea of a single direction – along a path.  And along any path, in hunter/gatherer as well as modern industrial societies, there are goals and a destination, without which there would be no point in going anywhere.

Synergistic: The word “synergy” comes from a Greek word meaning “working together”.  Today it means that when people with different backgrounds, cultures and skills work together, they will most likely have a much greater impact than if they do their own thing in isolation.   The reason for this is that they have a high potential to be innovative.  Ideas taken from different cultures, backgrounds and workplaces, and combined together in new ways, can make a huge difference.   Many people find it difficult to work together with others in a group, let alone to work with people from other cultures.  Coming up with new and better ideas may be difficult for them.

Leverage:  The principle of a lever is to be able to move a large weight with a small amount of effort.  When we apply this to partnerships, it means that partnerships are formed in order to

• have a big impact on community well-being
• make better use of the resources that are already available
• happen fairly quickly

One important function of the network will be to showcase stories of the goal-oriented, synergistic and leveraged partnerships that are formed, and the difference they make.