Dixon Partnering Solutions

02/09/2024

After 25 years since founding the business in 1999, Ian Dixon has decided to step back from partnering work and to hand over to his Associate Kylie Cutten who will take over the business and training activities.

Kylie owns the Australian Facilitation Company and has been working closely with Ian and leading our training programs for the last 2 years. Kylie is a highly experienced facilitator, trainer and partnering specialist and will continue to offer our full range of partnering support services, the Partnering Essentials™ training courses and to host the Partnering Essentials™ Online Academy.

When Ian started the business back in 1999 following various CEO roles in Government his goal was “to make a difference by bringing the business, government, community and education sectors together to solve tough problems”.

Over the last 25 years DPS has had the opportunity to work on some extremely challenging initiatives and with some amazing people and we can only hope that we have made some small contribution to bridging the gap between the sectors and achieving some positive outcomes for all those involved.

A BIG BIG thank you to everyone who has supported our team over these many years and who had the belief, trust and confidence to engage us as independent partnering specialists and partnership brokers on their initiatives.

To the many First Nations Groups that we have worked with and who trusted us to be truly independent in brokering their relationships with business and government. It has been a privilege to work with you all on these important partnering initiatives and to learn so much from you while working together.

If you would like more information regarding how Kylie Cutten and Partnering Essentials can assist you contact Kylie on [email protected] or visit partneringessentials.com

08/09/2022

Relationships and partnerships need as much care and attention as our environment does!

Yesterday representatives from South Coast Natural Resource Management Inc., Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee WICC, Torbay Catchment Group, Oyster Harbour Catchment Group Inc., Gillamii, North Stirlings Pallinup Natural Resources Inc, FBG - Fitzgerald Biosphere Group (with apologies from Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network (R.A.I.N)) came together to evaluate and review their historic partnerships.

Expertly guided by Ian Dixon, Dixon Partnering Solutions, the groups worked together to establish their partnering purpose and sketch out a path for the future; partnering to protect, restore and manage the natural resources of the south coast.

Thanks to Kylie Cutten, Australian Facilitation Company, for her assistance during the day.

29/08/2022

This month we celebrate 23 years in business. Owner & founder, Ian Dixon, took some time to reflect on the last 23 years as to what has changed with partnering, and what the future looks like for partnering.

Back in the beginning, in the late 1990's, greater collaboration between organisations from different sectors started to be talked about, but there was very little action. Fast forward to today and we see massive amounts of collaboration, helping to solve the worlds toughest problems.

But what's changed from the late 90's? Is it working? Are we partnering effectively now or is there still more work to do?

To see what's changed over the last 23 years, and Ian's thoughts on the future of partnering check out his latest piece - "23 years in partnering... So what's changed?"

After 23 years in partnering, Ian takes the time to reflect on how far partnering has come, and what is next for partnering.

26/02/2022

The Zipper Approach - what is it and why?

Are you struggling to get enough commitment and support to partner throughout your organisation or your partner organisation?

An approach we commonly use is the 'Zipper Approach'.

The zipper approach is where people across the partner organisations at various levels are connected into the partnering process, so you may have CEO’s, Senior Managers and then operational staff linked too each other and supporting the partnering at all levels

To see the benefits on why you should do this, click the link below:

Another installment in our Business Partnering Tip Series. The Zipper approach is used to get partners from organisations to input the same level of commitment to the business partnership.

22/02/2022

Peter Gilmour from Futari Wagyu shares his experience on completion of one of our workshops that we've ran. It’s great to see that they've been able to gain such an insight from our courses to help them in their partnerships.

🚨 WA Agrifood businesses 🚨 enrolments are now open for our Partnering by Design Facilitated Online Course with The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Dates: 15 March to 12 April 2022

Details below on how to sign up.

https://fb.watch/bk71OryBZa/

09/02/2022

Rob from Hippie Kombucha attended our last Partnering by Design facilitated courses , and since then we're glad to see he is implementing what he's learnt about partnering into his business. Great work Rob and the team from Hippie Kombucha.

If your a West Australian Agrifood business we invite you to secure your spot on our next Facilitated Partnering by Design Online course with The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Details below on how to sign up.

https://fb.watch/b2PYebFEkJ/

04/02/2022

Partnering Tip:

Backtracking. Everybody knows it and nobody wants it in their partnerships. Making sure you keep moving forward will help you achieve the most value from your partnerships.

However continually moving forward is easier said than done. Partners often want to revisit issues that you thought were agreed.

So how do you stop this constant backtracking?

One technique we like to use is 'putting a peg in the sand'. You can read more about this technique and how to apply it below.

Partnering with others means lots of dialogue around a whole range of issues. Making sure you keep moving forward is not easy as partners often want to revisit issues. So how do you stop this content backtracking?

28/01/2022

We've been helping business partnering for over 20 years. Along the way we've picked up a few tips to get you partnering more effectively.

Most of these tips have come through experiences we've had.

The first one we want to share is about "bringing in new people".

As a partnering initiative progresses it is inevitable that at some stage you may lose a key person from one of the partner organisations. So how do you manage this so that the partnership does not go backwards?

Bringing new people in to a partnership doesn't have to be difficult, click the link below to see our tips.

As a partnering initiative progresses it is inevitable that at some stage you may lose a key person from one of the partner organisations. So how do you manage this so that the partnership does not go backwards?

27/01/2022

What did we learning about partnering in 2021?

With the pandemic as evident as ever, we take the opportunity to reflect on some key partnering take outs we had for 2021 and how they are still relevant for partnering in 2022.

For each take out we've included a question to ask yourself to help you reflect on your partnering experiences in 2021.

We hope you enjoy the read and we're interested to hear your thoughts on how your partnering initiatives evolved during 2021 and what you learn't from this experience?

We discusss what we've learnt from partnering in 2021 and how to apply to these partnering practices in 2022.

18/01/2022

The new year is here but what did we learning about partnering in 2021?

With the pandemic as evident as ever, we take the opportunity to reflect on some key partnering take outs we had for 2021 and how they are still relevant for partnering in 2022.

For each take out we've included a question to ask yourself to help you reflect on your partnering experiences in 2021.

We hope you enjoy the read.

We discusss what we've learnt from partnering in 2021 and how to apply to these partnering practices in 2022.