Once agencies decide to work together, they also must agree on whether their coalition will be primarily cooperative or collaborative in nature. A collaborative strategy is where the need and intent is to change the way services are designed and delivered throughout the system. In communities not yet ready for collaborative partnerships, initiatives to coordinate existing services offer a reasonable starting point for change. Service and system collaborations differ radically. Designed to address immediate needs and to improve tangible services, service collaborations chart more circumscribed, easily-accomplished tasks than those generally undertaken by system collaborations.
Feedback is more immediate, gratification quicker and impact more visible.
Conversely, the accomplishments of system collaborations' tend to be longer in process, more abstract and less visible. Thus, evaluation needs to discern carefully among service, system and dual mission efforts, with attention to their differing challenges, timeliness, processes and outcomes. Maintaining the Coalition Flexibility is the essential condition of a successful collaboration. No matter how carefully goals are defined at the outset, they are routinely challenged, making goal reassessment an ongoing necessity. The most effective collaborations appear to be strengthened, not defeated, by disappointments and challenges.