High-Fives or High-Performance?

3 Strategies to Ensure Partnerships are Both Friendly and Impactful

Partnerships play a pivotal role in driving growth and innovation. However, not all partnerships are created equal. When the long lunches and social events are over, you may be faced with tough conversations about missed growth goals. A friendly partnership may seem beneficial on the surface, but it doesn't always translate to a successful and mutually rewarding relationship. Check out three strategies to help you navigate the complexities of professional collaborations and build partnerships that stand the test of time.

Define mutually valuable objectives to create a shared vision.

Strategic partnerships begin with a shared vision and well-defined objectives that benefit both parties. Think of imbalanced friendships where one side's interests consistently take centre stage. This usually leads to a falling-out and bitter feelings. Collaborations in the professional world aren’t dissimilar. Use defined, trackable and mutual goals to create a balanced partnership. Here are some starting points:

1. Know your partner’s playbook inside out and take time to understand their goals and how they make money.
2. In business planning with partners, highlight the importance of aligning strategies, resources, and expectations.
3. Don’t forget that everyone has their own endgame. Understand your champion's ambitions (both for the company and personally) and help them get there to create connections that transcend workplaces.

Ensure relevant and widespread partnership accountability and commitment.

Post-it notes and pinky promises won’t cut it. In strategic partnerships, both parties must commit to specific responsibilities, timelines, and deliverables, demonstrate progress and be accountable for those results. Even friendly alliances can unravel if personal dynamics shift. With more movement in our corner of the industry than ever before, the partnerships you tirelessly built can fail with a simple reorganisation, acquisition or resignation. Accountability not only drives success and results but also helps your partnering maturity as it builds trust and reliability. For example:

1. In a joint business plan, assign purposeful actions to multiple key stakeholders, not just your primary contact. Get more people involved.
2. Communicate the roles and responsibilities throughout the partnership so everyone knows who does what. A RACI chart is your best friend for this task.
3. Make clear the importance of each action to the bigger plan and objectives so everyone understands why their role is important and why their tasks are essential to any success.

Set your sights on a long-term plan and track your progress.

Building sustainable successful partnerships takes time and effort and it's not always the calm seas of joint wins and awards. While quick wins may offer instant gratification, the true measure of success lies in achieving consistent, long-term victories that can be anticipated and replicated. Here are some suggestions to get you on the road to sustained success:

1. Invest in building partnership structures, processes, and trust. E.g. have clearly defined rules of engagement published to partners digitally so they know what to expect.
2. Prioritise sustainable, long-term objectives that are clearly communicated and organised. E.g. Establish regular joint-business planning sessions with defined steps for hitting your mutually agreed goals.
3. Monitor progress and analyse trends within the data to fine-tune your strategy. This enhances the potential for additional benefits and results along the way. E.g. Track partner-sourced leads and their close rates to understand where you can make positive changes to benefit all.

Building successful partnerships requires more than just goodwill and friendly interactions. It demands a strategic approach, clear objectives, accountability, and a focus on long-term success. You can create strong, sustainable partnerships that drive mutual success by understanding your partner's goals, ensuring widespread commitment, and continuously tracking progress. Implement these strategies to move beyond pleasantries and develop partnerships that deliver real, measurable value for all parties involved.

Want to talk about how to improve your partner relationships over a virtual coffee with Amy? She would love to hear about your partnering challenges and opportunities.

Amy Roberts is the EMEA principal and PRM lead at PartnerPath. She is based in York, UK.