Centre for Innovation in Management

Published in the
Technology Industries Association Newsletter
Fall 1997

Managing the Human Side of Partnerships

by Ann Svendsen

Strategic alliances and other forms of collaborative partnerships are essential in our more competitive, globalized economy. At the recent Softworld '97 Conference held in Vancouver, Alan Rottenberg, senior vice-president of business-intelligence tools at Cognos Inc. based in Ottawa, gave a keynote address on the benefits and perils of partnering. Strategies for partnering with allies, customers, suppliers and competitors also received top billing at the November 1997 CIO Summit in Toronto.

While most industry leaders recognize the value in building long term relationships with key strategic partners, many have learned the hard way that attending to the human side of these relationships can mean the difference between success and failure. Bitter experience shows that a partnership gone wrong can drain precious time and other resources as participants try to solve interpersonal and organizational problems. What can companies entering into alliances do to avoid problems later on?

Clarify Goals and Expecations
Before beginning the search for a partner, carefully consider your goals. Is a partnership the best option? What are you looking for in a partner? What essential inputs can you and your company contribute? What is your 'bottom line" in terms of what you receive from your partner? Reviewing your answers to these questions will help you narrow your search and clarify your goals and expectations to prospective allies.

It is important to realize that collaboration between companies is often not the first or best choice. Often, partnerships work best when:

there is no possibility of partners accomplishing the same ends individually,
the benefits are clear and relatively equal for both parties, and
the consequences of not partnering are significant.

The Importance of Trust
Successful partnerships also require that companies become highly interdependent and this involves building trust between individuals and between companies. Trusting relationships are based on the expectation that partners will behave honorably, that there will be a mix of give and take, and that each of the partners has the other's interests at heart.
Recent research has shown that establishing trusting relationships can decrease costs and increase profits. Trust allows partners to come to agreements faster and solve problems easier. It also increases the pressure on partners to meet commitment, honor agreements and adhere to schedules.

Keys to Successful Partnering
Besides clarifying your individual and organizational goals and expectations ahead of time, and building interpersonal and organizational trust, the following are some of the key steps to establishing successful partnership:

look for partner organizations that have similar values and corporate culture,
take the time to clarify mutual goals and opportunities,
deal with power and resource differentials up front,
spend time learning about the realities of your partner's operations,
monitor the process side of the relationship and use a facilitator if necessary,
establish and follow communication ground rules,
set up and use regular communication links, and
establish clear timelines and guideposts for measuring progress.

Ann Svendsen is a senior partner with CoreRelation Consulting, specialists in stakeholder relations based in Vancouver. She can be reached via email : svendsen@istar.ca