Increasing the Capacity of Individuals, Families and Communities

Establishing Partnerships

Practical Steps to Forming and Managing Partnerships | Examples of Effective Partnerships

Managing Partnerships

At this point, you will want to consider how the partners should behave in the relationship. Obviously, cooperation is the ideal. But what should you do if another partner does not cooperate by fulfilling its commitments in a timely manner? Not responding promptly to an inappropriate defection risks sending the wrong signal. The longer defections go unchallenged, the more likely it is that other partners will conclude defection is acceptable. Moreover, the more strongly this pattern is established, the harder it will be to break.

When others are observing the relationship who are or may become partners with any of the participants, managing the relationship well becomes even more important. In other words, reputation matters.

In one sense, this gives you as a recipient some leverage over a donor. For example, if a recipient is provoked, they may not only withhold part of their contribution to the partnership, but they can also threaten to criticize the donor in forums that are important to the donor’s reputation and self-image.¹⁶

However, in another sense, provocability is also important for the donor. If, for example, a lending organization acquires the reputation of allowing its partners to ignore their commitments without consequences, it may be difficult to hold other partners accountable in the future. Reciprocity is an effective rule of thumb. It is important to restore mutual cooperation as soon as possible by being forgiving when the other side returns to cooperation.¹⁷

Structuring Partnership Management

Challenges and Barriers to the Sustainability of Partnerships
The structure of managing your partnership will typically fall into two categories—substantive issues and relationship issues. Business firms tend to carefully consider substantive issues, but few consider the primary factors of alliance failure, relationship issues.¹⁸ The key, of course, is for a partnership to focus on both issues. Consider the following examples from the two categories:

Substantive Issues Financial Strategic Technical

Relationship Issues Joint Problem Solving Capacity Compatibility Conflict Resolution Ability Degree of Trust Egalitarian Perspective Openness Communication Quality

There are a number of key challenges or barriers to sustainable partnerships. These include turf battles among stakeholders; burn out; clashes with different cultures reflected in institutional reward systems; rigid policies regarding intellectual property, startups, private sector engagement and other matters; maintaining an ability to learn from other participants; having the right people in the right place at the right time; and politics.

Common Characteristics Successful partnerships often exhibit certain common characteristics in that they: Define how work will be accomplished to include addressing roles, responsibilities and ultimately organization structures Provide clear linkage between strategy, capabilities, structure and processes. Determine those organizational capa bilities required to successfully implement a partnership strategy that facilitates the desired structure and process Achieve organizational buy-in. Internal advocacy is required to pro- mote teamwork, which fosters employee satisfaction and in turn creates satisfaction Create and develop comprehensive and successful goals that include: Clearly defining objectives tied to partnership goals Clearly defining project plans and milestones Designing a complete involvement and communications plan to build commitment to and support the partnership Establishing a well-defined agenda that defines the need for and ability to change Implementing a plan that focuses on participation and involvement Planning for leadership involvement, including coaching and acquisition of change skills Utilizing a measurement approach for periodic review and evaluation of partnership efforts Building Blocks of Success: Develop and maintain internal alignment and have a systematic process for identifying key decisionmakers and stakeholders and for informing, consulting or negotiating with each stakeholder, as appropriate. This helps to: Avoid partner confusion Enable planning by impacted functions/regions Ensure durable, value-enhancing decisions Increase likelihood of meeting commitments/not making commitments that cannot be kept Reduce time necessary for sound decision-making Evaluate and consider how a relationship "fits" with potential partners and systematically evaluate differences in practices and previous culture, in addition to strategic compatibility. This helps to: Allow partners to anticipate and prepare for relationship challenges Leverage differences (often the driving force behind partnering) to enhance quality and creativity Prevent potential problems stemming from poor relationship fit and/or plan for ways to mitigate them Understand and consider relationship compatibility when evaluating a potential partner

Checklist of Effective Partnership Components Organizational Issues. How was the partnership formed? Is the leadership team in place? Is the leadership structure of the partnership settled? Can it be easily described to others so that they understand how the partnership is organized and how it works? Are the necessary administrative arrangements in place (e.g., budget, IP, support staff, etc.)? Are information, infrastructure, personnel, other resources integrated in the operation of the partnership (integration needs to be measured)? Are policies and rules sufficiently flexible? Finances. Have future funding needs been identified? Have sources of support been identified, including internal resources (including "skunk works"), grant funding (Federal, state and local), philanthropy and private sector funding (angels, corporate)? Have sales and other revenue sources been identified? Are budgets and finances transparent and able to be tracked? Is there flexibility in moving funds? Have processes been established for managing in-kind and matching funding, and for linking in-kind support to hard cash? Plans. Is there a project plan? Is there a business plan that assesses the market and the demand for the innovation? Have potential testing/beta sites been identified in the business plan? Is there a financial plan? Is there agreement regarding the processes for modification of these plans? Do the plans reflect reasonable expectations? Is there a risk analysis scheme? Communications. Are the partners actively engaged? Does the partnership hold regular meetings? Is there a process for communication? Are partners communicating well? Are there provisions for talking to top management to resolve problems? Have measures for outreach activities been established? Does the partnership produce products for dissemination?

• Build a strong working relationship while negotiating an optimal agreement. During partnership negotiations, focus equal and separate attention on both the substantive aspects of the agreement and the working relationship necessary to implement it. This helps to:
  1. Build a collaborative foundation that facilitates a working partnership
  2. Create excitement and articulate the value of the existing and/or new partner relationship
  3. Enable negotiators to create an environment that enables the creation of value-maximizing deals
  
  
• Establish common ground rules and develop a standard approach to conducting joint planning and partner management. This helps to:
  1. Agree on relationship goals
  2. Build understanding among partners about their cultural needs
  3. Enhance the ease of decision-making over time
  4. Jointly plan ways to achieve relationship goals in light of similarities and differences.
     Mitigate the likelihood that problems will arise and maximize the likelihood that problems will be effectively handled

• Have a dedicated partnership manager. Enable a person to be specifically responsible for the partner’s relationship management. This helps to:
  1. Coordinate communication between the partners
  2. Ensure effective implementation of ground rules and protocols for working together
  3. Ensure that relationship management is given focused time and attention
  4. Gauge and track the health of the working relationship over time
  5. Mediate disputes
  6. Spot potential conflicts
  
  
• Maintain collaboration skills in alliance employees and routinely invest in maintaining, updating and instilling skills (e.g., joint problem solving, conflict resolution, difficult conversations) that enable all partners and employees involved to work effectively with team members. This helps to:
  1. Enhance the extent to which partners can truly maximize value realized during implementation
  2. Encourage partners to deal with conflicts and difficult issues in ways that enhance, rather than detract from, the working relationship
  3. Ensure collaboration skills exist at all points of interaction between partners, including at the working level
  
  
• Have a collaborative mindset that requires thinking in terms of the partner’s well being versus the organization’s separate interests. This helps to:
  1. Enable alliance employees to remain collaborative when dealing with non-collaborative partners
  2. Ensure effective and consistent application of collaboration processes, tools, and skills
  3. Ensure that alliance managers are not the only ones taking a holistic perspective
  4. Underscore the importance of employing collaboration skills
  
  
• Audit the partnership relationships. Monitor and report on the health of the working relationship between partners through use of a formal mechanism, process or standard procedure. This helps to:
  1. Identify simmering/underlying conflict, negative perceptions, or relationship risks before they undercut the relationship and ensure that they are constructively addressed
  2. Identify ways in which the strategy, management, or working protocols of the relationship identify conflict and provide a means for adjustments
  3. When applied across multiple relationships, identify organizational barriers to effective partnering
  
  
• Manage changes that affect partnering. Have the ability to anticipate change as early as possible and discuss and plan, collaboratively, for the implications of such change. This helps to:
  1. Adapt to competitive or regulatory environment changes
  2. Collaboratively expand, contract, or shift the focus of a partner relationship, as appropriate
  3. Mitigate negative effects of downsizing, mergers, or strategic restructuring
  4. Respond to reorganization and/or departures of key personnel¹⁹

What to Look for in Alliances   Successful alliances are those that: Foster effective enterprise management Embrace responsible organizational stewardship Are cost-effective Are positioned to benefit from change

Practical Steps to Forming and Managing Partnerships | Examples of Effective Partnerships