Partnerships
& collaboration
Partnerships become extraordinary through conscious process design, relationship governance and conversational practice.
What we do
- Design the process and governance for collaborative efforts critical to your business
- Facilitate progression, conflicts and alignment
- Teach soft skills required for successful collaboration
Types of collaboration?
We focus on collaboration between parties that in some way represent different world views, which may be:
- Between departments, working on a common project
- Strategic partnerships
- Project based supplier relationships
- Other types of alliances
It’s not the car you drive
…that makes you win the race. The vehicle does matter, but in collaboration it’s not the defining factor for success. Whether it’s an alliance, B2B project, or internal collaborative endeavor, it is rather you and everyone else involved that will be the collective cause of success.
E.g. research on alliances tell us that neither technical, commercial nor market fit is the main reason why most ventures fail. Rather it’s because people cannot work together.
Conscious process design
The most essential step is to build understanding of potential core differences. Then to initiate alignment around the vision for the collaborative effort.
We focus on building a structure for the relationship. We cover topics such as rules of engagement, relationship governance, relationship activities, conflict strategy, communication strategy, measuring collaboration and building soft-skills such as how to have difficult conversations.
Preparation is paramount
Successful collaboration – especially external – is like climbing a mountain.
You want to make sure that everyone is fit, that we have the right ‘gear’ in place and a sense about the route to pursue. Having a clear frame for how to collaborate leaves room for detours and creative adjustments.
Without proper preparation, it is highly likely that something will go wrong half way as you begin to face the unexpected.
Collaboration is not about having a clear plan for every step, but rather knowing how to collaborate when nothing goes as planned.
Collaboration is not about having a clear plan for every step, but rather knowing how to collaborate when nothing goes as planned.
Process example: Initiating long term collaboration
Typical consequences of poorly led collaboration
