Building Partnerships

The core foundations of a successful partnership are a set of shared values.

These values should be discussed, agreed and written down. They need to be lived out, so each party holds each other to the highest principle. The two parties in question should have complementary missions and goals, so that when these are achieved, there is a shared victory. The benefits should not be at the other's expense but instead each partner should absolutely and wholeheartedly want the other to win and overachieve where possible.

Anything less than this will inevitably result in a win-lose situation which ends up being a lose-lose situation. 

Fortunately, we have benefitted from more successful than unsuccessful partnerships. For contrast I will share one bad and one good. 

The painful one first. 

Word of warning, be careful who you build a partnership with; unravelling it when you realise that your values, competencies and goals are not aligned is expensive and energy sapping. This particular partnership went on for many years and a great deal was achieved. It would be unfair on both parties to underplay the milestones reached along the journey. Not to mention the learning and fun we enjoyed. 

Nevertheless when the chips were down the values of each partner were laid bare. We focussed on transparency and going the extra mile. However, this was not reciprocated by this particular partner. In addition, a misunderstanding from us or a misrepresentation from them around their competencies led to misaligned expectations of what could be achieved to resolve the issues in question. Lack of due diligence from us cost us dearly. This was a painful experience and not something that can be studied in a book. It has to be felt to be experienced properly. 

I hold no resentment towards the prior partner in question. When we started, I did not have a clear understanding of what a partnership should be. Therefore, I hold myself to account. Now, I have the methodology to ensure we do not repeat this mistake. This lesson is worth its weight in gold.  

The lucrative one next. 

We provided this client with digital marketing services. By the end of their first year they achieved sales of £105K which climbed to well over 1.3M, by the end of year 2. Amazing growth for a training company! Our partner and us shared in the spoils of our success. Quite simply, we had a set of shared values, a growth agreement which gave us a commission on sales, with extra benefits for overachieving. We also had a lot of fun and learned so much!

The most important values for me in building successful business partnerships are trust, ambition, pursuit of excellence, having fun and maintaining a good sense of humour! 

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