Partnerships – everyone is doing it but is anyone doing it well? All
recognize that for certain situations there is a need for and/or a significant
advantage for a partnership. But what are the ingredients of a successful
partnership? I would like to share what I have concluded from a 38-year
career in the aerospace industry and 12 years in leading a small non-profit
organization. I will express this as eight ingredients for success in a
partnership.
1. Equivalent Values
Every organization has a corporate culture and a set of values, written
or unwritten. As an essential prerequisite for a successful partnership,
I believe that it is necessary that corporate values be consistent and
compatible. This does not imply identical value statements or mission statements
but that both parties are heading in the same general direction using the
same general definition of acceptable ways of achieving corporate objectives.
As an extreme example of unequivalent values, it is impossible to conceive
of a successful partnership between the Vatican and the Mafia, even though
both might have an objective of meeting felt needs of residents of Sicily.
A cease-fire maybe, but not a partnership!
2. Mutual Trust and Respect
A partnership is like a marriage in many respects, and if there is a
lack of trust and respect, the partnership is bound to be headed for hard
times. If you do not have a very high degree of trust and respect for a
potential partner, my recommendation is: Forget it! Walk away from it!
3. Thorough Partnership Plan
The planning phase of a partnership is like a courtship. It is the time
to think through and to talk out all of the issues that are important for
the potential partnership. It is a time to examine all pertinent “what
if's”. Don't cut this short. It is an essential phase of development of
a successful arrangement, and don't be afraid to drop the whole deal if
basic differences arise.
The planning phase of a partnership
is like a courtship . Don’t cut it short!
4. Win-Win Arrangement
It is vital to long-lasting success that the partnership provide significant
desired benefits to both partners. And further, both partners should be
actively working to assure that their partner achieves their goals from
the project. There is no successful partnership where one side achieves
its goals and the other does not or where one partner feels misused or
slighted!
5. Management/Board Commitment
I guarantee you that there will be some bumps in the road. You can be
sure of that. So, to assure success, the full, uncompromised support of
top management and the Board is required. This includes commitment of required
resources, including personnel and funds. There is a cost in time, training,
travel and so on. And, the best people need to be assigned, and they must
know that success of the partnership is the only acceptable outcome. In
an earlier career, I was deeply involved in a very large, very successful
joint venture between a US and a French aircraft engine manufacturer. Our
boss made it abundantly clear that our personal success and advancement
depended on our supporting our partner and partnership goals.
6. Complementary Partners
Every organization is unique. In a successful partnership, the combination
of the partners results in greater strengths, resources and competencies
than either of the partners had alone. Ideally, strengths would be matched
to partner limitations. The value and abilities of the partnership should
then be greater than the sum of that of individual partners.
7. Careful Personnel Selection
Frankly, some people are not suited for partnership, and assignment
of the wrong individuals with wrong attitudes can doom an otherwise well-matched
partnership. Some needed characteristics of good partnership workers are:
Good Team Workers (no big egos)
Big Picture People - willing to accept short term losses for long
term gain
Effective Communicators
Cross Cultural Abilities/Sensitivities
VERY IMPORTANT - Flexibility - A new beatitude might well say "Blessed
are the flexible for they shall be flexed."
Blessed are the flexible
for they shall be flexed.
8. Written Documentation of Agreement
Verbal agreements are OK sometimes. But for a partnership, it is essential
that fundamental agreement on crucial issues be documented in writing early.
This needs to include definition – in clear, simple terms understandable
to both partners – of partner roles, responsibilities and authorities.
A critical item is definition of financial issues: Who pays what to whom
and when? This is an area where many otherwise successful partnerships
fall apart. The agreement document must also cover a myriad of other detail
items like publicity, proprietary rights, cross-hiring of personnel, insurance
and more.
And provision for change is needed. You can be sure that changes will
be required as the project unfolds. And I want to reemphasize that it must
be understood by both partners, even when they speak different languages.
The agreement should not be long, just a few pages so that all participants
can read and understand it and keep it in their desk for ready reference.
Another important point: Truly successful partnerships have agreements,
but both parties are flexible and willing to accept changes when needed
to meet partner needs. You cannot be successful in a partnership if your
partner is not successful!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I close with a quotation from perhaps the wisest man in history, King
Solomon of Israel. In the Book of Ecclesiastes he says:
Two are better than one; because they have a reward for
their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. Again,
if two lie together then they have heat, But how can one be warm alone.
(Eccl: 4: 9-11)
