Relationship building with your Strategic partner

With the increasing moves to outsource and engage with Strategic partners,

organisations commonly enter partnerships as clinical agreements with both parties considering their own gains in the first instance.

Wouldn’t it be more pleasant all round if the agreements were first established with the common values and goals in mind?

When entering a partnership in your own life, you look for people who will inspire you, challenge you, respect you and discuss options with you. Once a path has been chosen, you progress together and your partner is with you because if one succeeds the partnership succeeds.

Why then do organisations engage with ‘suck up’ partners who will tell them what they want to hear and not work in the best interest of both parties? Tight contracts, which are prescriptive to every scenario, are negotiated to the nth degree (or else it is out of scope), the strategic partner will follow the instruction and not 'find a way to make it happen'. Often they have more than one partnership in play (which is where the analogy diverges) however they only wooo and romance the favourite client when it comes time to renew their vows.

Would you put up with that in a life partner? Why do organisations remain in these loveless financially abusive cold relationships? if something goes wrong the response is 'I'm just doing what you asked'!

It's divorce time. Just like people who accept this behaviour have little value for themselves, organisations who accept it don't value themselves and the teams who must deal with the 'partner'.

I would love to see greater focus on nurturing the long term relationship based on mutual values and goals. I would love to see strategic partners with organisations respecting, challenging and working together for the mutual purpose.

I wait with baited breath.