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Greetings and
welcome to the August 2002 issue of the Partnering Intelligence Newsletter,
a monthly newsletter for clients and friends of Partnership Continuum, Inc.
(www.partneringintelligence.com).
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think might benefit from reading it. Write to me anytime at info@partneringintelligence.com. Your feedback is important to me.
I've been thinking lately about corporate shortsightedness. In the frenzied business climate of the past decade, many companies have lost sight of the long term. As a result, they have often hurried into doomed business partnerships--doomed because the partners failed to lay the foundation for ensuring that the alliance would be successful. Needless to say, such shortsightedness has been very costly.
Fortunately, a growing number of businesses are learning how to be smart about partnering. The executives of these companies know that if planned alliances are going to succeed, each partner must have a specific set of partnering skills--including the ability to talk honestly and openly within the partnership, a skill I called Self-Disclosure and Feedback.
This issue focuses on how shortsightedness about partnering exacts a high cost to businesses. It also introduces the concept of Self-Disclosure and Feedback and gives you practice building this important partnering skill.
The Price of Poor Partnerships
Alliances fail at an alarming rate. Consider these statistics from Accenture, a worldwide management and technology services organization:
Yet, despite these dismal statistics, many business leaders claim that they already know how to build successful partnerships! They remain convinced that partnering skills "come naturally" and that, therefore, there's no need to instill their organizations with partnering competency or a partnering infrastructure.
Such thinking is extremely shortsighted--and costly. According to Accenture, the worldwide value of strong, successful business alliances will be between $24 and $40 trillion by 2004.
So failed partnerships--both those that never get off the ground and those that don't survive--are costing companies a staggering amount of money.
It doesn't have to be that way.
A Quality Lesson
Early in my business career, I helped companies understand and quantify the high cost of poor quality in their products and services. I showed them how they could increase their customer satisfaction scores--and save money in the long run--by investing up front in preventing quality-related problems.
Today, almost every savvy business leader understands the principles--and value--of total quality control. Such control has become a core business practice.
Smart business leaders know that alliance-building is another core business practice that requires deliberate and careful management. Unfortunately, far too many business managers continue to approach partnering as they once did quality control--with blinders on.
Many CFOs think that the partnering process requires only one thing: An analysis of the potential partner's fiscal stability. A few may go a tiny step further and investigate the other business's reputation as a partner, perhaps by checking with other companies to see how well the business honors its word and fulfills agreements.
This is a lot like buying a used car after only kicking the vehicle's tires and looking for oil leaks. No wonder most business partnerships run into problems--fatal ones, all too often--a few miles down the road.
Costly Mistakes
Let's do a quick cost analysis to see how much is financially at stake in building a partnership. This example of the Price of Poor Partnerships is a conservative one. First, consider the time involved in a) understanding your own company's strategic objectives, b) finding and negotiating a deal with your potential partner, and c) project development. You must also take into account your company's equity stake in the partnership.
The cost to a mid-sized organization of about 500 people of forming a simple alliance with another organization might look like this:
| Clarifying strategic objectives/finding a partner 3 people @ $125 per hour (with benefits) for 3 months: |
$180,000 |
| Negotiating the alliance (including legal fees) 6 people @ $250 per hour (with benefits) for 5 days: |
$ 60,000 |
| Project development 8 people @ $125 per hour (with benefits) for 1 month: |
$160,000 |
| Equity stake (average) | $100,000 |
| Total start-up cost: | $500,000 |
That's a lot of money to waste. Yet, that's exactly what often happens to companies who are not trained in using their partnering intelligence and the Six Partnering Attributes™ of successful business partnerships--Self-Disclosure and Feedback, a Win-Win Orientation, Ability to Trust, Comfort with Change, Comfort with Interdependence, and Past/Future Orientation.
Of course, more than money is lost when partnerships fall apart. Companies also lose development, sales, production, and distribution opportunities. In addition, a company's reputation can suffer. So can employee morale. What is the value of these intangible costs?
Increasing your business's partnering intelligence before you enter into an alliance is a simple and sure way to minimize this type of failure. Amazingly, however, many business leaders still haven't figured this out. They don't understand that spending money and time up front on the development of partnering knowledge and skill can save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the long haul.
It Doesn't Come Naturally
Many business executives also operate under the false assumption that partnering skills are innate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Partnering is actually an unnatural act for most of us. The skills required for being a great partner are counter-intuitive to what we're taught, how we're socialized, and how we're rewarded both in our personal and professional lives.
Take a close look at the media, which constantly bombards us with messages that deride partnering for go-it-aloneness. (Think of your favorite movie hero. How much alliance-building did he—and such characters are almost always male—engage in to outsmart the bad guys? Not much, probably.)
So it's not surprising that the Western business model portrays business heroes and heroines as being strong, silent, independent, and competitive. According to this model, the "good guys" get the best of every deal, outsmart their partners as well as their competition, and ride roughshod over anybody who gets in their way. Winning is everything.
Such winner-take-all competitiveness may be necessary for a good movie plot or success on a football or soccer field (although a good argument could be made that it isn't). In the world of business alliances, however, this attitude is a sure path to failure.
The Bottom Line
Businesses that fail to invest up front in the development of partnering skills are making an unwise--and potentially quite costly--decision. Partnering doesn't come naturally, so it's quite easy, as the statistics only too clearly show, for mistakes to be made and for alliances to fail.
Smart partnerships--those that thrive and reward both partners--require smart planning. They also require a specific set of partnering skills--ones that anyone can learn with the right training.
To learn more about how to build an alliance based on the Six Partnering Attributes™,
a must for partnerships to truly work, go online or call toll-free:
www.partneringintelligence.com
1-888-292-0323
The Accenture statistics cited in this article come from their report titled "Grasping the Capability: Successful Alliance Creation and Governance Through the 'Connected Corporation.'" The report appeared in The Point, Accenture's monthly thought publication.
Read it online:
www.accenture.com (Search for "Grasping
the Capability.")
Learning from Each Other: A High-Tech Partnership Summit
Management leaders from some of the world's top high-tech companies, such as Apple Computer, Norvel, FileMaker, Adobe Systems, and Palm, will be meeting this fall for the third "Partner Summit," a two-day conference designed to help companies enhance their partner marketing skills, exchange ideas, network, and learn about each other's partnering programs.
"As we all know, the high-tech world has been hit hard," says Joan Staffen, president of JointSolutions Marketing, Inc., which is hosting this year's summit. "There's been a lot of downsizing and layoffs. So this is the perfect time to rebuild and regain confidence."
Partner marketing is especially important for high-tech companies, who may be working at any one time with hundreds or even thousands of software, hardware, and internet companies.
"How do you satisfy the needs of that many partners?" asks Staffen. "That's one of the topics we'll be discussing."
The Partner Summit will feature workshops on "Building Trust" and "Creating Win/Win Scenarios" led by Stephen Dent, founding partner of The Partnership Continuum, who will also deliver the keynote speech. In addition, Catherine Tornbom, a specialist in strategic planning from the Institute of Cultural Affairs, will teach collaboration skills to the participants.
"Past summits have been extremely beneficial," says Staffen. "People go away with a sense of having learned an incredible amount about how to partner better."
The 2002 JointSolutions Partner Summit will be held at the Monterey Plaza Hotel, Monterey, CA, Oct. 16-17, 2002.
For more information:
www.jointsolutions.com/summit.htm
Your Self-Disclosure Quotient: An Assessment
Self-disclosure ranges from shooting the breeze in the break-room, to sharing personal stories, to articulating your business needs to your partner. Each type of self-disclosure builds trust by letting your partner know more about who you are and by showing your partner that you trust him or her.
Self-disclosure is not without risk. Whenever you open yourself up to another person, you make yourself vulnerable to rejection and criticism. That is why trust is such an integral part of communication. As we share information about ourselves, we watch our partner's reaction. If our partner responds in a positive or constructive way, we trust him or her, and we feel more confident about opening ourselves up a little more.
How comfortable do you feel about disclosing yourself in the workplace? Find out by answering the following questions. For each, answer "Yes," "Sometimes," or "No."
1. Is it difficult for you to talk to other people?
2. Do you find it hard to express controversial ideas to those who may disagree
with you?
3. In a conversation, do others talk more than you?
4. Do you refrain from talking about your personal life in business settings?
5. Do you deliberately hide your weaknesses from others?
6. Are you uncomfortable admitting mistakes to others?
7. When you are with others, do you stick to business?
8. Is it difficult for you to share your feelings with others?
Add up your "No" answers. A lower score (0-2) indicates that you generally feel uncomfortable disclosing yourself in the workplace. A higher score (6-8) indicates that you generally feel comfortable disclosing yourself in the workplace. A score between 3-5 puts you somewhere in the middle.
Are you surprised by your score? Why or why not?
If you scored from 0-5, you might ask yourself how you can become more open. For example, could you increase the amount or quality of information you reveal about yourself? Could you work on your ability to trust? What else might you try? Come up with three things you can do to be more open with others. You might find it helpful to write them down.
If you scored from 6-8, you might ask yourself about the quality of the information you reveal to others. For example, do you self-disclose too much or to inappropriate people? Is the information you disclose meaningful? What else might be true about the information you share? Come up with three things you can do to improve the quality of your self-disclosure. You might find it helpful to write them down.
Take this assessment again in a few weeks or a few months. Check to see if your score has changed. How would you rate your own progress in being more open with others and improving the quality of your self-disclosure?
"Your Self-Disclosure Quotient: An Assessment" is adapted from "Increasing Your Self-Disclosure and Feedback" workbook, © 2000 Partnership Continuum Inc.
To order, go online or call toll-free:
www.partneringintelligence.com
1-888-292-0323
We recently finished three days of on-site Building Smart Partners™
Training with eBenX, Inc., a technology-based services company that manages
business transactions between the buyers and suppliers of group health and welfare
benefits.
It was an exciting three days. Here's some of the feedback we received about the training from the eBenX participants:
To learn more about eBenX, visit the Web site:
www.ebenx.com
We can bring our Building Smart Partners™ Training to your business.
Contact us at:
www.partneringintelligence.com
1-888-292-0323
From now through September 15, 2002:
Order 5 or more "Increasing Your Self-Disclosure and Feedback" workbooks, save 15%!
Use "Increasing Your Self-Disclosure and Feedback" to improve two-way communication with your clients and employees. This workbook will help you and other leaders in your organization learn not only how to ask for and receive feedback from others, but also how to provide feedback to others by articulating your own needs (the self-disclosure part).
To receive your discount, call toll-free:
1-888-292-0323
"'KISS' Communication
Problems Goodbye" by James Lea talks about the importance of open communication
in family-owned business, but there's much here that's useful for all kinds
of businesses--especially those where partners and employees have known each
other for a period of time.
Read it online:
www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/consultants/family_business/2002/06/03/column137.html
The textbook publisher
Allyn & Bacon offers an online unit on self-disclosure as part of its Communication
Studies Web site. The unit includes an introduction to the Johari window (a
tool for viewing self-disclosure), an interactive activity, and a quick quiz.
www.abacon.com/commstudies/interpersonal/indisclosure.html
Are you willing to
risk self-disclosure? In the words of author Patteti Prasad Rao, "Being
silent is not being strong." Rao's thought-provoking article is available
on the Ma Foi Management Consultants Web site.
Read it online:
www.mafoi.com/mafoi/content/hrbuzz57.asp
The Partnering Intelligence
Fieldbook: Tools and Techniques for Building Strong Alliances for Your Business,
which I wrote with Sandra Naiman, has just been published. Featuring more than
100 assessments, surveys, checklists, and partnering techniques, this is a valuable
resource for anyone who wants to improve his or her partnering skills.
Check our Web site for details:
www.partneringintelligence.com
There's still space
available if you'd like to participate in our Fall 2002 Building Smart Partners™
Training Seminar, to be held October 2-4 at the beautiful Minneapolis campus
of the University of St. Thomas.
To reserve your space at the October training, or for more information, call
toll-free:
1-888-292-0323
I'll be in the Washington,
DC area from August 26-30. If you'd like me to meet with your team during that
time, please contact me ASAP.
To schedule an appointment with me in the Washington, DC area, call toll-free:
1-888-292-0323
We'll be providing
Building Smart Partners™ Training to employees of the NASA-Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, August 27-29.
On Tuesday, September
17, at 12:30 p.m., I'll present a talk on "The Anatomy of Trust" at
the Barnes and Noble bookstore, 801 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, MN. If you're
in the area, come and learn the latest about how to understand and diagnose
trust issues within yourself and with those around you.
I'll be making the
keynote speech and leading workshops on "Building Trust" and "Creating
Win/Win Scenarios" at the JointSolutions Partner Summit Fall 2002, which
will be held October 16-17 at the Monterey Plaza Hotel in Monterey, CA.
To learn more, contact Joan Staffen at Joint Solutions:
831-338-5030 x 206
Or check out the JointSolutions Web site:
www.JointSolutions.com
On Thursday, October
24, I'll give a keynote speech on "Creating Value with Partners" to
the Paper Stock Industry, a division of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industry
(ISRI), on Amelia Island, Florida.
To learn more about the ISRI:
www.isri.org
If you'd like to meet with me while I'm in the southeastern United States,
call toll-free:
1-888-292-0323
From November 21-22,
I'll be presenting a workshop on Nonprofit/For-Profit partnerships at the Bayer
Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, PA.
To register for this even, contact the Bayer Center:
412-227-6814
bcnm@rum.edu
Quotables
"Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively."--Gerald Ford
"Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after."--Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Visit www.partneringintelligence.com for more information on our training and consulting services, products, and publications.
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Toll-free (U.S): 1-888-292-0323
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www.partneringintelligence.com