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Playing the Partnership GameIn a world where networks are fluid and collaboration is the rule, partnering is a
critical competency for success, both at work and in life. Just think of how many partnering relationships you have – business partners, two businesses partnering, project team partners, vacation-home partners, exercise partners, lunch partners, life partners. And yet we all experience a very human paradox: on the one hand, we’re wired to work with others in the interest of survival of the species; on the other, we develop as independent beings,
acknowledged and rewarded for our individual qualities and accomplishments. Small wonder, then, that successful and satisfying partnerships are relatively rare. As a leader in your organization, it is essential that you “walk the talk” and demonstrate the power of great partnerships. And, as with so many other aspects of leadership, it all begins with you. Stephen Dent, author of both Partnering Intelligence and The Partnership Intelligence Fieldbook, puts it this way: “The better I get, the better we get.” Dent identifies six critical
“partnership attributes” you need to master: self-disclosure and feedback; win-win orientation; ability to trust; future orientation; comfort with change; and comfort with interdependence. In his books, he offers tools for assessing and developing yourself in each of these dimensions, and he makes a strong case for pursuing personal development simultaneously with organizational and partnership development.
One reason partnering can be so tricky is that not only must you learn to see yourself clearly, warts and all, but you also must seek to appreciate your partner’s needs and interests and resist the temptation to assign motives without fully understanding him or her. This is where the self-disclosure and feedback skills come into play, and clear communication is critical. There’s a leap of faith required, too: you have to work to satisfy your partner’s wants, and
trust that yours will be met in the process, too. If self-awareness and self-development are the cornerstones of good partnering, a thorough understanding of your reasons for partnering in any particular case is also fundamental. It has to make sense from the perspective of complementary needs and strengths, and you have to be clear about your criteria for partnering as you decide who to partner with. Without a shared understanding of where
you are both coming from and what your expectations are, you’re apt to get derailed when the going gets tough ahead. There are instances where partnering is dictated – project task teams, for example – but great partnering can’t be forced, it has to be voluntary. Just as there are plenty of notorious examples of mergers and acquisitions that never take hold and end up practically destroying both parties to the deal, there are
individual partnerships that self-destruct when one partner is not fully committed, or when the partners have unknowingly committed to two different visions for the partnership. Powerful partnering takes time and effort, and a commitment to something bigger than the sum of its parts. And in today’s world, if you aren’t creating and sustaining strong partnerships, you’re not even in the game. 
Try using a simple matrix to help you decide who to partner with, or to select among several available partnering
opportunities. Down the left side, list the possible partners you are considering. Across the top, divide the columns into two groups: your strengths and your weaknesses. Within each group, list particular strengths and weaknesses. Then work your way through the matrix, marking the boxes where you think each possible partner can help you and you think you can help them. When you’re done, you’ll have a good analysis of the
relative strengths of each potential partnership. From Stephen M. Dent, The Partnership Intelligence Fieldbook |
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Industry experts have reported that organizations spend as much as 15% of their annual revenue on document production, distribution, and storage. According to Buyer’s Laboratory, 90% of organizations don’t know what they pay for desktop and network printing. According to a new survey by Hilton Hotels, nearly a third of those polled say they postpone fun because they feel guilty when they are not doing something
they believe is productive. (Sound like anyone you know? Hmmmm….) In a recent study, the consulting firm Accenture found that CEOs feel more strongly about the strategic importance of the HR function than did HR executives themselves. 70% of the CEOs surveyed, compared with 54% of the HR executives, said that the HR function is "very critical" to executing corporate strategy. 
Creative recombination In a new book, Change Without Pain, Columbia Business School professor Eric Abrahamson coins this term as the antidote to too much “creative
destruction”, and “repetitive change syndrome.” Creative recombination refers to a way for managers to reconfigure their companies’ existing assets: people, structures, culture, processes, and networks. Abrahamson also introduces the distinction between managing stability and managing change, and talks about the need for a “chief memory officer.” 
 Business 2.0 (January/February 2004 issue). What I like about it: This magazine, and its associated website, is
fresh, irreverent, and fun – not adjectives you usually associate with a business magazine. The current issue features “The 101 Dumbest Moments in Business,” the editors’ fourth annual review of “the most shameful, dishonest, and just plain stupid moments of the past year.” And Martha Stewart isn’t even in the Top Ten!
Beth Bloomfield
Executive Coach, Strategy Consultant
Principal, Bloomfield Associates Share what you’re into — books, articles, movies, music, websites — with others on the list! Send us the title and author or other pertinent information, along with a sentence or two on what you like about it, and if we use it in A Different Optic we’ll not only quote you, we’ll provide a link to you or your website. |
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“Luck is believing you're lucky.”
— Tennessee Williams |  |
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Announcing -- ta-dah!-- the debut of a new section of our website, What We’re Reading. It features a free list of recommended books on leadership and strategy, classics both old and newly-minted, including many of the books you’ve been introduced to in this newsletter. We’re including clickable links for you to purchase
your selections easily and securely through Amazon.com. Check it out today! Beth Bloomfield will present a half-day public workshop, “Mastering Your World: A Workshop for Leaders and Human Resource Professionals”, on June 25, 2004. The workshop is sponsored by the Howard County Human Resources Society and
Howard County Community College, and will be held on the college’s campus in Columbia, Maryland. Click here for more information and to register. The current running of our six-session teleclinic, “Building Your Leadership Coaching Practice”, is getting terrific reviews, so we’ve decided to offer another running in the fall of 2004. If
you are thinking about starting a coaching practice, or are in the midst of starting it, or simply want to boost the practice you already have going, you can benefit from the wealth of practical information you’ll get from this course. If you think you might be interested in taking the teleclinic this fall, send us an email, or call us at
(505) 992-2675, and we’ll give you a heads up as soon as it’s scheduled. Beth’s article “We Are the Champions” appeared in the December 2003 issue of Intercom, the online magazine of the American Women in Communications. | | |
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