The power in partnerships

Shelter Chieza Change Management
Every year end I always make it a mission to try out something different and this year is no different. Last year, I tried out bunjee jumping, This year is no exception, my newly found passion is in coffee tasting. For a moment, you can throw off advice from gym trainer about adverse effects of coffee. Before I understood coffee processes, I would throw in a lot of sugar and milk in my coffee till it tasted like a milkshake or hot chocolate. I used to watch these seemingly sophisticated individuals order lattes in these little glasses and wonder how on earth why someone would order a small little shot glass of coffee that was so dark.

It looked and tasted so much like choco-malt. Only after I discovered that one could make coffee tasting a hobby did I start appreciate different coffee aromas. One has to go through guidance on smelling the beans, smelling the brewed coffee and tasting the coffee. I also used to wonder how people choose coffee shops or why people chose darker roast .

You can appreciate business partnerships the same way as my coffee tasting experience. Many, out of lack of knowledge choose to go it all out. They want to grow big and set up branches around the country by themselves and forget that partnerships can make your business grow faster.

I used to know of this company that had a unique idea of making deliveries with the quickest turnaround time than most of their competition. A lot of companies approached them to become their agencies. They were too sceptical about partnerships and to this day, they are still the same company they were since inception.

Partnerships are great for some companies, a great example is Rolls-Royce which I believe has not made motor cars since 1971. Some time back, Rolls Royce was split into two, then the motor car company was incorporated as a separate business. This is currently owned by Volkswagen. It is now a global company with customers in 135 countries but has now diversified into civil aerospace, defence, marine and energy markets.

Partnerships can increase the revenue stream of your business over night. You also have a wider access to more products and services. There is an opportunity to strategically align yourself with powerful businesses that could compliment you.

If done well, you can also tap into your competitors market without competing. This gentleman who had sold 20 percent stake of his business to an Indonesian company said that he found it beneficial because it was a cheaper way to acquire products that he didn’t have to build.

Crudely described though, partnerships have a way of bringing more resources to assist your business.

Partnerships can do wonders to your business if perfected. This takes time and skill when implemented under a systematic process. All these services that we are enjoying such as mobile banking services are a result of business partnerships in (B2B) between mobile phone companies and banks.

For your partnership to work, you must focus more intensely on the contractual arrangements that spell out clearly the partnership outcomes. I have seen partnerships suffer when they do not thoroughly look at values alignment.

Any relationship, even a marriage, before inception must critically review the things that you hold most dear, the things that you would be unwilling to change even when under pressure. People and firms can value many different things.

Some values have a moral underpinning eg honesty, integrity. There are also values that focus on how people are treated eg respect, customer service, while other values may focus on how things get done eg innovation, punctuality, or creativity. When looking for other entities with which to partner, it is useful to assess the extent to which your values are aligned.

Most court cases of partnerships have been a result of trust issues. Before signing any document and after holding a series of marathon meetings, if you cannot emphatically display and say you trust the other person then you must not proceed into any matters.

I believe one of the key aspects of finding appropriate partners is to look for people and businesses with complementary skills and assets. Steve Jobs had the business mind. He decided to team up with Steve Wozniak, who was an engineering expert to create Apple Computers.

Assumptions are dangerous and destructive in a partnership, especially when things are not going as hoped. An open and honest conversation, early in the partnering process, about each party’s expectation of the partnership can save a great deal of frustration, tension and confusion down the line.

I have also discovered that the most successful partnerships are those that had individuals that valued the “ to give more than you receive” philosophy. I believe that the benefit of entering into great business partnerships completely outweigh the vices.

If I had not taken the plunge into understanding coffee, I would have no appreciation of the other side of the world. I may not be the baristan that stands behind that counter preparing our coffee but I have an idea of how a freshly roasted and high quality cup of coffee tastes like.

Till next week, may God richly Bless!

Shelter Chieza is a Management Consultant. She can be contacted at [email protected]