We recently read The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Larry Posner at CoPort. We believe that if we’re not constantly learning, we’ll constantly find ourselves reacting rather than preparing and following rather than leading. And though there are times to follow, we’re pushing forward.
So we invite you to come along with us. What partnership teams need more than anything right now is not another playbook or tool, though we advocate for using the right tools for the right job. We advocate, more than anything, for growth and professional development. It’s been said that 15% of your job is the technical know-how, and the other 85% is all about people. Partner people are in the people business first and foremost.
Yes, the contract matters, and the system makes a difference (or else we wouldn’t be in business). But when we put the technical and the system above the people, we’re missing the mark of living to our highest potential.
More than anything, we need leadership.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s 6th edition of The Leadership Challenge is a powerful collection of stories and time-tested truths. John Maxwell, arguably one of the world’s primary leadership experts says this, “The Leadership Challenge remains one of the five best books I have ever read. Thirty years after its first publication, I still continually recommend it to others looking to improve as leaders.”
With that being said, we’ll unpack the five practices of leadership and apply them to our work in partnerships. Because we know, that our companies win when our partnerships get better.
Let’s dive in:
Part 1: The Partnership Challenge - Model the Way
The first part of growing our partnerships is taking the time to create alignment. It’s been shared that the greatest hindrance to a successful partner program is the inability of leadership to align the partner program with the company goals. Too many times in my career, I’ve found myself defending my job or projects rather than showing how the work I’m doing is aligned to the company mission and vision. We must make sure our teams are aligned.
So how do we get aligned?
First, we clarify our own values. You can’t align with someone or something else if you yourself don’t know your own standing. We align with others based on our own convictions and own program. If you haven’t clarified your own partner program values yet, start there. Going wherever you want to go starts with where you are. If you don’t know where you are, then you won’t know how to get there.
It’s like getting directions to the wedding reception. We know how to get there because we’re all starting from the same place—typically the church or wherever the ceremony took place. But what about those who are coming from the north part of town? If you’re coming from the north, the directions will most likely direct you south. If you’re coming from the south, then the directions will be north.
It matters where you start from.
So, have you clarified your own values as a partner program? Can you articulate what partnerships means to you and your organization?
Then, learn your partner’s values. This is vital for the health of your partnership going forward. “While clarifying your values is essential, understanding the values of others and building alignment around values that everyone can share is equally critical.” - Kouzes and Posner, page 61
I remember working through the trenches of a partnership a few years ago. It just wasn’t going well. For the better part of a year we did everything we possibly could to get it off the ground. Our integration was sound, our marketing was the best I’d seen, our executive buy-in was solid. But when push came to shove, our values were different. We weren’t aligned. And after a year of going back and forth, weekly, biweekly and monthly meetings, we had very little to show for it. We found out later that we weren’t aligned in how we ran our businesses, sales cycles, and culture. It caused a lot of friction that was evident to our joint prospects. And in the end, no one wanted it.
We could have saved ourselves a lot of time, and our company’s a lot of money had we started out making sure we were aligned, clarifying our values, and then living out those values.
Clarify your values and then live every day working them out.
Action steps for today:
- Clarify your values
- Set the example