Question #2 – When should we partner?

Q2

When should we partner?

There can be many and varied reasons for needing to work in partnership with other organisations.

You may have:

> A tough, complex or non-routine problem and need other skills and resources to help create a solution

> To engage and partner with a community organisation to achieve a ‘social licence to operate’ and reduce risk to your organisation?

> To partner along your supply chain to develop more strategic relationships and grow your business?

> Partnering as a condition of some funding stream where you need to deliver programs and services with other organisations?g is

These are just a few of the reasons that you may want to partner. But whatever the reason you need to be very clear on - why you want to partner and not do it yourself.

Risk

Assessing the risks and benefits?

While the challenges for partnering are many and varied, there can be significant benefits, such as:

> Bringing in more resources and capacity

> Enabling more creative and innovative solutions

> Allowing greater integration of broader economic, social and environmental objectives

> Developing the skills and capacity of individual partners, and

> Reaching across a broader area or region

Weighed against this can be some of the risks, such as the time and effort required, the possible loss of autonomy, the impact on an organisation’s reputation and the overall challenges of working with many groups and people involved.

In any decision to move forward there needs to be a positive benefit or ‘value proposition’ for all partners as well as the overall partnership. If we are going to embark on the partnering route, how can we be sure that we will be able to maximise the benefits while reducing the risks?

Benefit

Is now the right time?

If it all looks positive, another key factor is considering the external landscape around the proposed partnering. By this we mean what is happening within the external environment that could impact on any proposed partnering process.

The types of external factors that could limit or even completely undermine any partnering approach could be:

> Possible restructuring within one of the potential partners or even your own organisation

> Political elections which could result in changes in policy by governments

> New CEOs or senior executives who may change the strategic direction of one of the potential partner organisations

> External stakeholders that could influence the outcomes of any partnering in a negative way

This list is by no means exhaustive, and it reinforces the need for anyone considering entering a partnering arrangement to do their homework first and consider all the potential risks and benefits before leaping in headfirst.