Written by: Betsy Kauffman, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
There is a famous saying that notes, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Simply put, some actions benefit all parties involved, such as strategic partnerships.
Strategic partnerships can come in the form of partnering with another business or an external partnership. Another form is an internal partnership, which could exist among departments or different divisions, all of which need to identify ways to partner and collaborate to accomplish the organization’s goals. What are the benefits of partnerships?
From an external partnership perspective:
Can Build Brand Awareness and Recognition
By making a connection between two companies or products that serve a similar demographic or can be combined while enjoying certain activities, you can get your organization’s name in front of people who may not have heard of you before — and possibly may not have ever come across your company. If you can build a bridge to why the partnership exists in the customer's mind, it has the potential to increase your brand awareness exponentially.
Can Create a New Customer Base
According to any marketing funnel, the next step in the customer journey, once you have made them aware of your brand, its purpose, and how it can help them, is to convert that brand awareness and gain an actual customer. If your partnerships are authentic, prospective customers or clients will see the benefit and take action. The key is to give them clear instructions on what actions they should take to maximize the benefits of your company’s product or services.
Can Increase Brand Trust
Not every partnership is worth pursuing. It has to be a win-win for both sides, and there has to be mutual respect between the organizations. Your customers and clients will be exposed to the organizations you choose to partner with. In a way, they have placed their trust in you by engaging with your content, subscribing to your newsletter, or buying your products or services. They expect value, and any strategic partnerships you form should have the consumer in mind.
Internal partnerships have their own set of benefits, including:
Alignment around the Organizational Goals
While many departments can default to operating in a silo and not engaging with other divisions within the company, this approach has been proven to be ineffective. However, when there is collaboration and communication across departments, it leads to a shared purpose around the organizational goals. When teams step outside of their department and connect with individuals from other parts of the company, they will often naturally become more aligned and think more strategically about how their partnership can contribute to the organization's overall mission.
Solving Difficult Problems
Two heads are better than one, right? When you have great internal partnerships, you have a potential thought partner when a difficult problem arises. Sometimes it takes a person with an internal organizational perspective who’s not a member of your team or department to help you figure out a solution. They can understand the complexities of the company and offer a different thought process on how to fix the issue.
Employee Retention
When you have built fantastic working relationships within your organization and have trusted internal partners, it will lead to happier employees. It’s as simple as that. There will always be conflict or disagreements, but healthy communication and frequent collaboration between partners will ensure disputes get resolved professionally. Transparency, clear communication, and mutual respect? That sounds like a great work environment to me!
Partnerships can take many forms, whether external or internal, but the key is to start internally. If you cannot build that collaborative culture within your organization, you will be hard-pressed to find external partners who will want to work with you. So, work from the inside out and enjoy the fruits of excellent partnerships.
Betsy Kauffman, Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine
Betsy Kauffman is a globally recognized Leadership and Organizational Agility Coach with more than 20 years of experience working in Fortune 500 companies. Her company, Cross Impact Coaching, helps leaders create innovative, aligned, disruptive agile organizations. Betsy has observed and worked side by side with hundreds of CxO leaders. She has seen just about every variation of how Leadership Teams operate and execute (both successfully and not so successfully). She deeply understands and has experienced firsthand when the team of individuals charged with leading the organization isn't aligned, focused, and working as one; the rest of the organization suffers. She is a published author providing thought leadership to agile and project management communities and speaks internationally on leadership, corporate culture, and organizational agility. She just completed her first TED talk - “4 Tips to Kickstart Honest Conversations at Work” in September 2020 in conjunction with the TED@PMI partnership and was selected by the TED editors to have her talk brought to the main stage– check it out at TED.com!
