How do you use partnership evaluations to make better decisions?

1 Why evaluate partnerships?

Evaluating partnerships is not only a good practice but also a smart strategy. Doing so can help you measure the outcomes and benefits of your partnerships, monitor the progress and quality of your partnership activities, identify the challenges and risks of your partnerships, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your partnership management, and enhance the trust and satisfaction of your partners. This could include increased sales, customer loyalty, brand awareness, or social impact; communication, collaboration, innovation, or problem-solving; misalignment, conflict, competition, or compliance issues; planning, budgeting, reporting, or feedback; recognizing partner contributions, addressing their concerns, or celebrating their achievements.

2 How to design partnership evaluations?

Before you start evaluating your partnerships, it is essential to design a clear and realistic evaluation plan. This plan should define the purpose and scope of the evaluation, such as the questions to answer, data to collect, and timeframe. Additionally, you should choose the appropriate evaluation methods and tools, assign roles and responsibilities for the evaluation team, establish criteria and indicators, and plan for dissemination and use of your evaluation results. This way, you can ensure that you have the necessary information to judge the performance and impact of your partnerships, as well as communicate and act on your findings and recommendations.

3 How to collect partnership data?

When you have your evaluation plan ready, you can start collecting data from a variety of sources and perspectives. Your own records and documents, such as contracts or reports, can be useful. Additionally, your partner's feedback forms and testimonials, your customers' surveys and ratings, external market research or media coverage, and your observations and experiences from site visits or events can also provide valuable insights.

4 How to analyze partnership data?

Once you have collected sufficient data, analyzing it to uncover patterns, trends, gaps, and insights is essential. Descriptive analysis can be used to summarize, tabulate, or visualize your data to illustrate what transpired in your partnerships. Comparative analysis can be employed to compare, contrast, or benchmark your data to demonstrate how your partnerships compared to your goals, expectations, or competitors. Causal analysis involves correlating, testing, or modeling your data to explain why your partnerships worked or didn't work and which factors had an impact. Evaluative analysis is a useful technique for rating, ranking, or scoring your data to determine how well your partnerships met your criteria and indicators.

5 How to report partnership results?

Finally, you need to report your evaluation results to your stakeholders, such as partners, customers, employees, or investors. A good evaluation report should include an executive summary of the main findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Additionally, it should explain the purpose, scope, methods, and limitations of the evaluation. Furthermore, it should present the data and analysis of the evaluation, including evidence, arguments, and interpretations. Moreover, it should discuss the implications and recommendations of the evaluation – such as lessons learned or best practices – as well as invite feedback and follow-up from stakeholders.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?