What are the most effective ways to manage partnerships with large organizations?

Clear objectives and roles can only be defined once the foundations are confirmed. Identifying key aspects of a potential partners core values, mission and vision is vital for program and end-client alignment. Clear, attainable and flexible partner agreements need to be finalised ahead of deployment, and agreed best-fit communications are a must. Agreed reporting and metric data protocols, in the form of KPI’s,etc., are also important for program development and optimisation.

Alignment is the first step you need to focus on internally with the internal teams in your organization. Understanding their goals, challenges, and incentives is critical to then tie the work you're trying to do in Partnerships and how you can work together. Once common goals and KPIs are established, you can then put plans in place to collaborate as peers to achieve your common goals. When everyone rows together, you will both get there faster. Keep this alignment front and center in everything that you do, request, and report on. Circulate this consistently and report on your impact to both groups to continue to get support and resources.

Partner program flexibility is key when dealing with large organisations, as they are prone to market fluctuations, changes in leadership and personnel, and continual product updates and optimisation. For that reason, the value of your program needs to remain valuable by being able to adapt when necessary without compromising the core benefits of the agreement. Without such elements as impact models and bespoke comms channels, you will struggle to pivot when required within the expected timeframes.

Associated risks and challenges come hand in hand with partner programs, none more-so than in large organisations, so minimising the maximum risks are key. This can be achieved by having robust contingencies in place in the form of identifying key internal advocates, legally binding agreements with clear roles and responsibilities, and open, honest and regular communication opportunities. Also, creating a mutually beneficial environment based on trust and respect will encourage honesty when mistakes are made. This will help to facilitate quicker resolutions and outcomes leading to a smoother program flow.

There's so much work that goes into building successful partnership motions, both with internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. As you start to see success, socialize it with everyone involved and those on the outside so that they can understand the outcome of all of the effort that you have all put in. These stories (and corresponding metrics of success) will be your leverage for continued efforts and resources in the future. They should also help you model other types of partnerships to inform best steps for collaboration and mutual success.

Attracting, launching and maintaining a partnership with a large organisation holds its own set of challenges. While the basic alignment, end-client value proposition and shared goals remain similar, these principles will be applied and run through a much larger set of channels. So approaches to lines of communication, respecting boundaries and interdepartmental mediation is key. For example, proposals usually go through 11 different decision-makers in large organisations before they reach final approval. Some programs can also take up to 2 years to implement and roll out. Taking such challenges into consideration when launching a partner program are critical to building confidence, gaining trust and maintaining the relationship.