What do you do if your partnership is experiencing performance gaps?

As per my understanding, Here's a concise guide on how to manage and overcome these hurdles: 1. Assess the Partnership: Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) that impact performance. A SWOT analysis can help pinpoint areas for improvement and leverage points for success. 2. Solicit Feedback: Gather feedback from all stakeholders involved in the partnership. This includes partners, customers, employees, and investors. 3. Set SMART Goals: Based on the assessment and feedback, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals. 4. Implement and Evaluate: Put the action plans into practice and monitor their effectiveness. Regular evaluations are required. 5. Celebrate Success and Review

To address performance gaps in a partnership, assess current issues collaboratively, develop an action plan with clear objectives and responsibilities, implement strategies for improvement, and monitor progress closely. By taking proactive steps and fostering open communication, the partnership can work together to bridge gaps and achieve shared goals.

In my experience this helps to set the main purpose of the entire partnership. This helps to define why we are here and what are we looking for. Defining roles and responsibilities for everybody. In many cases when one looses purpose confusion starts taking control of the situation. Ah, and one very important thing, do not expect for this to be communicated at the very beginning and think everything will be taken for granted. Repetition, repetition, repetition along the way will be critical to reinforce purpose and aims.

It's arguably more crucial to socialize wins in partnerships than with any other function. Given partnerships are a relatively new demand generation strategy, sometimes cross functional teams have little awareness of what those in partnerships are doing, or the value they add to the organization from a revenue and customer satisfaction perspective. One way to do this might be a Slack or Teams channel where joint wins are posted as well as more information on the use case. If it's repeatable and solves a major pain point, it can help your sales teams find more opportunities, close more deals and serve to benefit the partnership as well.

After recognizing performance gaps in their tech startup partnership, a pair of entrepreneurs initiated a thorough SWOT analysis, pinpointing key areas for improvement. They conducted comprehensive surveys among customers and stakeholders, gaining invaluable insights into expectations and perceptions of their business collaboration. Armed with this feedback, they established clear, measurable goals aimed at enhancing their partnership's value and operational efficiency. Implementing targeted action plans, they engaged in regular evaluations, utilizing performance dashboards to monitor progress and adapt strategies as necessary.

When a partnership encounters performance gaps, it's crucial to address the issue promptly & constructively. First and foremost, open & honest communication is essential; sit down with your partners to discuss the challenges openly, allowing each party to express their concerns & perspectives. Together, identify the root causes of the performance gaps, whether its of resource constraints, misalignment of goals or skill deficiencies. Once the issues are identified, collaboratively develop a plan of action to address them, setting clear & achievable goals with specific timelines. This might involve reallocating resources, adjusting roles & responsibilities, providing additional training & support.

A software company and a marketing firm, despite their synergy, noticed a decline in their co-developed product's market performance. Initially, excitement and shared goals had driven their partnership. To address the performance gaps, they undertook a SWOT analysis, revealing that while their product was innovative, they lacked a cohesive marketing strategy, and customer feedback suggested usability issues. They organized focus groups with end-users, gathering valuable insights that led to significant product improvements. Realizing the importance of aligned objectives, they set new, SMART goals focused on enhancing user experience and expanding market reach.