Balance in Partnerships

Balance is a much-referred to term in the business world these days and it’s also a big word in my life. Balance is usually referred to in the context of work/life balance and, as the co-founder and leader of a small agency, I’ll acknowledge this is often difficult to achieve. I’ll be exploring that more in a future blog but today I want to look at the impact of “balance” in terms of the relationships and partnerships one creates in the business environment.

Traditional partnership 

James Beer and myself set up 23 Digital (as it was known then) as a partnership with limited company status. We agreed to manage and operate the business together and to split any profits evenly. On paper, that’s about as balanced as you can get. But we also look out for, and help each other grow, believing strongly that the whole is greater the sum of its parts.

Agile working

However, having a strong bond, and a relationship in balance, is something we strive to have not just with each other, but with all stakeholders involved with 23D. We believe this approach will stand us in good stead and prove very beneficial as the world around us evolves and business is carried out in a more modular and agile fashion.

Pre-pandemic, it was a common occurrence on business development calls to be asked how many staff we had - as if mere numbers was the primary common denominator in determining how good or successful we were. Thankfully, there now seems to have been a big shift away from that.

Rapid digitalisation, remote working and improved communication options have played into the hands of small, agile and innovative companies. Without the burden of lots of permanent staff on the payroll, a big office and other worrying overheads, we were able to brush off the 90% “dent” in our planned revenue for 2020 and successfully pivot into a new dimension of creating virtual events. This not only ensured our survival, but also set us up for a very successful future. We can pat ourselves on the back for that, but we would not have been able to sail those choppy waters without the strength of our network and how we collaborate with our strategic partners.

Strategic partnerships

For me, our strategic partnerships are not the same as the kind of traditional partnership I have with James - and they never will be. But we try to take some key elements from how our personal relationship works and apply these to how we interact with all our key stakeholders. We consciously avoid our interactions becoming mere transactions: trading goods or services for a sum of money. Instead, we seek to invest in each other, help each other grow (financially and culturally) and build long-term relationships. And, from our experience, the more balance we achieve in these strategic partnerships, the more successful they tend to be.

360 approach

For us, having a 360 degree approach is very important. Empathy is a key 23D value and we invest heavily in the wants and needs of our clients and suppliers, as well as the freelancers that rely on agencies like ours to earn a living. We solution-hunt collaboratively with our clients, we have a shared innovative and tech approach with our suppliers and we actively seek out freelancers whose values are aligned with ours. The result of this empathic approach is reflected profoundly in the films we make.

This approach cannot be engineered. It must come from the heart – and be driven by principles focused on purpose. We do not seek to “grow” in the traditional sense - adding staff numbers, creating endless departments (and HR nightmares) and – as company leaders – becoming ever more remote from those we work with. But we have grown enormously in other ways - in becoming the kind of company I am proud to lead and proud to share with others. Achieving balance has been central to that journey.

Having a strong bond and a relationship in balance is something we always strive to have with all stakeholders involved with 23D.