A Framework for Partnership Management

Over my career, I've been fortunate to start and manage multiple partnerships, large and small, and it has been interesting to see that there isn't a common standard out there for how to do that. It got me thinking about the methodology I've used with my teams and partners over the last decade and how there may be room to standardize across the industry.

A lack of a common framework leads to several challenges; see if any of these are familiar to you:

• struggling to align cross-functional teams across an organization to a partner plan
• one side of the partnership is operating to a different plan than the other
• constant surprises and new issues arise not previously thought of or scoped
• unproductive joint meetings, teams fighting for attention
• needing to constantly re-stakeholder or articulate why we are partnered in the first place

In this article, I'd like to outline a framework you can use for partner management, consisting of six different activity groups. This framework works for partnerships of all sizes and varieties. Still, the larger the partnership, the higher the likelihood you will fill each area with multiple activities.

The six buckets or categories consist of:

1. Align - the activities between partners and cross-functional teams to align to a joint strategy or plan. Without alignment, things can quickly get off the rails, and with alignment, there is a plan of attack and an awareness of why the partnership is important to each company.
2. Build - defining the joint value proposition of why two or more partners are better together is a critical partnership activity, worthy of its own bucket. A joint value prop is often more easily defined in tech integrations and SI/SP relationships, but is also important in regular channel relationships between a partner and a vendor. Ultimately, both partners must be able to adequately answer the customer question of "why would I work with the two of you together."
3. Enable - it's critical to ensure that teams on both side, particularly sales, technical and delivery resources are properly trained, both in the generic value of the partner but specifically in the joint value proposition developed in Build. This step is often overlooked in partnerships and leads to situations where the teams on each side can't adequately position the joint value.
4. Monetize - The exciting but so often overlooked or, worse, understaffed element is capturing the revenue or partnership value. It is critical to address how customers find value worth paying for through co-sell, resale, or other transaction value like a discount code. Partnerships that don't capture their customer impact are headed for disaster. I've seen many examples where partnerships fail to attribute tangible results, and then, as six months or more passes, execs and teams on either side start to lose interest. Equally, marketing is needed to generate interest in the partnership, and results can be spectacular when partners work together on a mutual marketing plan. I also like to take this up a level by discovering the marketing priorities of my partners, and then figure out how our partnership can fit into that strategy.
5. Support - a joint plan for customer or partner support is a must-have, particularly in partnerships that deliver technology together. We all tend to focus on the sunshine and rainbows elements of the partnership, but planning (and documenting) how issues will be handled when things inevitably go wrong is critical. Bringing those teams into Align sessions can make or break a partnership, and nothing tanks a partnership faster than unhappy customers. Having a good support plan and playbook makes it so much easier to manage support situations.
6. Operate - the last element is what I call operate. Think of this as all the mechanics that are put in place to manage the partnership. Do we have a joint plan? Can we track metrics and KPIs? Do we need systems to help us collaborate? Do we need new legal contracts? When will we review progress? Again, This area is often overlooked but critical to keep the partnership moving forward.

In terms of how to use this framework to help you achieve success, here are some examples:

1. Brainstorm with your team and tailor the framework for how you manage your partners. You don't have to stick to the six areas, I will often break out Monetize into Market and Sell. There is value in identifying the key sub-elements and tailoring them for your specific company, too. Defining this framework for your partner management can bring incredible consistency, predictability, and repeatability to how you engage with partners and teams across your organization.
2. Produce a heat map of your current partnerships: Take each partnership and go through each box and color code them green, amber, red. This will give you an instant 360 assessment of a partnership and highlight areas where you have issues or success. This can be a great tool to diagnose problems or find places where you might be lacking.
3. Align your resources to the framework: Figuring out a RACI for your partner management framework is a great way to understand where your team has gaps. Using the framework with cross-functional teams is also a great way to build alignment. Multiple times over my career, I've seen whole buckets without a designated contact, often in critical areas. Identifying owners, even of an individual activity box, can be empowering and drive accountability.
4. Building a partner activity plan and roadmap: Taking each area in turn, you can easily use the framework to build an annual, quarterly, or weekly plan. At the start of the year, I will typically use the framework to map out the key events and activity groupings needed to be successful. You can then break those down into individual plans or run them using a Kanban board. I find great value in seeing visually in a partnership where the team is spending time.
5. Promoting facts over opinion: These styles of visual charts can be powerful, especially for executive teams. Pulling together the elements above, you can easily use a framework like this to show an executive team where you need help or assistance. The nice thing about a framework like this is that if you agree with the construct of the framework, it makes it much harder to argue against the assessment of the current state or issues.

Hopefully, this framework can be helpful in your management of partners; if you have any thoughts, ideas, or areas where you would like me to expand further, please feel free to drop me a comment or a message!