Transactional or Relational Perspective

There are two fundamentally different perspectives we can have on a strategic alliance/partnership (i.e., a long-term value-creating relationship):

• Transactional - Q: What are we each going to get out of this relationship? This tends to be the dominant perspective in co-selling (value-exchange) relationships. Management might ask, "What is the balance of trade in this relationship? What are the give and the gets?"
• Relational - Q: What are we, together, going to create in this relationship? This should be the dominant perspective in collaborative-R&D (value-creating) relationships. However, this perspective is often stifled by business' justifiable focus on the bottom line (transactions). Rather than asking about the health of the relationship, management will often ask, "What is the ROI of this alliance/partnership?" (Note: this "R" is not "Relationship"!)

The topics in this article are tied to the idea of two thought-systems - there are two fundamentally different perspectives we can have in life. When you're in one thought-system, the other thought-system makes no sense to you. If someone has a fear-based and scarcity-oriented mindset, they don't understand someone who is oriented to love and abundance.

I've heard it said that when two people (or two companies) are in different thought systems, deep and effective communication between them is actually impossible. Fortunately, Strategic Relationship Managers (SRMs) regularly:

Do the impossible with nothing in the eye of a hurricane.

SRMs are use to doing the impossible. We build bridges between companies; companies who are required to be fiercely competitive. We build these bridges in an atmosphere that tends to be fear-based and scarcity-oriented. Fear, scarcity and competitiveness hinder creativity. They hinder an alliance's ability to create value.

Therefore, we need to build a bridge between the transactional and relational aspects of #alliances & #partnerships .

Our work is not EITHER/OR, it is BOTH/AND.

We need to focus on both the relational and the transactional aspects of our alliances & partnerships. We need to be concerned about both the creation of value and the exchange of value, both co-development and co-selling.

Within the 2-Slide Methodology (TM) - simplicity on the other side of complexity:

• Relational issues tend to be addressed in the Value-Impediments slide.
• Transactional issues tend to be addressed in the Value-Creation slide.

(This methodology is presented in our recent Be a Creator of Value video (turn on Closed Captions to read along.)

If you are a member of the Partnership Leaders community I am very interested in hearing from you.

Joe Kittel, RE - [email protected]