Do You Have True Internal Partnering in Your Company? Where Can We Obtain True Partnering?

True Partnering

For several years now the concept of 'Partnering' in business has been discussed, misunderstood and yet aimed for. Companies partnering with their vendors, partnering with their clients and internally departments within the company such as business and IT, being encouraged to work in Partnership.

This article seeks to explain how to obtain true partnering in business and the ramifications for shifting from more traditional ways of engaging.

Firstly we must understand what Partnering is and also what it is not.

What is Partnering?

Throughout history people have sought out business relationships from the simple baker who advertises freshly baked bread in order to attract more Customers, to the 19th Century industrialist who entered into business relationships with his Suppliers based on contractual terms of cost, quality, reliability etc.... In the Western world there were whole sectors of society dedicated to serving their Master or Mistresses households in some way and it is only in the last 100 years or so that the employment of Servants has, on the whole, become obsolete. The terms Consumer, Customer and Client may be used in different contexts however they all refer to the contractual business relationship of a seller and purchaser, the Consumer, Customer or Client being the purchaser.

True Partnering applies where both parties have equal stake in obtaining the same outcome and commit to work together in order to achieve that outcome. If one of the partied can easily go elsewhere to achieve their outcome then they are likely to be a consumer, customer or client and will have greater power in the relationship. This power imbalance will hinder True Partnering. For true partnering then, both parties must feel they have equal value and equal right to contribute to the partnership. They must respect the fact that they actually need each other in order to achieve their business outcome and as soon as one party feels they need the other less, then the delicate balance within the partnership is lost.

Where can we obtain True Partnering?

True partnering between separate companies that has not ended in disagreement or legal action is rare, however they opportunity for True Partnering between departments within one company should be higher. This is because at the highest level all those individuals employed by a company are paid to obtain the same single outcome - the sustainment and increased profits of the company. At the departmental level there is already talk of Partnering e.g. IT partnering with the Business, HR having internal Business Partners, but the words and labels themselves do not necessarily reflect the behavior.

Do you have True Internal Partnering in your Company?

I have worked on several assignments in the last few years with IT teams and IT departments coaching them to gain high performance. In all cases I have asked "What is the purpose of this team/department?" The reply has often been "To serve the Business." This sort of phrase may sound familiar to many of you who are responsible for back office functions. I may be coaching and HR, Finance or Legal function within a business and hear the same response to the fundamental question "What is your purpose?" This reply "To serve the Business" tells me that at a deeper level people who work in that IT department are representing themselves as Servants and their relationship to the Business as one of servitude. I ask "Do you see the Business as your Master then?" which in these times of political correctness is met with outrage! However, if you represent that IT department as an individual person and The Business as an individual person, we can begin to see more clearly, how these two characters are relating to one another. We can also draw out their attitudes, beliefs and feelings towards each other.

Example: Master and Servant - an unequal marriage...

In one IT department I asked each person to write down the key quality that they brought to the team and the area they felt that they most needed to develop. A high majority of the qualities they people felt they brought was "a willingness to help". Equally high proportion of areas that they most needed to develop in was "to improve their ability to say 'no' to people who needed them". We plotted the responses against a stick man called 'IT' and found that if this was a person, they would behave in the following way in a relationship; they would like to help the other party however they would have a problem saying 'no' to their needs. We then drew another stick man next to 'IT' and named this person 'Business'. We mapped perceived behavioral traits onto the Business stick man which were; non-communicative, demanding, thinking IT was not good enough. I asked who had the power in this relationship and all replied, The Business. Obviously IT were colluding in maintaining this relationship but until it became conscious to them, they had no ability to move their behavior and beliefs towards a more equal footing. I suggested that taken to the extreme, IT was like an abused and undervalued wife, doing all she could for a husband (Business) who was demanding and all powerful.

Another common language pattern to listen out for is when IT people talk of the "internal customer". Again this use of terminology highlights the fact that at a deep level people in the company do not see themselves as True Partners, but as a customer that needs serving!

Example: Customer and Server - shopping around...

Recently an IT team I was coaching explained that they were there to 'serve' the business. They spoke of the Business as their Customer. I asked them when they experience being a Customer outside of work? 'When I go into a shop I'm a customer' someone replied. 'Yes when I'm looking for a new suit I'd be a customer'. I then asked if they couldn't find the suit they wanted at the price they were willing to buy it at in the first shop what would they do? 'I'd go to another shop and another until I found the suit I wanted' was the response. 'Exactly' I said and that is why, if you keep referring to The Business as your 'Customer' they may feel that they have a right to reject your IT service and go shopping for the service they want from outside the company. 'Well that already happens' they shouted, 'just the other day I was called to sort something out that had gone wrong with an application that someone had just bought and installed on their laptop without us even knowing and its us they come running to when it all goes wrong!'

I have suggested that in reality the relationship that most closely resembles the relationship between IT and Business is that of a married couple that can't actually divorce! Unless IT is outsourced, then IT and Business are stuck with each other, and the best way to make that work is to go to marriage guidance counseling - I mean start to treat each other as True Partners. When we look at how IT feels towards their 'partner' and how Business feels towards their 'partner', it's often not a match made in heaven.

The Business Benefits of True Partnering

I think its widely recognised now that in order for almost any Company (and particularly those in the Financial Services sector) to compete on the open market and increase profits, those people who work in The Business and those who work in IT must work as a team.

If those in the Business feel that those in IT are there to serve them, thereby assuming greater power in the relationship, they are more likely to dictate the terms on which they interact with IT. They will only give IT the minimum amount of their time and begrudge any more time that IT need in order to come to joint decisions regarding projects. They are unlikely to jointly agree the budget and time constraints, instead, as 'Master' they will simply tell IT what is expected of them. The onus will then be on IT to argue/negotiate what is possible. In true Partnering both parties would have equal input into the decisions right from the start.

In companies where True Partnering is achieved, business results are gained more efficiently as there is less miscommunication, less time wasted covering up information from each other, less energy and time wasted due to dealing with the emotional impact of the unequal relationship. This last point is hard to measure but is probably one of the most significant differences between true Partnering where both parties feel valued, respected and listened to. Team motivation and company energy levels will be much higher where the individual has a clear purpose, is asked to contribute to decision making based on their expertise and likes and respects their team mates. Basically the company will be getting a higher output from each of its employees in a True Partnering environment. It will also be producing what it needs as opposed to what one party thinks it needs.

How to Move to True Partnering?

The relationship between departments within an organisation is hugely influenced by the relationship at board level between those individuals who head up each department. If we continue with the example of IT and The Business, True Partnering is more likely to be achieved if the Head of each Business Unit and the CIO are seen as equally valuable by the CEO* and the rest of the board. (This assumes that the CIO actually sits at the board, similarly with HR, Legal, Finance and any other department of the Company that needs to partner with the income generating business representatives).

a)Equal power within the relationship between the leaders of IT and The Business

If the Head of Business and CIO respect each other, can communicate honestly and openly as equal partners and believe that to obtain certain business outcomes, they need each other equally, then this is likely to be translated down through the management strata in each department, instilling a culture that supports True Partnering.

If this partnering relationship is not lead from the top, then lower down the management levels it's possible to have two leaders that demonstrate good partnering and below them, you will find that Business and IT work well together.

b)Joint decision making where both parties are involved from the start

At each level of interaction between Business and IT, decision making will only take place once both parties have contributed to the discussion and hold equal power to sway the decision. Both parties will prioritize projects, agree on budget and timeliness.

c)Joint responsibility for the outcome

If true partnering is occurring, the business will take equal responsibility for the project development and buy-in across the users. When the project faces challenges both business and IT will feel that they have a joint problem to resolve, they will fell that each other is doing its best and have faith that if a problem occurs, then between them they can resolve it (rather than one party blaming the other for low performance).

How will you know when you have True Partnering in your Company?

Those in IT and Business will enjoy working together. They will not be blaming each other for mistakes but be working on solutions together. If mistakes are made, then there will be no cover up for fear of anger from the other party, instead the party making the mistake will genuinely feel sorry and the other party, will genuinely want to work together to fix it. They will not be making decisions on their own as they will realise that they need the other party to get the best result. When asked what they think of each other, there will be positive statements of respect and value. The quality of the outcome will be a testament to true team work. Whether the new technology is adopted by business end users, will also be a measurement of True Partnering.

Getting rid of the Relationship Baggage

Due to the history of old relationship patterns between Business and IT where both parties have supported (unconsciously) a Master-Servant relationship, it is common for Business to have lost faith in IT and for IT to be under performing. I go back to my extreme analogy of the abused wife struggling to gain the strength, self belief and energy to turn the relationship around.

Rebecca Watson is an associate of Brompton Associates and specialises in Organisational Development and Change. She has worked with a wide variety of organisations and leaders to empower them to deliver through high performing teams.

* Equally valuable may be easily measured by looking at the salaries of those on the board. If there are clear disparities then at the outset the CEO, even the entire market place, is demonstrating a lack of equal value amongst the team that lead the company. The recent trend has been towards valuing HR and IT as equally as Finance and Business Head, but these salary differences are still prevalent.