There are clearly too many partnerships in the world. A Google search on the word will give you in excess of 720 million entries, and I’m fairly confident they don’t include three of the eight I’m personally involved in at the moment… nor am I sure how many would fit this dictionary definition: “A relationship between individuals or groups that is characterised by mutual cooperation and responsibility, for the achievement of a specified goal”.
It’s an over-used, and therefore inevitably devalued word. Much of the time what’s being talked about would be more accurately defined in such ways as “temporary tactical alliance” (the Blair/Brown partnership?) or “loose agreement to work together for a few hours a week” (the current West Bromwich Albion strikers’ partnership?)
I’ve always been surprised and a little disappointed by the apparent low level of meaningful partnerships between companies across the corporate responsibility agenda. Organisations and groups abound (Business in the Community, London Benchmarking Group, Arts & Business, Business for Social Responsibility, and the like), and they’re a critically important feature on the CR landscape, but when you drill down to specific activity, companies tend to want the ‘association’ to be directly and exclusively with ‘the partner’.
The upside is that this often creates the kind of focused relationship that can really deliver results for all concerned. Cadbury Schweppes’ well construction programme with WaterAid in cocoa farmer communities in Ghana is a great example, and Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential scheme, and HSBC’s Investing in Nature are global in both reach and impact. Covered elsewhere in this edition are a number of excellent case studies of well thought through and successful individual partnership programmes with these attributes.
The downside for me, though, is that because this approach tends to be viewed as the ‘norm’, there seems to be less appetite around for the kind of creative thinking that has generated for example the innovative Shell/Marks & Spencer partnership, which aims to support sustainable local enterprise by providing emerging small businesses in developing countries with access to a major UK retailer’s supply chain. Hands-on initiatives like this, which retain the beneficiary and geographical focus while pulling in and exploiting resources and expertise from a range of business sectors, in a collaborative and non-competitive way, are a breed apart, and we need more of them.
I would suggest that there are some common ‘success factors’ for effective partnerships, and for me they would include:
doing the hard work up front to really test for common purpose and compatibility of objectives
nailing down roles and responsibilities at the outset
agreeing specific success criteria, and how they will be monitored and measured
building in robust review processes, and being grown up and positive about learning from mistakes, dealing with under-achievement, and changing direction when circumstances dictate.
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