Relationship on the rocks: How companies and community partners can build strong relationships

Jon Lloyd offers three lessons from counselling to help keep partnerships civil.

It’s a match made in heaven; a company wants to increase the social value it creates, while an NGO wants to widen its funding base and try new ways of delivering public benefit. What better way of achieving their shared aims than coming together and working in partnership?

It makes sense, and is happening more often with increasingly ambitious projects. So, if partnerships are such a great idea, why do I often hear from one or other side that things aren’t quite working as they had expected, that they’re putting in more than they’re getting out and (whisper it) thinking of seeing other people?

A few recent discussions have had me feeling less like a sustainability consultant and more like a relationship counsellor. So I wondered; is there anything we could learn from that field that could help deliver more successful NGO/corporate partnerships?

From dry academic research to new-age blogs, the quantity of relationship advice is almost overwhelming. However, dig a little and a few key themes quickly emerge. Here’s three of real relevance to corporate-community partnerships:

Set realistic expectations: “Unrealistic expectations rarely get met and then cause you anger, sadness, hurt and other negative emotions”[1]. It’s a similar story with corporate/NGO partnerships and both are guilty. The corporate funder wants to save the world and the NGO lets them think they can do it. Everyone’s happy until it actually comes to delivering on those promises. If both organisations start out with a clear, shared and realistic idea of what can be achieved with the resources available, much heartache can be avoided.

Learn to communicate: It’s a common refrain; “my husband/wife/partner doesn’t understand me”. If anything is symptomatic of many corporate-community partnerships, it’s a variation of that complaint. Companies and charities are often, if not divided by a common language, then stymied by a lack of understanding. Strangely each seems to think it the other’s responsibility to understand the other better: it’s not, it’s the responsibility of both.

Balance the power: “Money is a form of power, so where there is an imbalance there is the possibility … that one partner will exercise that power in their own interest in preference to the other”[2]. Here’s where we get to the nub of the issue with many partnerships where the company provides the resources and the NGO delivers the work. In such set-ups the power lies with the donor and the weight of responsibility to deliver falls squarely on the NGO. A perfect balance can be difficult to achieve but it’s essential that both parties understand their role in supporting each other to achieve their shared aims.

Connecting marriage guidance and corporate community investment might seem a little tongue-in-cheek, but my point is serious. Partnership is a word that is widely used but rarely well applied. Corporate-community activities are often partnerships only in the vaguest sense of the word and there’s a risk that the term will become devalued through ill-use. So let’s make sure that firstly, it’s only used when it should be and secondly, and more importantly, that both companies and their community partners develop relationships that are true partnerships; where joint goals are identified and agreed, where responsibility is shared and where the ultimate aim of developing better, stronger, healthier communities is always front and centre.

Jon Lloyd is an Associate Director at Corporate Citizenship and Head of London Benchmarking Group.