Article 60–Business relationships - SCCI………........Page 3 of 4

Underpinning all elements of the spiral of success is communication – its quality, its timeliness and above all its openness. The partners recognise the cost of communication but realise that it’s an essential investment that invariably characterises a successful alliance.

The experience of Gibbs and Humphries is that many partnerships show characteristics of the spiral of failure, and sometimes accept it as a natural condition, arguing that the projected success spiral gains from partnerships are utopian and unachievable. In contrast their work has brought them into contact with others who seem to have the knack of working successfully in pairs, chains and consortia where efficiency, harmony and adaptability bring them tangible benefits. In reality most partnerships perform within a spectrum between these two extremes.

The extensive research undertaken by Gibbs and Humphries involving hundreds of substantial relationships in the private and public sectors across a wide range of industries, functions and cultures, has enabled them to identify the drivers, operational elements and behaviours that influence partnership outcomes. From an extremely large set of data, three “super factors” emerged as the salient drivers of partnership success.

Collaborative Innovation: The conditions that describe the effectiveness of the relationship and enable the partnership to be innovative and to respond to opportunities. In essence the “spark” in the relationship. Comprised of: Adaption, Innovation, Communication and Cooperation.

Partnership Quality: The overriding quality of the relationship exchange including synchronising joint objectives and the willingness to invest in joint assets such as people, know-how, training, IT and infrastructure which directly influence the quality and longevity of the relationship. Comprised of: Commitment and Trust

Value Creation: The efficiency of the partnership to create and capture the potential value that the partnership offers. Often involves a focus on the end customer and the sharing of the benefits of cost reductions and new business opportunities. Comprised of: Conflict Management, Synergy, Value Creation and Process Efficiency

Behind each of these “Super Factors” are a raft of questions that probe matters such as the partners willingness to change and innovate, whether they have joint goals and participate in joint planning, the reliability of the other party, the usefulness of communications, dispute resolution procedures, attitudes to each other and partnering and operations management.

When viewing relationships using these “super factors” matched to perceptions of success or failure, some clear patterns emerged. The vast majority of partnerships fell into one of eight partnership types. Most importantly, each type had a clear, individual character that led to an appreciation of the performance and management challenges that faced the partners. Each of the G & H Partnering Types takes on a personality and the chosen name reflects their main tendencies.

• Evangelists – appear as a marriage made in heaven and are usually good collaborators but may be prone to rest on their laurels.
• Stable Pragmatists – tend to be in a tough business but recognise that they are in the same boat and soldier-on doggedly, sometimes for many years.
• Rebellious Teenagers – almost your worst nightmare. A great partnership but challenging, annoying and very heated discussions.
• Evolving Pessimists – continually focus on what is not working rather than what is working well. They have good intentions but effective service-delivery is some way away.
• Captive Sharks – partnership hostages who work together because they have to. Usually proactively aggressive.
• Cherry Pickers – are just in it for the money & the short term, despite appearing at times to be committed.

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