Partner Up for Real Success

I know it’s easy to get swept away by the allure of shiny marketing messages, especially when you’re desperate for results or eager to try something new. As a leader, you often feel like all eyes are on you to ‘perform.’ Your ego might even whisper that you need to be the star of the show.

But here’s the reality check:

You’re not a circus monkey, and your organisation doesn’t need a circus act – it needs steady, thoughtful, and intentional leadership.

Also, it’s not about you or your ego. True progress and success come when you bring others along on the journey.

In today’s digital economy, technology is leveling the playing field for businesses of all sizes. To future-proof our organisations during this wave of transformation and innovation, we have no choice but to embrace partnerships.

Disruption, though often uncomfortable, brings fresh experiences and opportunities. Building Business Partnership Ecosystems allows organisations to maintain a competitive edge and adapt to the digital influences reshaping the traditional business landscape.

Tech is important, yes, but a solid Business Partnership Ecosystem is like building your house on a firm, reliable foundation. This foundation is crafted through quality human leadership and relationships rooted in trust, honesty, and effective communication.

As a leader, it’s your duty to ensure that whatever you introduce into your ecosystem – be it people or technology – strengthens rather than weakens it. Don’t construct your foundation with unproven, unreliable products or flash-in-the-pan trends. Instead, build with the solid bricks of genuine partnerships and steady leadership.

A great example is energy drink company Red Bull partnering with action camera manufacturer GoPro in 2016.

The partnership focused on creating and sharing extreme sports content. Red Bull benefited from high-quality footage for its adrenaline-packed events, while GoPro’s cameras were prominently featured, showcasing their capabilities.

This partnership strengthened the brand identities of both companies, reinforcing their association with adventure and extreme sports. It also enabled each partner to leverage new markets, new audiences and new opportunities without having to reinvent the wheel themselves.

To help you build your own Business Relationship Ecosystem, keep these principles in mind:

Out With The Old, In With The Bold!

Imagine you’re not just building a house, but an innovative, self-sustaining village! You’ll need to work hard on shifting your and the mindsets of your whole organisation at every level, moving from a competitive to collaborative mindset. This shift is the key to constructing a robust foundation.

Stand Tall & Define Your Why

Be careful not to compromise the values you’ve worked so hard to establish. They serve as the compass that guide all relationships and partnerships you choose to foster.

When everyone understands and aligns with your core principles, it creates a cohesive direction and purpose. This clarity not only guides internal decisions and actions but will also make your organisation super attractive to the right external partners.

Who Moved Your Comfort Zone?

Your organisation is made up of human beings who would prefer a root canal over going through big changes. This is the time to ramp up two-way communication! Encourage the hard conversations and create a safe environment for them and constantly remind your team of the shared vision for the future. Comfort zones are nice, but nothing ever grows there.

Curate Your Crew

Choosing the wrong partners is like using cheap building materials in your construction – it’ll collapse the value-driven organisation that you, your leadership team, and your employees built and are proud to be part of. The partnership between Red Bull and Go Pro makes sense because their audiences have shared interests & motivators. Like attracts like and welcoming more followers into the respective circles was almost seamless.

Keep It Real

According to studies by Dancing with Elephants Consulting, 65% of strategic partnerships fail because of unclear expectations, a lack of communications and no agreed objectives set at the start.

Ensuring all partners clearly understand and appreciate each other’s unique strengths and competitive advantage, warts and all

These new partnerships will propel your organisation into new markets, and help you leapfrog the old barriers to your expansion, so ensure you start from the strongest footing possible.

Team Up for Triumph

By discussing each partner’s needs and expectations openly, you can amplify the outcomes and also pre-empt or even better, avoid negative experiences and outcomes altogether.

As well as giving GoPro access to over 1800 Red Bull events in more than 100 countries, the partnership also saw Red Bull take an equity stake in the action camera brand’s business.

Similarly, GoPro became Red Bull’s exclusive provider of point-of-view imaging technology for capturing immersive moments from the energy drink’s events.

To get you on the right track, some questions to keep in mind are:

What specific opportunities do we want to maximize?

How do we build on what makes each other unique while also taking advantage of the opportunities

What particular outcomes do we want to avoid?

Business is no longer a zero-sum game. Your focus should be on growing the overall pie, not just your slice.

Building a solid foundation with reliable, complimentary partners means your organisation can thrive in the dynamic landscape of the relationship economy.

I’d love to know what partners you’d like to have in your ecosystem. Be clear on the value your organisation brings and be audacious! What do you have to lose?