6. Reevaluate and Deploy Short- and Long-Term Goals and Continuously Improve Processes

Develop short- and long-term goals and routinely reevaluate your progress. Are your goals being met, and is this the right partner for you? Do not be afraid to speak up. If things are not working to your expectations, communicate your concerns clearly with your partner and make appropriate changes as soon as possible. Good communication between partners will help to nurture a win-win relationship and lead to service offerings of which you both will be proud.

Continuously improve how you work with your strategic partners through planning sessions after each project is completed successfully. Find new ways to improve services that will successfully meet or exceed client expectations.

Success will be determined by both parties putting in time, energy, and resources. In evaluating short- and long-term goals, a strong commitment to your partner will result in great services and satisfied clients.

Summary

Select strategic partners carefully and decide where they provide the most value and where they will fill voids in your firms current service offerings. Think of partners as specialized business units that provide select services. Involve your management team in developing a plan, and then implement that plan with energy, time, and capital. Look for partners with customers, culture and services that are congruent with your own.

Develop solid contracts with your partners so that there will be minimal opportunities for misunderstandings and common knowledge of the partnerships goals. Develop a business plan with the partner so that both parties understand the revenue milestones and expectations and are vested in executing the plan. Find areas where you and your partner complement each other and create broader service lines to offer to clients. Set performance expectations for your strategic partners and evaluate their performance over time.

Good partnerships will provide a clear and measurable financial return to both parties. Make sure the partnership meets rate and cash flow needs. If the marriage between you and your partner is not working, cut your losses and look for new partners. Trust, complementary services, and team players are the foundation of a successful partnership. Like Microsoft and IBM, a great partnership can build a company overnight. Determining areas for partnerships, selecting partners, and actively managing them is critical for todays professional services firm.

RESOURCES

Strategic-alliances.orgAlliancedworld.com

John R. Harbison and Peter Pekar, Smart Alliances: A Practical Guide to Repeatable

Success (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998). Mitchell Lee Marks and Philip H. Marvis, Joining Forces: Making One Plus One

Equals Three in Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-

Bass, 1999).

Patricia Ward Biederman and Warren G. Bennis, Organizing Genius: The Secrets of

Creative Collaboration (Oxford England: Perseus Press, 1998). James E. Austin and Frances Hesselbein, Collaboration Challenge (San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000). James F. Moore, The Death of Competition: Leadership and Strategy in the Age of

Business Ecosystems (New York: Harperbusiness, 1997). Harvard Business Review on Strategic Alliances (Harvard Business School Press,

2002).

Larraine D. Segil, Intelligent Business Alliances: How to Profit Using Todays Most Important Strategic Tool (New York: Times Books, 1996).

Stephen M. Dent, Partnering Intelligence: Creating Value for Your Business by Building Strong Alliances (Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, 1999).

Juli Betwee, William Berquist, and David Meuel, Building Strategic Relationships: How to Extend Your Organizations Reach Through Partnerships, Alliances, and Joint Ventures (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1995).

John K. Conlon and Melissa Giovagnoli, The Power of Two: How Companies of All Sizes Can Build Alliance Networks That Generate Business Opportunities (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998).

Smart Alliance Partners website, a top destination for information on strategic alliances found at http: www.smartalliancepartners.com.

The Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals-a membership organization dedicated to the topic of strategic alliances-online at http: www .strategic-alliances.org.

NOTES

1. Widely attributed to Thomas A. Edison from a variety of sources including www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ quotes/t/thomasaed131432.html.

2. Dr. Judith Kautz, Small Business Notes at http: www.smallbusinessnotes.com /operating/leadership/strategicalliances.html.

3. Todd Jatras, Forbes Magazine, Can India Retain Its Reign as Outsourcing King? (February 28, 2001).