Busting the Myths of Collaboration
What do people really think collaboration is? Why is it their favourite word? Generally, people think it is a ‘good thing’. The following is from a Q&A session during a workshop:
Why do you think that collaboration is a good thing?
It gives me a warm feeling that we can work with other people in a friendly way and in any case, the business schools say it’s the right thing to do.
How often do you believe that you work together collaboratively?
All the time of course.
How long does it take you to choose a partner?
The bosses met at a conference and decided there and then that it would be a good idea to team up.
What were they were after: increased market share, profitability, efficient operations, more resilience?
They didn’t make it clear but they really thought it would be a good if we worked together and told us to get on with it.
Who runs the partnership?
The bosses play golf once a year, sales try to keep the customer happy in order to land the follow-on deal, commercial manage the contract and sort out the problems left by sales and, our administration, logistics and ops people try to make things work.
How are your people getting on; have they noticed any difference since you started working in the alliance?
We’ve got a good team. Of course, there are a few more challenges but it seems to be ‘business as usual’, nothing much has changed.
Do you jointly manage with single business and operations plans and an alliance budget?
Well, we each do our own bits and hope it all fits together.
What kind of contract do you have?
Our standard one does very nicely.
The usual terms and conditions?
Certainly. What else should we have?
Is Customer/Supplier Management the order of the day?
Yes, we are very proud of our new system; we’ve renamed our commercial people as Vendor Managers and sent them on courses.
How do you work with your supplier partners?
We just send in the orders and expect them to get on with it as per the schedule of work.
What about your customer partners?
If they didn’t have a need we wouldn’t be here. They tell us what they want and we do it.
Do you trust your alliance partner to deal directly with your customers?
Oh, I don’t think we’d ever go that far!
Does your alliance come up with new ideas and opportunities?
I’m not sure what you’re on about. When we come up with something new we look for somebody to help us out.
Does ‘collaboration’ always give you the results you are looking for?
Well………….. we’re not sure. Between us it’s often difficult to work out who’s getting what out of the arrangement. Anyway, if it all goes wrong it’s usually their fault.
Most people know why they need a partner but once they get past that it all becomes very murky - what collaboration is, how to do it and, why we should do it.
This is the first of 8 posts. Our aim is to challenge the focus on how you currently manage your alliances and if needed, encourage you to find a better way.