"Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound."

Is this the Relationship Manager you know? Are your relationships with your partners valuable enough to put a superman in charge? In many relationships when times get tough the RM s are the first to go! Why is this? What are your RMs doing? Are they just customer schmoozers with no management responsibilities?

 What should the RMs really do? From the very beginning, right the way through to the end of the relationship, they will know everything that is going on and they will manage it! Where there is strong relationship management there is less friction, fire-fighting, scattering of resources and wasted money. Without strong RMs alliance performance will never hit the target.

 “The project managers do not appear to have the freedom or responsibility to make all of the decisions. This has had an impact on the overall performance of the team especially in the early stages of the project.” Director, Civil Engineering Design

 They have three roles:

 Strategic – They hold fast to the strategic intentions of the alliance organisations. They are key to developing the relationship and its policies, setting up the contract, keeping these up to date and identifying new opportunities that can be exploited. They will also advise when the relationship is no longer needed.

 Operations – They will coordinate the In-house activities across all departments that contribute to the collaboration. This will include ensuring that communication channels are flowing freely.

Partner coordination – They will work closely with partner RMs, meeting regularly to discuss performance, continuous improvement, risks, issues, forecasts, costs, timescales, staffing and possible new opportunities. Key staff from across the alliance organisations will also be invited to actively contribute to a well-oiled machine.

It’s a ‘no-brainer’, the RM must be a senior, experienced leader with excellent communication skills and a broad view of the business and the wider industry. They should be allowed time to accumulate experience and knowledge in this highly complex role. The company that gains a reputation for successful relationship management will attract quality partners and staff. Success builds on success.

 “At their first meeting two years into the multi-million £ partnership, the customer’s engineering director realised that he must be their RM. The supplier’s CRM team was on the point of being disbanded but realised that they were needed more than ever. On the spot they appointed one of their team to be their RM.” Senior Consultant, SCCI Ltd

 Who manages your collaborative relationships?