Stalled – Stuck in the Middle

Thirteen point five percent of relationships we have studied recognise the need to improve their collaborative performance however, they are so bogged down in firefighting and operational struggles that they haven’t got time to look at the wider picture. Change for the better does not happen. 

“They never plan ahead; they are always reactive and they promise much at meetings but deliver little in practice.” (Customer)

 “Without a common understanding of how we are doing and what we must achieve, we cannot move forward.“ (Supplier)

Their situation looks like this:

 “It is evident that these relationships are attempting to improve their performance. However, operating problems such as supply chain complexity, inherent difficulties in predicting customer requirements and either cultural or financial obstacles to process/facility improvements are apparent and generally reduce the overall relationship satisfaction levels and returns i.e. 1+1=2.”

 These relationship problems will affect views of risk so investment in infrastructure and people will be hard to justify. Selfish attitudes and behaviours will tend to undermine improvement initiatives. However, because staff have come to terms with the situation, perversely morale continues to hold up and an ‘armed truce’ has resulted. Although the will to co-operate is there the ability to translate this into reliable product and service delivery has yet to develop.

 The introduction of something new or different can potentially break this cycle of bad feelings and low productivity. For example, introduce a new ‘broom’ senior member of staff to spearhead changes, jointly seek a significant new business opportunity, change the way the organisation provides its service or, find a group within the relationship with which to build bridges between the partners. Due to the continued environmental situations faced by the companies, it is likely that any relationship performance improvement will take time and continued, determined effort and political pressure to work. Nevertheless, once these improvements take hold, they may gain a momentum of their own and enter the positive spiral.

 To support these initiatives and to ensure continued upward progress it is necessary to formalise the management of the relationship. We suggest a purpose-designed target operating model such as the one described in practical, step-by-step fashion in our book Implementing and Managing Collaborative Relationships.