It takes two to tango! How to fix broken

business relationship

Presented by Svetlana Sidenko President of IT Chapter

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www.itchapter.com linkedin.com/company/it-chapter facebook.com/itchapter twitter.com/@ITchapter

MsC (Admin) PMP® , ITIL® Expert, CGEIT® ITSM®, ISO 20000 Management Consultant TIPA® Lead Assessor, COBIT® 5, ISO 27002 PRINCE2® Practitioner, Certified Process Design Engineer(CPDE) ®, Change Management Registered Practitioner

To start with: short survey about YOUR organization…

1. Over past 5 years, did you get involved in business partnerships?

A. Yes

B. No

2. What did you expect from the partnership?

A. Grow/expand my Business.

B.  Improve company reputation

C. Grow network so my business can get more references

D.  All of the above

3. Were your partnerships always successful?

A. Yes

B. No

C. I had both successful and unsuccessful partnerships

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To start with: short survey about YOUR organization…(continued)

4.  If your partnership was NOT successful, did your company experienced….

A.  The loss of investment

B.  Wasted energy

C.  Loss of market share to competitors

D.  Lost hopes

E.  All of the above

5.  If your partnership was successful, did your company achieve…

A.  New client base

B.  Revenue growth

C.  Improved Reputation

D.  New skills and “know how”

E.  All of the above 3  

Partnership types

•  Joint Venture by two or more parties to form a single entity to undertake a certain project (can be formal or informal)

•  Outsourcing (local or global) •  Affiliate marketing (tracked referrals i.e.

Amazon.com) •  Licensing •  Franchising •  Distribution •  “Coopetition” •  Friendships

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Partnerships are different Nature:

•  Temporary •  Permanent

Duration: •  Long term •  Short term •  One time event •  Trial

Scope: •  Vertical (between a supplier & a customer, competitors, two or

more businesses) •  Horizontal (between departments)

Geography: •  Local •  Global

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Partnerships common elements

•  Goals —  who  wants  what  •  Responsibilities  —  who  does  what  •  Rules —  how  it’s  done  (based  on  business  and  personal  culture  and    a:tudes)  

•  Expectations.  One  primary  that  they  all  share  is  reciprocity.  

 The  goal  of  each  alliance  is  to  add value and  worth  to  each  person  or  enCty  involved.    

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What is Value?

VALUE

Expected Business Outcomes

Perception Preference 7  

Successful partnerships result in…

•  Increased production •  Advantages of scale, scope & speed •  Enhanced product development •  Skills building and shared expertise

•  Increased market penetration •  Keep competitors out •  Increased sales •  New business opportunities through new

products & services; Increase exports •  Financial benefits

•  New businesses creation •  Reduced costs

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Unsuccessful partnerships result in…

•  Loss of precious focus and energy of senior management

•  Little or no revenue •  Drained capital and productivity •  Damaging morale •  Employee attrition •  Disappointment •  Toxic working environment •  Loss of marker share and even a business

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Signs of broken business relationship

•  Interpersonal problems

•  “Us” and “them” mentality

•  “Blame game”, finger pointing, defensiveness

•  Non-constructive criticism from both sides

•  Failure of Partner to communicate critical information

•  Parties start to keep track of reciprocation

•  Slow response to enquiries

•  “Passive aggressive” behavior

•  People bring in third parties to confirm their suspicions about the other person

Results : failure to reach expected business outcomes 10  

Business Relationship Management Institute

BRMI Incorporated in March 2013 with a mission to:

“Define, inspire, value, and promote the key traits of effective Business Relationship Management”

This mission is fulfilled through:

  A learning community of BRM professionals

  A Wiki collaboration platform

  BRM Interactive Body of Knowledge™

  Professional BRM training, development and certification

  BRM research and publications

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BRM as a Role, a Discipline and Organizational Capability

An Organizational Capability is everything it takes, both visible and behind the scenes, that makes producing a good or providing a service possible, meaning having people with the right competencies to play the roles required by defined processes, and armed with useful techniques and tools, all backed by management systems that create incentives for performance and improvement.

• As a role, the Business Relationship Manager is a connector and translator between partners

•  As a discipline, Business Relationship Management embodies a set of competencies (knowledge, skills, behaviours) that foster productive, value-producing relationships between business partners

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BRM competencies DNA™

•  Develop

•  Nurture

•  Advance

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It takes two to tango!

"It takes two to do the trust tango-the one who risks (the trustor) and the one who is trustworthy (the trustee); each must play their role”

Charles H. Green, The Trusted Advisor

You can sail on a ship by yourself, Take a nap or a nip by yourself. You can get into debt on your own, There are a lot of things that you can do alone! But ...It takes two to tango! Al Hoffman and Dick Manning, 1952

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Business Demand Maturity and Provider Supply Maturity

LEVEL  1  focus  •  Cost  savings  •  Speed  •  OperaConal  

needs  

LEVEL  1  focus:  •  Basic  services  or  products  •  Support  

LEVEL  2  focus  •  Process  orientaCon  •  Enable  business  partnerships  •  ReorganizaCons,  expansions,  

transformaCons  

Partner on “Demand” side is learning to exploit the “Provider’s” offerings and harvest value, and the “Provider” organization learning to become efficient and effective in delivering goods and services and, especially as maturity increases, shaping Partner demand for value. *Adapted from BRMBOK  

LEVEL  2  focus  •  Establish  common  

infrastructure  •  Build  credibility  •  Improve      producCon  and  delivery  

LEVEL  3  focus  •  Business  growth  and  

innovaCon  •  Business  integraCon  

LEVEL  3  focus:  •  ConCnuous  

strategy  and  planning  

•  Expand  and  extend  

“TacCcal”  BR

M  

“Strategic”  BR

M  

Focus  is  S

upply  Managem

ent  

Focus  is  D

emand  Managem

ent  

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Climbing maturity levels

Credibility = Expertise + Trust

Building TRUST takes time The elements of trust:

  Similarity   Prolonged positive interactions   Appropriate behaviour (in business partner’s eyes)   Consistent behaviour – do what you say you will do!

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Trust can be earned

•  Not by expertise alone…

  We view as experts those we trust

  But we don’t necessarily trust experts!

•  …But by relationship management

  Active listening

  Creating positive interactions with business partners

  Helping business partners become self-sufficient

  Teaching and coaching

  Responding well in difficult business partner encounters

  Avoiding defensiveness

  By building a multiyear capability roadmap and delivering or showing results against that roadmap

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The Strategic Partnership role

Partnership gets a lot of lip-service:

  We want to be loved for what we’re doing now

  We want them to change, not us

  We want them to give it to us; we don’t want to earn it

Partners add value by:

  Seeing opportunities that business partners don’t see or want to see

  Selling the business partner on the opportunities

  Knowing when to cajole

  Knowing when to confront

  Knowing when to give in

In short, by political behaviour

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Broken relationship can be repaired

In case if the problem is in lack of business partner trust due to prior bad experience…

But they may not tell you that – it’s hard to diagnose….

  Can’t be resolved by improving technical performance

You must build back the relationship. Start with ACTIVE LISTENING

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Active listening steps and tips

•  Face the speaker and maintain eye contact. –  Tip: no computer screen in between

•  Be present, pay attention, do not get distracted –  Tip: hide away your phone

•  Keep an open mind, listen without judging or criticizing –  Tip: do not jump into conclusions

•  Try to picture what the person is saying –  Tip: think only about what the other person is saying

•  Try to feel what the speaker is feeling –  Tip: read the non-verbal sings of body language

•  Paraphrase and give feedback often –  Tip: acknowledge feelings such as “You must have felt terribly”

or event just by “uh huh.” 20

Active listening steps and tips (cont’d)

•  Do NOT offer solution. Do NOT interrupt. Interrupting sends a variety of messages. It says: “I’m more important than you are.” “I know better than you.” “What I am saying is more accurate or relevant.” “I don’t really care what you say.” “I am in a contest and I’m going to win.” – Tip: wait for speaker to pause to ask your

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Good news and bad news

•  The good news is that even some of the most strained relationships can be repaired. a negative relationship turned positive can be a very strong one. –  “Going through difficult experiences can be the

makings of the strongest, most resilient relationships” Susan David, “Emotional Agility.”

•  The bad news is that fixing a relationship takes serious effort. –  “Most people just lower their expectations because it’s

easier than dealing with the real issues at hand,” Brian Uzzi, “Make Your Enemies Your Allies.”

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Science •  Recognize what is happening The longer you ignore relationship issues, the worse they tend

to get and the harder they are to resolve

•  Diagnose your relationships –  Technique: “Diagnosing Relationship Quality”. Understanding your partners expectation and

assessing •  Build a plan

–  Technique: “Relationship improvement plan” Plan on what will be different if and when this relationship improves and what are you willing to compromise to create that positive outcome.

•  Visualize the alternative. What do you want this relationship to be like? Remember, this is a professional partnership, not a friendship.

–  Technique: “Relationship Strategy on a page” •  Your vision and goals •  Responsibilities you and your partners are willing to take on •  Rules you are willing to abide by •  Measurements: how you will know that your relationship are successful •  Operating principles: how you will operate

•  Measure –  Success of your Business Relationship is measured by the degree of reaching your

expected business outcomes 23

Art •  Start small, remember – fixing relationship will take time! •  Listen, listen, listen (ACTIVE listening) •  Have prolonged positive interactions •  See your business partners often •  Answer your partners same day they asked, even if it is just an l

acknowledgement •  Be consistent! •  Apply

–  Art of influence –  Art of rhetoric –  Art of powerful questions –  Art of body language

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In conclusion…some important points

  Business Relationship Management is a critical organizational capability

  Demand/Supply maturity is the key factor in determining strategic or tactical nature of your Business Relationship

  Business Relationship Management is a science and is an art

  You can apply proven techniques to build new or to fix broken Business Relationship

  Become a Business Relationship Management artist!

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To learn more about Business Relationship Management

BRMI Interactive Body of Knowledge at

http://brminstitute.org/

  Concepts

  Processes

  Templates, Forms, Diagrams

  Community Support

BRMP® Foundation Certification course - 3 days + exam at

www.itchapter.com/training

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–Thomas J. Watson, Founder, IBM Corp!

“The  toughest  thing  about  the  power  of  trust  is  that  it's  very  difficult  to  build  and  very  easy  to  destroy.  ”  

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