There are a number of solutions available to support collaborative efforts, both inside organizations as well as between organizations. Rglobe.com, Lotus Connections, Zoho Project, Huddle Workspaces, are a few examples. Do you use such a solution and what is your experience when it comes to supporting your partnerships?
More and more of our communication nowadays is through internet based methods, be it email, websites, a blog or through social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. The ease of use rules, we make our own choice where and when to read and respond. We have seen new communication channels rise and undoubtedly more will follow.
When I returned a couple of weeks ago from vacation there was the traditional pile of mail on the doormat. Mail from all kind of companies that somehow fail to see the benefit of digital communication. To my regret, after all that pile need to be worked through and I started immediately with a backlog after vacation. Most of the mail could have been delivered in a digital format. Many invoices for instance are still being printed to be delivered. On my side I scan them, pay them and throw them away. What a waist of paper and effort! In the pile of vacation mail was one invitation Read more…
As a former IBM employee I just subscribed myself for the LinkedIn group IBMers. In LinkedIn the standard message showed that my subscription is pending approval. In my email however I received this excellent message from the group owner on LinkedIn. It is an automated message, what makes it stand out from the other messages is at first the fact that a message is being sent while my subscription is in the approval process, most group owners forget to use the power of this option. Secondly the message has excellent content: it tells me exactly what I need to know: a reminder about the purpose of the group and a short description about the process so I know what to expect.
The term strategic alliances covers a wide area of partnerships between organizations, ranging from a joint venture on one end of the spectrum to collaborative supplier relations on the other hand. Next to that alliances may cover areas like product development, go to market (like resellers) and potential other elements. Regardless of it’s form or shape an alliance needs to be managed. However when the spectrum of alliances can be as broad as mentioned the spectrum for the alliance management profession will be equally wide.
Last week I had a great conversation with an alliance professional about this topic, specifically zooming in on the difference between alliance managers managing channel (or reseller) alliance relationships versus alliance managers managing other alliance relationships. Our point of conversation was on the elements where these two types of management differ and hence where different skill sets are required.
I would argue that for an alliance where two companies are creating something new, something innovative, a synergetic alliance, the alliance management skill would require more an entrepreneurial skill set. Maybe even a rare set of skills where an entrepreneurial skill set is to be combined with a diplomatic skill set. On the other hand the alliance manager who is managing channel relationships will be closer to a sales role, requiring a more process oriented sales skill set.
What would your view on this, how would the required skill sets be different, does your organization recognize these different needs?
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse
This nice quote by Henry Ford is one often used by many people to explain that one should not only provide what people ask for but instead think for yourself and offer solutions that fit with their needs. There is more to a desire than the first look would suggest. In his book “Start with Why” Simon Sinek has a good background to this quote, where he explains the following:
Great leaders and great organizations are good at seeing what most of us can’t see. They are good at giving us things we would never think of asking for. When the computer revolution was afoot, computer users couldn’t ask for a graphical user interface. But that’s what Apple gave us. ….. Great leaders are those who trust their gut. They are those who understand the art before the science. They win hearts before minds. They are the ones that start with WHY
How about you, do you distinguish yourself from your competition by thinking about what your customers need and hence providing added value to them?
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