Good Partnerships are like Good Gardens

If you have ever grown anything you know it takes work. You know it takes planning, you know it takes care & feeding too, and you know it takes a bit of a leap of faith that you did everything right.

Most of all …  You also know that it takes time.

• Time is the one thing that both gardens and partnerships require in order to grow into their true potential.
• Time is the one thing that smart farmers and organizations allocate up front.
• Time is that elusive factor that too many ignore or otherwise try to compress in order to increase the yield.

Sometimes it works and all the elements come together to make magic happen. Sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t the wise gardener and organization take the time to try and understand what went wrong and plan for the next season.

The less wise gardeners and organizations plow the field under and hide from the realities and challenges facing good gardens and partnerships.

The Tragedy of Partnerships

Too many partnership efforts are abandoned early. They are not given enough time to take root let alone to mature and bear fruit.

This is a tragedy and one that plagues too many organizations.

There are ways to head some of this off. To nip it in the bud, so to speak. If you are developing a partnering plan or working with partners today make sure you:

• Clearly communicate the commitments that have been made.
• Share the goals, the wins and the losses too.
• Make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what to expect and when.

Good Partnerships are like Good Gardens

Both require pre-planning & work to build, grow, maintain, and extend

Building Gardens and Partnerships Takes Effort

If you decide to build a partnership or a garden you need to be prepared to invest the time and effort to create a predictable and repeatable platform for success. Whether that means tilling the soil or communicating your plans with partners. When done right partners become integral to your business and Partners become your Scaling Factor. Partners will have a vested interest in your success and a symbiotic relationship will be established.

Remember … Good Partnerships are like Good Gardens

Plan wisely. Allocate the Time to build, grow, maintain and extend them. When done right partnerships and gardens bear fruit over and over and year after year.

What do you think?

• Have you ever seen a partnership grow spontaneously?
• What are the most critical elements to growing a partnership?
• Where do you wish you would have invested more?

Drop me a line in the comments here or at any of my social contact points below. I want to hear your thoughts.

Image Credit: John Brosz

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+