Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2019 - 22

PARTNERING READINESS

on structure and purpose. The elements depicted in Figure 3
constitute a typical leadership system shaped to be collaborative.

An organization's leadership system is
embedded in its processes and culture.
It usually isn't talked about much,
but it shows up in every aspect of an
organization, including structural and
cultural barriers to collaboration and
partnering. These barriers are some of the
key causes of friction and inefficiencies
when partnering, and must be removed.
Additionally, leadership systems operate at many levels,
including how a manager incentivizes her department, a
team leader encourages accountability, or an alliance governance structure aligns its decision-making calendar with
the internal governance calendars of the partners. Alliance
and partner professionals influence and in some instances
control how these elements of a leadership system are
implemented and can do so in ways that advance a collaborative agenda.

We also had the Summit workshop participants design the
characteristics of a collaborative leadership system. To focus
just on the pervasive barriers that create the disconnect
between strategy and execution, participants wanted the
leadership system to:
n	 Have the agility to reallocate resources, using criteria
aligned with strategy and business priorities
n	 Provide for transparency and present a global view
That's exactly what one of the alliance leaders we interviewed
told us was critical to her successful alliance completing a key
milestone much faster than expected. "Once we realized that
a specific workstream was rate-limiting and we were not on
track to achieve it, senior management allowed us to reallocate resources from another workstream (and another function's budget) that wasn't as critical and we produced what was
needed, when it was needed, to meet the key milestone," she
explained. This action sounds simple and logical, but just think
about how challenging that can be in many large organizations
where budget owners guard every penny and making a change
like that would have been a bureaucratic exercise that stalled
the alliance's progress. Having the agility to reallocate resources
also contributes to establishing a culture of shared accountability. The budget owners focused on one overarching goal-
achieving the milestone and moving the alliance forward.
You may be thinking that how the organization allocates
and reallocates resources and considers (or not) the needs

Characteristics of a Collaborative Leadership System

Performance
Management
Includes
External Focus

Silos and
Matrix
Busted

Decision Making
Transparent and
Considers Partners

Resources
Dedicated to
Partnership
Success

Partnering
Skills and Roles
Valued

Holistic
Accountability

Culture of We
Apparent
Throughout

Figure 3: Characteristics of a Collaborative Leadership System

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Strategic Alliance QUARTERLY

| Q4 2019
Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2019
