Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2020 - 14

Focus on the Future

Most important, Westh urged alliance managers to apply an
" entrepreneurial mindset " to their jobs, take risks, and make
recommendations directly to senior management.
" We [should] help senior management, coach them, and apply
consulting on what's happening in the marketplace, " he said.
If alliance managers are driving ecosystems, they will have
to apply skills around governance, rules of engagement, and
strategy alignment to make sure every player agrees on what
they are contributing to the group. They may determine that
it is more appropriate to join an ecosystem as a player, not a
leader. Either way, alliance managers will need to help existing partners understand the new ecosystem's messaging, joint
goals, and target markets, both old and new. They will also
need to actively integrate them into ecosystem operations
wherever necessary.

Building Bridges in a Virtual World
In some industries, the alliance management toolkit is being
adopted by the rest of the organization. These emerging ecosystem models had already prompted Equifax to deploy the
principles in the ASAP Handbook of Alliance Management to
its direct sales operations, even before the pandemic.
" The competencies around alliance management are relevant and appropriate for anyone who engages in commercial
business, " said Joy Wilder-Lybeer, United States Information
Solutions (USIS) chief revenue officer and senior vice president of global partnerships at Equifax. " In any commercial
engagement, we must identify points of joint value, negotiate effectively, manage conflict, and execute common work
plans. Whether we are involved in direct selling or more of
a traditional partner model, we must achieve transparent

Strategic Alliance QUARTERLY

| Q4 2020

communication and ongoing governance to ensure that we
optimize joint value and meet our contractual commitments. "
COVID-19 has only heightened the need for these practices.
It turns out that the ability to bridge cultural and operational
differences works in the virtual world as well.
" It's not like every single customer says, 'We have the same
instance of Zoom, and we use it exactly like you do, and we
have the same facilitation tools, and we're comfortable with
your demanding certain delivery timeframes.' Partners often
have different virtual environments and different virtual
expectations and comfort levels. All the more reason we need
to equip the team with ways to handle conflict and ways to
get on the same ladder of inference, " said Wilder-Lybeer.
" Particularly in situations where people have different safety
concerns, protocols for engagement, different comfort levels
with engagement. I have to be savvy about what is important
to you, framing my values in a way that helps you meet your
objectives as well as my objectives. "

Climbing the Trust Ladder to Reach
a High Bar
If you are going to apply one section of the Handbook to your
alliances in a diffuse, virtual office, Julie Shirley, CA-AM,
vice president of alliances at Equifax, might recommend
the section on trust, as the digital workspace has made it a
bit tougher to build, maintain, and rebuild it once it is lost.
Equifax is also applying this element of alliance management
to the rest of its organization.
" [Trust is] going to continue to be so important-the same
important thing but harder to do in the virtual world, " she
said. " We're slowly getting more comfortable with talking
about the concept of trust. When we diagnose conflict, trust,
and the loss of trust, that trust ladder is a factor. "

Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2020