Captains of Change - Part II: Set the Cadence

One of the responsibilities of Alliance Managers in our roles as Captains of Change is to "Set the Cadence". What does this mean?

Setting the cadence is setting the pace of change. It requires having an in depth understanding of both the requirements of the collaboration as well as your company's culture so that you understand what kind of pace is possible. It's understanding what needs to happen and when it needs to happen in order to affect change. It's prodding and encouraging stakeholders to create a sense of urgency when it's necessary and knowing when to take a moment to measure progress.

Up next - Measuring Progress..

Captains of Change - Part I

One of the things I love most about alliance management is that at it's heart, it involves managing and driving change. Think about it, two companies are getting together to create something that they couldn't do on their own. And often getting to that compelling mutual value proposition requires persuading people to change from the status quo.

So, really, alliance managers are "captains of change".

So here's part one on a series on change - the role of the captain. What do alliance manager's need to do to be captains of change?

1. Set the cadence
2. Measure progress
3. Cheerlead successes
4. Inspect what you expect.
5. Navigate around turbulence
6. Make course corrections
7. Ensure safe arrival

More on this on the next post!

Emergency "off switch"

I went on a 12-mile hike on Saturday. It was a beautiful spring day and the scenery was lovely. Our guide was an experienced hiker who was a volunteer who maintains local trails and leads hikes. He had a lot of passion about the outdoors and hiking in particular. His passion was infectious - he motivated me to plan some additional hiking trips for the spring and summer.

What occurred to me is that passionate people make the world go round. Think about it - most of the things we enjoy or that make our lives easier, were created, developed and supported by people with  passion.

As I've mentioned on previous blog posts, the best alliance managers (or doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, housekeepers, etc.) have passion about their jobs. Their switch is in the "on" position.

Beware of those that try to dampen your enthusiasm or extinguish your passion. These people are toxic and should be avoided at all costs. Don't let them into your head and most of all don't let them into your heart. Use your emergency "off switch" to turn these people "off". Protect your passion. Despite the sideline jeering of the lazy cynics, passion is what makes the world go round!

The No Complacency Zone

In the early 90's, I worked for a Branch Manager who was an exceptional leader. His branch was consistently the top ranked sales branch in the region (of 25 branches) and in the years I was there, the branch was the #1 branch office in the country (out of 250 branches).

He was a master both at understanding people and how to best motivate and reward them and in building a high performance culture.

Some of the things he did were completely counter intuitive. For example, during good times - when we were blowing away our numbers - he would be absolutely brutal in our management staff meetings. Maniacally drilling down on the numbers, pipeline, etc. My fellow managers and I would look at each other like we were in the wrong meeting! Conversely, when we were having a tough quarter or two, he would make passing reference to the numbers, but there was no drilling.

I finally came to realize that Harry was building a high performance culture. He did not want anyone in his organization, particularly his management team, to be complacent. He was establishing a "No Complacency" Zone.

A website for safety officers defines complacency as "self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies".  Harry knew that complacency is death. It is the beginning of the end. Excellence, innovation and risk taking can not thrive in an environment where complacency lives.

Harry didn't have to apply the hammer during tough times, because he never let us get complacent during the good times.

As you manage your alliance relationships, make sure you establish a "no complacency zone"!

The "hole in the donut"

Do you know someone who revels in pointing out obvious problems with nary a thought of possible solutions?

I worked for a manager back in the early 90's that used to call these people folks who "point at the hole in the donut". He told us not to be caught doing this ......You know this person - Captain Obvious - the one who shows up at the meeting pointing out all the reasons your idea, your partnership, will fail.

As Alliance Managers, we don't have the luxury of simply pointing at the hole in the donut. If there's a hole in the donut, our job is to figure out how to address it, or identify risk factors to help management make go/no go decisions. Our job is to find the path to success...analyze ...problem solve and decide. 

Pointing at the hole in the donut is for the weak, passive and afraid. That's not us!

Out of Your Head - Into Your Heart

I attended a networking luncheon today where the guest speaker was a life coach and personal friend of mine. Her topic was about getting "unstuck" and she said something that  really resonated with me - to get "unstuck" you have to "get out of your head and into your heart".

What does "getting into your heart" have to do with alliance management?

Being good at managing alliances requires passion. I'd argue that being good at anything requires passion. Passion is what keeps you going when the going gets tough and things seem hopeless. You have to have something in you that motivates you, that makes you excited about attacking the day to day challenges.

Finally, as I've stated in other blog posts, fundamentally, alliance managers are leaders. I recently read "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" by Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM. It chronicles his turnaround of IBM and reads like a manifesto on leadership. In his book, Gertstner states -

Passion is the single most important element of personal leadership. I believe managers at all levels of a company should strive to develop the emotional side of their leadership skills.

When you demonstrate to your internal and external stakeholders the passion you have about the alliance and its possibilities, you pull a powerful lever of influence. Alliance management is all about influencing without authority. Passion is one of the best tools at your disposal.

Note that I'm not talking about manufactured passion. I'm talking about genuine, in your bones, "would you shut up about this already" passion!

Passion is infectious, and it's critical if you want to lead.

Faster Horses

I was in a brainstorming session with colleagues recently to come up with messaging to the field on developing a playbook for working with a partner/competitor. The facilitator led with the below quote from Henry Ford:

"If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'".

The point was that to harness the value of co-opetition we have to think differently.

It occurs to me that as alliance managers, we're charged with collaborating with our partners in ways that drive innovation and create value for both companies. Doing this requires creative thinking, busting up the status quo and thinking outside the box.

Getting beyond "faster horses" thinking isn't easy, but that's one of the advantages collaboration with a partner can bring to the table. A fresh perspective and new thinking. And that's what makes our roles as alliance managers so valuable!