I gleaned quite a few fabulous ideas at our recent panel forum in San Diego. Our topic centered on “Joint Ventures: How to Collaborate vs. Compete in Business” and we had a phenomenal panel of women leaders. Here are some of the best ideas I took away…….
Create Partnerships that are Centered on Win-Win: While this sounds so simple, our panelists shared that if you start from this point, everything becomes so much easier when you create the “I Will & You Will” expectations.
Know What You Want from the Relationship: Another no-brainer, however, Coreen Petti from the University of San Diego shared how specific they were in the “ask” when developing strategic partnerships and vendor relationships so as to avoid any misunderstandings throughout the entire relationship. According to Petti, “we make sure to itemize and list the specific items to ensure we are all on the same page. In addition, we make sure to have measurable, objective pieces so there is no ambiguity.”
Speak Up When Partners and Collaborators Get Off Track: Of all the great tips, this one was my favorite. Better to pipe up when things start to go off track than wait too long to bring up issues. Karen Overklift from the San Diego Workforce Partnership and Coreen Petti both agreed and utilize follow-up meetings and milestone reviews to bring up how things are going among strategic partners. According to Overklift, “We set follow-up milestone meetings so we can check and review how the relationship is going. This has been hugely successful in our partner collaborations.”
Our next panel forum is scheduled for October 29, 2014 and will focus on Transitions: Professional Women Who Reinvent Themselves.” I hope you’ll join us at our next panel forum in San Diego!
About Your Columnist
As the CEO and Co-Founder of Connected Women of Influence, Michelle Bergquist is a passionate advocate for women in business. At Connected Women of Influence, we believe that more women need to lead in business and everything we do is center-focused on designing platforms, programs, and collaborative opportunities for b2b women to prosper, succeed and lead the way in business today!
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