Partnerships: Time To Walk The Walk
There’s that old saying that it’s easy to have principles until you have to practice them. Well, it’s the same thing with partnerships, especially when it comes to buyers and suppliers.
We like to throw that word around, especially during the early days of a relationship, during a QBR or during renewal times (by both sides). And that’s easy to do. It’s no sweat off anyone’s back to do it then. And we probably believe it, too.
But we only know it’s a partnership when the rubber meets the road. And today is when rubber and road aren’t simply meeting, they’re colliding. And many of us are finding out where the real partnerships are.
I heard a story earlier today about a Supply Chain executive who is in the process of securing masks to help healthcare professionals fight this pandemic. He found a supplier, worked out the details, even agreed to all of the terms (cash upfront, premium for the masks, etc.). At the 11th hour, as the deal was to close, the supplier came back and jacked up the rates, because it knew the executive couldn’t back out.
The flip side is happening as well. I heard other stories of companies that have renewed deals and have been working in good faith for weeks while, on the request of the client, the renewal paperwork was being finalized. Then, in the last week, the customer pulled the plug, even though this was a multi-year relationship, even though they’d all agreed in good faith to carry on.
These aren’t partnerships.
Of course, for every one of these examples, there are others where companies have committed to each other, have accommodated each other and are working through their problems together.
And that’s the entire point. The word partnership only means something when it puts us out to observe it. We have to give materially of ourselves in some way. It isn’t easy. But it matters. This is where the idea of community comes from - at whatever level that makes sense.
We’re all in this together. Let’s remember that. Let’s walk the walk.
