The case that follows is about a time when we, at Miller Consultants, suffered the same challenges, and what we learned as a result.  We hope that our lessons learned will help you as you engage in new relationships with other businesses or groups.

Case:

In 2009 Networks Company decided it would focus on growing its business in a key emerging market. Both Networks Company and Miller Consultants had an interest in this market and specialized expertise that could yield great results.  This seemed a great opportunity to proactively partner.  We had worked with Networks Company for a few years providing their clients with leadership development and change management services to support their technical services. Our work together was successful, and we developed positive individual relationships with their staff.  At the business level, however, challenges based on differences in values ensued.   Time and time again, we disagreed about the best way to engage with our clients.    After several projects together, Miller Consultants advocated for greater collaboration and earlier involvement in projects.  For various reasons, we were not able to accomplish this proactive partnership with Networks Company.  Instead, we allowed the pace and amount of work to take precedent and we continued to try to address issues reactively.  We never really sat down to 1) get clear on our own requirements, or 2) discuss and negotiate our mutual needs and interests with Networks Company.

Through 2008, Miller Consultants had mostly joined Networks Company in its primary market.  They got the leads and pursued the technical work with clients.  They brought us in when the client requested change management or other organizational development services.  Because Networks Company “owned” the client, we decided, we would follow their protocols.   Per their own preferred consulting style, Networks Company regarded Miller Consultants more as functional experts rather than collaborative partners.

In 2009, we made a concerted effort to bring Networks Company into our markets with the intent that we would be equal and collaborative partners delivering a high-value, combined service to clients.  We assumed that they would follow our protocols and trust our knowledge of how to engage our clients, as we had done with them.  At the early stages, Miller Consultants initiated conversations to clarify roles and approaches to the work.   While both companies acknowledged our separate areas of expertise, we did not reach agreement about how we would work together to leverage these separate skills.  Instead, we got clear on the outcome (to win work focused in this new market) and the immediate next steps which were focused on how to win the work with the clients.  Perhaps most detrimental of all, we did not fully acknowledge as a team our lessons learned from our past working relationship – what supported us to do good work individually and together, and what got in the way of doing good work

Read full article