The Powerhouse Partner Model, as shown in Figure 1, provides an end-to-end methodology comprising three key steps for turning a business into a Powerhouse Partner. All three are necessary for achieving the full potential and power of a partnering culture, the foundation of a partnering organization. Each step involves specific objectives described in fuller detail in this and later chapters.
Figure 1: Powerhouse Partner Model
The first step in building a partnering culture needs to be taken by an organization's executive leaders. Leaders must move beyond intellectually understanding partnering behaviors into living them on a daily basis. Partnering behaviors are a set of actions that build trust and inspire a sense of vision and confidence in others. These behaviors are what we have described as the Six Partnering Attributes:
Self-Disclosure and Feedback
Win-Win Orientation
Ability to Trust
Future Orientation
Comfort with Change
Comfort with Interdependence
When used consistently within the organization, these sets of partnering behaviors create the atmosphere that allows a partnering culture to thrive.
The executive team must purposefully decide they are going to behave in an open and trusting manner and commit to using the interpersonal behaviors described in the Six Partnering Attributes. Leaders must next hold each other accountable to practice the behaviors on which they have agreed. In addition to helping leaders set good examples, the Six Partnering Attributes provide a language that enables team members to communicate better with each other about which behaviors are productive and which are counterproductive. Through ongoing dialogue, language is bonded to action, building trust, sending positive charges through the atmosphere, and energizing the culture. Consequently, when people in a partnering culture talk about working collaboratively and building trust, members know what actions they must take to meet others' expectations. Over time, these partnering practices become behavioral norms embedded within the organization culture itself. They become "how things are done around here." They become the culture.
The second step in creating a partnering culture is to be sure the organization's infrastructure supports collaboration. When a compensation structure, for example, rewards counterproductive behaviors, people will display those counterproductive behaviors. People will do what they are paid to do, not what leaders preach they are expected to do. If you want collaborative behavior, you must balance the reward for both collaborative behavior and individual contribution. If you value trust, you must measure trust and reward it. It's not difficult, but few organizations have such behavioral measurements in place.
Once leaders have attained personal mastery using the Six Partnering Attributes, and once organization structures are in place to support the use of these attributes, employees must be trained on using them to accomplish work tasks. This continuous strengthening of partnering behaviors creates a self-reinforcing network and embeds the partnering language and the behaviors deeper and deeper within the organization. Ultimately, language turns into action, as partnering norms evolve into "how things are done around here."