Best Practice in Managing High Performance Partnerships

ASAP has formed an alliance with CustomerSat  to provide an easy and cost effective survey tool to assist companies in the assessment of the state of partner health and to provide diagnostic feedback. ASAP and CustomerSAT are pleased to offer this service to help companies improve their partnering capabilities and advance the adoption of best practices in alliance management.

One essential best practice of alliance management is regular assessment of the well being or health of your partnerships.  Studies show that companies that professionalize their alliance management and actively employ best practices realize up to an 80% success rate in their alliance performance; seven times the success rate of companies that rely on ad hoc alliance management practices.[1]

The Partner Health Survey (PHS) measures the well being of a partnership in multiple dimensions based on the balance scorecard approach.   Measuring performance in only one dimension does not give a full perspective of the factors contributing to a partnership’s success or failure. The PHS measures Strategic Fit, Operational Fit, Relationship/Cultural Fit, Strategic Return on Investment, and Priority Alignment.

 The service offers a library of over 100 survey questions from which to choose and includes a limited number of customized questions. Questions have been derived from over 15 years of partner assessment experience of Association’s consultant community.  The service delivers a suite of standard reports analyzing the health of your strategic alliances that will enable you to take action in improving alliance performance.

 Questions a Partner Health Survey Will Answer

• Are our strategic directions, growth objectives, expectations aligned?
• Do we share a common view of the alliance value proposition?
• Are we both committed to a win/win relationship?
• Is trust and integrity strong between our two organizations?
• Does top management from both companies understand and support the alliance?
• Are conflicts resolved quickly, reasonably, and fairly?
• Are metrics clear, realistic and accepted by both companies?
• Do we regularly share information and ideas?
• Are there procedures for addressing breakdowns?
• Does my partner believe the alliance is providing a sound return on investment?

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