{"id":308,"date":"2008-02-25T11:36:59","date_gmt":"2008-02-25T10:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progmanager.wordpress.com\/?p=308"},"modified":"2008-02-25T11:36:59","modified_gmt":"2008-02-25T10:36:59","slug":"problems-with-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2008\/02\/25\/problems-with-partnerships\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems With Partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fellow Leeds blogger Todd Hannula has shared some of his concerns about ‘partnership’ over at his Social Catalyst<\/a> blog which prompted me to comment.\u00a0 I think this matters because so often I see partnerships of competent, mature and capable organisations that\u00a0 in ‘partnership’ become the corporate equivalent of\u00a0 a three year old having a temper tantrum in a sweet shop.<\/p>\n

I work with a chief executive who has a plaque in his (home) office that says ‘Partnership: the temporary suspension of mutual loathing in pursuit of funding’.\u00a0 How true in many cases!
\nOne of the challenges is that partnership is a ‘weasel word’ with many definitions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a relationship of two or more entities conducting business for mutual benefit<\/li>\n
  2. a legal contract entered into by two or more persons in which each agrees to furnish a part of the capital and labour for a business enterprise, and by which each shares a fixed proportion of profits and losses.<\/li>\n
  3. The persons bound by such a contract.<\/li>\n
  4. A relationship between individuals or groups that is characterised by mutual cooperation and responsibility, as for the achievement of a specified goal: Neighbourhood groups formed a partnership to fight crime.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Then there are different types and levels of partnership:<\/p>\n