Development Cooperation Handbook/Partnership Management/Vendors as partners

Learning Objectives  There is no one way to deal with p vendors. Each strategy has to be based on a number of different criteria, ranging from how much project/programme purpose you do together to how well your people and their people get along. How you communicate with your vendors and partners can have a major impact on how they work both for and with you. Personalities are quite often an issue when dealing at this level, as is the way you treat the people you are involved with.

Partners and Vendors The better your communication, the better you can expect to work together. Defining a Relationship with a Partner

           Here are 12 questions to help you define your relationship with partners. The answers will help you determine how to communicate with them:

Are you actually equals or is one of you in charge. If so, which one? Are you connected to them in any way? Are you both part of the same organizational structure? What skills, talents, and expertise do you bring to the relationship? What skills, talents, and expertise do they? Do you trust their ability and commitment to do and deliver what they have been called upon to do? Do they trust you to do the same? What is their reputation within the sector of activity? What is your reputation within the sector of activity? Did you decide to work together, or was the relationship imposed on you? Have you ever worked with them before? Is this a one-time or a long-term relationship? How long has the relationship been ongoing? How long will the relationship continue? Is it an exclusive relationship? Do they sometimes collaborate with your competitors on a project? Do you ever collaborate with theirs? Do you want to work together again? Do you have a choice about working together again? Could you have done the entire project without them? Could they without you? If you answered yes to either part of Question 12, why, then, are you working together on the project, instead of alone? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

Defining a Relationship with a Vendor

           Here are 10 questions to help you define your relationship with a vendor. While similar to those used in the previous section, there are some differences. The answers will help you determine how to communicate with them: 

Are you connected to them in any way? Are you both part of the same organizational structure? Did you decide to use them? Or was the decision made for you either by another party, or by circumstances beyond your control? Is there anyone else, for example, that you could have used, or are they only vendor that meets all the criteria of the contract? What skills, talents, and expertise do they bring to the relationship? Do you trust their ability and commitment to do and deliver what they have been called upon to do? What is their reputation within the sector of activity? Have you ever worked with them before? Is this a one-time or a long-term relationship? Is it an exclusive relationship? Are you, for example, working with more than one vendor with each supplying the same material or services? Was the relationship due to a bid process or because of a special connection with the vendor? Would you want/do you have a choice about working together again? Could you have done the entire project without them?

 

Establishing the Relationship

           You will probably have a different relationship with a vendor you are buying a single chair from than with one that is handling the redecoration of your entire building, or supplying everything you need for a major construction project.    Your relationship with a partner on a small, one-time contract will also be different from your relationship with a regular partner with whom you have worked on numerous major projects over the years.   In many ways, the tone of the relationship will be established by liaisons, the people from each organization who meet and interact on a regular basis as each side works to ensure that the contract is fulfilled, and done so in a timely manner and on budget, while protecting their own organizational interests. Here, as with so much of life, “first impressions” will often dictate the rest of the relationship.  The levels at which the liaisons meet and work will also influence the relationship, its development, and the way you work together. When organizations establish a relationship at a high level, it is a clear sign to the rest of both organizations that senior management is committed to making the relationship and the project work.   As a rule, it is up to the liaisons to establish the relationship, set its tone, and then hold it together.