Partnership is nothing if it is not personal. It's all about relating. In the
end it comes down to how people relate to each other and how they work together.
Sounds simple. But in actuality the ability to work well together is the
function of many factors such as shared values, trust, communications,
expectations, competency, interpersonal skills, and cross-cultural skills, just to name a few. The most significant factors reside in individuals and the commitments they share. You may have a compelling strategy, state-of-the art technology, and a proven promotional plan, but you won't achieve real partnership if you don't have the right people involved and committed to the relationship.
Partnering organizations have to connect at the personal level, and this is best achieved through alliance champions.
Alliance champions are the people most responsible for making the partnership
work. This means that each organization must have at least one person dedicated
to managing the relationship. Two alliance champions in place who have a strong bond of trust are the single most important ingredient for a successful partnership.
Although alliance champions may have slightly different roles depending on their particular type of partnership, they usually involve some degree of the following seven tasks.
Build Rapport
Connecting at the personal level doesn't mean that partners have to be close friends. In fact, intimate friends sometimes make the worst partners. Partnership doesn't require friendship, but it does require rapport.
Rapport is what you have when people come to know and appreciate one another. Under normal circumstances, rapport develops as people spend time together, get to know one an- other, and build a mutual history through common experiences. But intercultural partnerships have three tall hurdles to over- come: distance, culture, and language.
We'll discuss culture and language in the next chapter. For now let's consider the challenge of distance.
Partners who work side-by-side have a great advantage over partners who are geographically dispersed. When you work in the same place you have many occasions to exchange information
and build relationships, and face-to-face interaction is crucial. The first step to building rapport is showing interest in others. People have to "see" you are interested in them, that you are paying special attention to their thoughts and well-being. That's hard to do without the benefit of nonverbal behavior and clues like tone of voice, pauses, emphasis on certain words, and contextual awareness. Partners who work at a distance have to figure out how to show interest without being present.
The lack of direct contact also makes it difficult to be responsive, which is the second step to building rapport. Rapport re- quires more than just words or positive feelings about people. Rapport develops as partners respond in concrete ways that demonstrate
appreciation, respect, and understanding. For instance, a big part of showing
respect is in how you interact with a person in the presence of others. When you
have faith in a person's character or competence it can't help but show. The challenge is how to demonstrate confidence in others when you work at a distance. When it comes right down to it, face-to-face meetings are virtually irreplaceable for building rapport, especially in the early stages of partnership. Phone calls and video conferencing can help maintain interpersonal bonds but they are not effective in creating them. Text-only technology, such as e-mail, simply cannot accommodate emotional and situational context. Partners must have time together-not just work time, but social time as well.
If your partnership does not involve resident personnel, someone has to travel. International travel, obviously, can be expensive and exhausting. One advantage to having an alliance champion in each organization is that they can share the travel
requirements. That way four trips a year become two for each champion. Neither has to be away from home too long, and they have the invaluable experience of seeing life and ministry in each other's world.
Another way to beat the travel challenge is to have intensive
time together, such as a planning retreat. A combination of planned interaction
and free time to socialize can speed the process of getting to know one another
and building history. Also, exercises such as personality style inventories can
build common ground. And, of course, longevity helps. The longer partners work together, the more opportunities they have to build relationships.
Face-to-face meetings don't automatically lead to rapport, however. Global partners must be intentional about building relationships. That is the first duty of the alliance champion.
Provide Leadership
In addition to being the main relational link, alliance champions are also the visible leaders of the partnership, serving in both coordination and advocacy roles.
As coordinators, alliance champions are responsible to rep- resent the interests of their organization and make sure the goals of the partnership are reconciled and integrated with the mission and strategy of their own organization. They also have management responsibilities, such as creating shared vision, developing guidelines, building trust, and measuring results.
As advocates, alliance champions are responsible for gaining the approval of senior management, securing resource allocations, and ensuring that the appointing organization keeps its promises. Champions also have a vision-casting function: They
need to be able to explain the joint venture simply and power- fully and to convey the excitement, challenge, and opportunity of the partnership to diverse audiences. They are responsible for effectively representing not only their appointing organization but also the partner organization to donors and other stake- holders of the joint venture.
Above all, alliance champions live the partnership and come to personify it.
They are not merely agents representing the interests of their respective organizations. In the end it is personal, passionate Leadership that separates ministry partnerships from business transactions.
Keep Things Simple
Alliance champions should insist on simplicity in plans and written agreements. I have found that when plans are filled with tightly defined objectives and meticulous guidelines, partnerships
falter. Overly specific objectives trap partners on a one way street in a world
that demands flexibility and quick response. Champions don't use goals to force
things to happen. They use them as points of reference to manage change. When
partners don't hit their targets, champions collaborate to either change the
target or the strategy. Champions keep the partnership flexible by keeping it simple.
You can work very hard in an effort to get everything just right in the
partnership. But it rarely works that way. It's better to work on being
flexible, forbearing, and focused. Mutual encouragement in the faith (not flawless plans) lies at the heart of successful partnership in the gospel.
Clarify Expectations
Alliance champions specify and design the expectations of the relationship. Partnerships are undermined when partners work under different assumptions about when results will be achieved or what those results should be. Alliance champions collaborate to keep their respective organizations on the same page.
Clarifying expectations is not something alliance champions do only at the outset of the relationship. Because expectations are never entirely clear and are almost constantly in a state of change, the role continues.
Early expectations are always fuzzy and speculative. That's the nature of getting started. It's also why a partnership needs clear, formal Leadership. It takes Leadership to define goals, clarify boundaries, and focus attention on shared values. Even at that, intercultural differences can impose new assumptions. For ex- ample, how does one integrate expectations between African partners who want to start the process by building -relationships and Anglo-American partners who want to cut to the chase and move directly toward measurable objectives?
Alliance champions should be aware that defining expectations poses a strange irony The more precisely expectations are defined; the more likely they will change. Conversely, broadly stated expectations are less likely to change, simply because they allow more latitude. Alliance champions must find the middle ground between machine precision and wishful thinking.
Keep Communications Flowing
Intercultural partners often have trouble getting accurate information from distant sites, especially bad news. Alliance champions must be keenly aware of the information flow patterns of the partner organization and how to get around inadequacies. When it comes to communications between partners, alliance champions are like plumbers: They not only fix clogged pipes, they ensure that the communication systems are designed to handle the increased flow of information.
For example, a common clogged pipe effect is in financial reporting. I have often found it necessary to help a partner organization improve its bookkeeping and accounting system. It does no good to require a partner to provide specific financial reports when it doesn't have the ability to get it done. Global partnerships often involve improving organizational capacity.
Go the Distance
Alliance champions hold on in spite of frustrations and setbacks. It is their job to see the partnership through the rough spots.
They don't look for a way out when things get tough. They look for a way through. If we view relationships as disposable, it's hard to have Christian partnership. Commitment, not friendliness, reflects the true nature of Christian partnerships.
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Creating and managing a ministry partnership takes time. Significant impact in the work of the gospel often will not be felt for months or even years. Champions must know this and have the determination to hold on in the meantime. It takes a sincere and deep belief in what the partnership stands for and in its ultimate goals. More importantly it takes self-sacrificing humility and love to stay with it when things go wrong and expectations go unmet.
The best partnerships are like long-term investments: The
markets may go up and down, but in the long run it's all gain. People who pump money into ministries and run off at the first sign of trouble know nothing of partnership, not to mention stewardship. Alliance champions must be willing to accept the hardship of ministry and endure with patience the fears and injuries of the long haul.
Partners who struggle together through difficulties develop a new forbearance, a fastidious allegiance. While modern society
has mastered the art of avoiding hardship, the Scriptures portray suffering as
one of the greatest sources of blessing and growth (Romans 5:3; 2 Corinthians
4:17). The idea of commitment has no higher expression than fellowship in suffering (Philippians 3:10). Let partners struggle with external threats to the ministry or face a sudden tragedy, and those very frustrations that threaten the relationship will bring the loyalty that only true partners can know.
Alliance champions have to be deliberate about keeping God at the center of the relationship.
It is all too easy, and too common, to get caught up in the business of partnering and forget the one for whom the partner- ship exists in the first place. It is easy to assume that because it is a "Christian ministry" God is automatically involved. Organizations of all kinds have carried on, blissfully ignorant that God has left the building.
A crucial role of the alliance champion is the habit of letting God in on every detail of the relationship. This involves being avid in prayer personally and corporately when the partners meet. It means taking time to think theologically about your strategies, methods, and partnering behaviors. It also means thoughtfully evaluating ministry outcomes and their meaning to the work of the gospel. All the material in this book about setting goals and measuring results is less about using good management practices than about understanding what God is inviting you to do, then looking to see if it's happening and what you can learn from it. Setting direction and checking progress provide vital feedback to help realign your daily experience with your eternal beliefs.
Thinking theologically about the ministry and the partner- ship is what will keep you biblically faithful and missionarily effective.
Keep God at the Center
In a very real sense God is the third party in any ministry partnership. Indeed, God is the principal partner and the one whose concerns and interests must be weighed in every decision. Un- less you are attending to this partnership with God, no amount of effort will produce the fruit of the gospel
(John 15:1-17).
Support the Needs of the Alliance Champions
The international and cross-cultural context places a unique set of constraints on the champion's work. For starters, the distances involved demand a more sophisticated. and mobile electronic toolkit to plan and execute their work. While champions may rarely see one another, they have to stay in touch regularly- both with each other and with their respective organizations- via electronic conferencing.
Alliance champions must discover the methods and technologies that will enable
them to establish a rhythm in communications. There are so many obstacles: switching time zones, difficulties getting in touch with remote partners, lack of regular meetings, and unclear direction. Distant champions
will benefit by being able to plan and organize their work and travel around a structured pattern of communication. Rhythm in communications, whether through telephone, e-mail, or teleconferencing, will improve integration between local and
distant alliance champions.
Rhythm in planning and review cycles will also enable champions to avoid the trap of excessive travel and ensure that face- to-face meetings are used to their fullest advantage. Because face-to-face meetings are so powerful and satisfying, it seems easier to just show up and meet than to work the disciplines of regular communication, planning, and review. Champions can easily exceed their personal endurance and their budgets if they try to make up for deficiencies by more frequent travel.
Although alliance champions live the partnership and even personify it, they cannot do the job alone. Alliance champions must have an interdisciplinary group that represents every relevant
function within the partner organizations. For example, a resource team might
include a key person from finance, one from fundraising, and another from a
specific ministry program. Whether or not resource people operate as a
self-directed team is not the issue. What is important is that they know they
are part of a group that is responsible for a particular partnership. It is only
when a team of people from both organizations is working together-frequently, informally, and inclusively-that partnering can take hold between ministry organizations.
Alliance champions
There are also a variety of qualities alliance champions need in order to succeed as partnership facilitators:
Qualities of the Alliance Champion
The quality of a partnership rests on the quality of the people charged with making it work. Alliance champions should posses the qualifications required of any missionary, such as a living faith in Christ, humility, adaptability, compassion, a genuine interest in others, a willingness to serve, and a bias for cooperation.
So where do you start when selecting champions? The best place is with the main
biblical texts that develop the requirements of leaders: 1 Timothy 3:1-13, 2 Timothy 2:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, Acts 6:1-6, and Exodus 18:21-22.
A realistic view. This means an understanding of how intercultural partnerships work. Ambiguity in partner- ships is the norm. Only rarely does everything go right and fall into place at the right time.
A political sense. This is the politics of how things get done in partnerships. People cooperate when it is in their interest to do so. An alliance champion has to know what is in it for the partner as well as for his own organization.
Poise under fire. Champions periodically come under fire from different groups-sponsoring churches, major donors, senior management, and other colleagues. The mature mind handles criticism quietly and efficiently, with a minimum of disruption.
A sense of honor. Alliance champions are privy to the faults and foibles of the partner organization and their personnel. It takes a genuine respect and love for the partner to avoid divulging sensitive information inappropriately.
Creative thinking. Of all partnership problems, people problems are usually the toughest to resolve. Alliance champions must have an extra amount of patience and tact, be able to dialogue well, and be willing to consult before taking action. -
While written guidelines and goals are essential tools of all types of
partnerships, they remain just that. They cannot substitute for the human
interactions that constitute the real substance of global partnering. There must
be plenty of contact between the partnering organizations, and access to people
who can make the partnership happen. Alliance champions are the main personal link. They provide the strong bond of trust and communication that will allow a partnership to get off the ground.
