Partnerships That Matter Most – Professional

Changing the Stage with Real Questions

In the first blog of this series, we explored how to become the designer of one’s own life and practiced slowing down to balance the pressures in our daily experience. Now it’s time to practice building on these skills with others.

Let’s move to a new professional setting, maintain our clay metaphor, and imagine working cooperatively to increase the quality of some of our most important partnerships.

A manufacturing team that brings a new car to market is an extraordinary partnership. The body designers push and stretch the clay to form a dynamic shape for the car, while the product design group formulates a total package that will resonate with the market—the consumer will ultimately vote with the investment of their cash. A buying decision that (typically represents their second-biggest expenditure after housing) will not be taken lightly.

What Is The Shape Of The Partnership That You Are Trying To Create Together?

What is the desired outcome? How will success be measured? What will each party bring to this same-page partnership?

Race car drivers have to train their eyes to look where they want to go, instead of what they don’t want to hit. It is a great reminder for all us to set our focus on the goal of where we are headed … together.

Real Questions are Key to Partnerships That Matter Most

When learning a new language, it’s beneficial to hear and see the words at the same time. Understanding sentence structure and cadence can be conducive to grasping a new language.

In the same way, exploring together desired outcomes is part of the equation of successful partnerships. Agreeing on where we are now and where we want to be is fundamental to effectively charting and navigating the best courses of action to get there.

Will our clients accept reasonable products and services, or do we need to exceed their expectations?

All too often the best-intended partnerships are not exponentially successful; for instance, often 1 + 1 = only 1.5. So how can we create truly exceptional partnerships?

Let’s consider making 1 + 1 = I I.

Take note that the I I above is not just a number; instead, it is a multiplier effect that happens when two people or groups of people are truly in alignment about desired goals and are totally supporting each other (aka having each other’s backs).

Consider the beneficial outcomes of starting with a 1 + 1 = I I mindset that:

• Visualizes in detail the process of partnering in the same direction
• Focuses our individual contributions to maximize the partnership’s success
• Creates a multiplier-effect for our collaborative efforts
• Determines how we can best exceed expectations
• Balances our combined ambitions with plans for increased capacity
• Practices consistently asking and answering real questions

Ultimately, asking Real Questions of each other and knowing that each member of the partnership has each other’s back creates trust, momentum, and exponentially better outcomes.

Real Questions create a multiplier effect in partnerships that matter most. Initially, they can feel like hard conversations, however, they build trust, and respect, and lead to unexpected—and better—best next steps for everyone.

SNE’s CoreSelf Positioning, builds on the individual CoreSelf Mapping 8-step Framework, to allow teams to Get on the Same Page, literally. Key prompts include: who is getting closer and farther away from each other; where are we and where do we want to be; what are our most important values and practices; what are our actionable thoughts and plans –-- all resulting in our Best Next Step(s).

To read more about CoreSelf Mapping click here.