In today’s ever-evolving business landscape, partnerships have become a key driver of success. The ability to identify, cultivate, and leverage strategic alliances has never been more crucial. That’s where partnership analysis comes into play. By delving deep into the intricacies of these collaborative relationships, you can unlock hidden potential and propel yourselves from strength to strength. But what exactly is partnership analysis, and how can it be harnessed to achieve maximum impact? In this article, I will explore the power of a partnership analysis, uncovering the invaluable insights it provides and the strategies it enables. From identifying ideal partners to assessing the compatibility of existing partnerships, I will dive into the world of partnership analysis and reveal how it can empower businesses to make informed decisions that drive growth and competitive advantage. Get ready to harness the potential of partnership analysis and take your business relationships to new heights.
From Strength to Strength: Unleashing the Potential of Partnership Analysis
Introduction to the 2 Partners
Let me introduce you to the 2 human beings that I want to look at for their partnership. This is a famous example and at the end of the article I will reveal who they are. So stay tuned.
Partner 1
Partner 1 in this analyis is a Classic Builder with an emotional authority which means that his decision-making strategy is “Respond and then Wait for Clarity“.
- His Public Role: Leader / Pioneer
- His information assimilation style: Collaborative Assimilation (Wide)
- His General Thematics: Sharing
- Emotional
- Classic Builder – The Doer
- Designed to do work he loves
- He CAN go, go, go – in a precise and focused way.
- He responds best to yes/no questions and given time. “Do you have the time and/or energy to take on this task?”
- He needs time to “sleep on it” and wait for clarity before making a decision
- He is Emotionally Defined – So he should be aware that he sets the Emotional Tone of the Partnership
- He and his partner are BOTH designed to be Objective Leaders
Partner 2
Partner 2 in this analysis is an Advisor with a decision-making strategy “Listen to What You Say“.
- His Public Role: Leader / Natural
- His information assimilation style: Independent Assimilation
- His General Thematics: Sharing and Empowering
- Non-Emotional
- He is an Advisor , the Guide and designed to lead & guide the process
- He CAN NOT go, go, go – he needs to take time to rest when needed.
- He responds best to recognition and invitation. “You always present great insights, what would you recommend we do.”
- He needs to listen to what he says by bouncing decisions off trusted “sounding boards” before making a decision.
- He is NOT Emotionally Defined – so he is sensitive to his partner’s Emotions
- He and his partner are BOTH designed to be Objective Leaders
Ok, these are the basics that can be read out of their individual charts. These basics give already some hints that there is some common ground and some subtle but important differences. So what happens when I combine now these two individual charts of the 2 partners?
The mechanical energetic combination – the Partnership
The 1 + 1 = 3. When two people come together something else is created – a “third entity” that represents the connection dynamics. It is fixed like an individual design and has its own strengths, limitations and “hot-spots.” You can’t change it – you can only seek to understand and recognize the dynamics. It is NOT about “fixing” the other person. It is about UNDERSTANDING the dynamics of the relationship.
The Obvious – The Relationship Rhyme
The partnership chart gives a Rhyme to the relationship. In this Relationship Chart there is still one function undefined (the white triangle in the middle of the picture). So the Rhyme is: 8 – 1 – Let’s Have some Fun. This means that the Partnership is held together, but not too tightly. There is room for other people to come into the connection and there is an opening for the two partners to go out into the world and explore. The theme of this “opening” is the open Function. This is the first obvious thing in the Relationship Chart.
The “Positives”
The First Detail – The Public Role
There is a Resonance in the public roles of the 2 individuals: the first person has the role 6/3 Leader/Pioneer and the second person has a 6/2 Leader/Natural. So one of the qualities is the same which means that they both feel comfortable with each other.
The Second Detail – The Career Type
The combination of Career Types is very relevant in a partnership. Whilst the same types (Advisor, Builder, Evaluator, Initiator) typically feel a kind of companionship with the same career type (e.g. Builder with a Builder) and therefore feel very comfortable with them, there is an “ideal” partnership combination of career types (and I guess you know what is coming): Builder and Advisor, someone to Build and someone to Guide the process. So the combination here is of this type of ideal partnership combination. It has a great dynamic.
9 out of 10 people will either be a Builder or an Advisor. Builder can find themselves “building” something that has little or no value and brings no satisfaction to their lives. In order to build something and to use their energy correctly the direction is meant to come from an Advisor. The Advisor’s role is to guide the energy of the Builder. Advisors have the gift of recognizing the capacity and capabilities in others. The challenge for an Advisor as a non-Energy Resource type, is to be invited instead of initiating. The Builders can initiate Advisors and invite them to share their view, to give advice and perspective or to provide recommendations. Advisors are designed to recognize what needs to be asked and Builders are designed to be asked. Advisors can find success in learning to ask a Builder the right questions – Yes/No questions. These type of questions allow a Builder to respond from their Decision-Making Strategy and move into action. So keep this information in mind for these two partners.
However, the two different career types have different decision-making strategies. And this I will look at in the challenges.
The Third Detail – The Electromagnetics
This is a more detailed layer in the chart. An Electromagnetic connection or Strength is you have one partner who has a gate (the little numbers in the picture below) at one end of the channel and you have a partner who has a gate at the other end of the channel (and the channel being the line between the numbers).
The two partners have in combination 5 Electromagnetic strengths.
- 16-48 – Talent: the depth and skills to find a potential solution to a problem, or to encourage, correct and refine something that needs perfecting.
- 29-46 – Discovery: the potential for new realizations, and the perseverance to stay with an experience until it is complete.
- 57-10 – Perfected Form: deeply intuitive impulses; creativity comes in the form of creating/designing environments in which survival will be guaranteed and provides protection from the fear of tomorrow.
- 58-18 – Judgement: an insatiable drive to judge, challenge, correct and perfect any pattern. No challenge is too great for your logic, which aims only to prove it has the best answers.
- 1-8 – Inspiration: ability to creatively express a different perspective; designed to model what it means to be a self-expressed, creative individual, and attract, deservedly, the attention of others. It takes courage to stand out from the crowd, and thus inspire others to be equally bold.
As you can see there is a lot of creativity embedded, challenging the status quo, always improving, reaching perfection. I can let you already start guessing who these two individuals are, that really changed and transformed something.
The Partnership Challenges
There is no such thing as a perfect partnership. Every partnership has its strengths and challenges. The first part above shows that the “Positives” whilst the following reveals the challenges of this partnership.
Different Career Types and Decision-Making Strategies
As mentioned already above, this Career Type combination can be the ideal. The crux of the matter is that each of them has to follow their Decision-Making Strategy that it works correctly.
And there are subtle yet important differences. Partner 1 is a Classic Builder having to wait for emotional clarity before making decisions and Partner 2 is an Advisor that needs to hear himself talking before he can make decisions.
At the first glance it seems easy. Both have to kind of “wait”. True. However, Partner 1 has to wait for his emotional clarity by himself, it is an individual and emotional process. On the other side is Partner 2 that needs to hear himself talking with other people to reach his clarity. So Partner 1 has an emotional state and influences Partner 2 with his emotions. Yet Partner 1 needs his space for the emotions. At the same time, Partner 2 wants to talk about things, being emotionally conditioned by Partner 1. Do you see the problem?
There is a “toughness” in finding common decisions if they try to do it together. Not impossible, for sure not. Yet an area to pay attention to. A solution might be to give Partner 1 the space to gain his clarity by himself whilst Partner 2 discusses with close colleagues, friends to come to his decision.
Different Information Assimilation
SImilar to the Career Type and Decision-Making Strategy there is a different Information Assimilation for the two Partners: the way how they learn, process and integrate information.
Partner 1 has a Collaborative Information Assimilation style and Partner 2 an Independent Information Assimilation style.
| Partner 1 Collaborative Information Assimilation | Partner 2 Independent Information Assimilation |
|---|---|
| Working and collaborating with others. In a math equation this could be expressed as “1+1 = 3”. | As the word already indicates: designed to work by himself and to process information independently from others. Does not need anyone else to discuss the information and naturally feels a “completeness” within himself. |
| Very likely just needs more time to fully take in, process and digest information as he needs the stimulus from others. | Has a specific way to digest the information which is consistent and reliable. |
| Trying to process information all by himself or having to take decisions all alone may feel uncomfortable or incomplete, like some piece might be missing. | Has a particularly unique focus and simply does not see the need to reflect on different aspects. |
| Being with others and discussing with others might help him tremendously to achieve a sense of wholeness – “yes, I have looked at various angles of the information now”. Take your time, discuss with others, allow the information to sink in. | His pace to digest information is rapid and he has the tendency to become impatient or frustrated if others are slower than himself. |
| Spending time in public places (like coffee corners in the office, team gatherings for lunch, etc.) will give new perspectives and can assist in the assimilation process. | Here is a great learning potential: allow others to take their time to assimilate information in their own pace. Other people might have other Information Assimilation styles and they may need to reflect on different aspects. And for this reflection they just need more time. |
| There is a great advantage of a Collaborative Information Assimilation style: once he has processed the information he usually has looked at it from many different angles and gets it at a much deeper level than someone with an independent assimilation style. | |
| The learning potential: be patient and do not feel pressured by the other types. Your own pace is absolutely ok. |
As you probably can see: different. And interesting as well in the combination with the Career Types and Decision-Making Strategy. So what could be a problem? Think about budget preparation or discussions. Partner 1 needs to discuss the information or data again and again with different people. Partner 2: give him the Excel spreadsheet and leave him alone. Quite a difference, isn’t it?
(Please have a look at my article on Information Assimilation if you would like to understand further details – What Are the Different Types of Information Assimilation?)
Compromise Strengths
A last item I want to show in this article are the compromise strengths. They are real challenges. One person has a Strength in the hart and the other person has only one of the Traits.
“The very center of the problem of human beings being able to really be comfortable with each other lies in compromise.”
Ra Uru Hu
In this partnership there are two compromise strengths. Partner 2 compromises Partner 1 in 43-23 (Partner 2, in blue, has the channel 43-23 defined and Partner 1, in green, “only” the trait 43). On the other hand, Partner 1 compromises Partner 2 in 9-52 (Partner 1, in green, has the channel 9-52 defined and Partner 2, in blue, “only” the trait 52). OK, so what does that mean?
- Partner 2 compromising Partner 1 in strength 43-23 – Efficiency: there is the potential for spontaneous breakthrough which can be assimilated and expressed as unique insight to make things more efficient. The insights at times feel like they are light years ahead. And it will find its way to be communicated. Now for Partner 1 that means that he might actually have the brilliant ideas, the great breakthroughs and the light years ahead magic. Yet in the combination with the Partner 2, the strength of Partner 2 will “overrule” it. It will be the brilliance of Partner 2 that will be communicated. As this is a so called projected strength the Partner 2 will very likely feel bitterness in such occasions.
- Partner 1 compromising Partner 2 in strength 9-52 – Concentration: the laser-like ability to maintain a focus, allowing to keep still and concentrate on the issue at hand, focusing on the details and experiencing a quiet non-stressful pressure and gut responses revealing what to focus on, what pattern to perfect, and when to share it. In that relationship this means that Partner 1 “dictates” what to focus on, which details to focus on, what problem to solve.
This is – despite the fact that is already a lot of information that might be useful for these two human beings in their business relationship – just scratching the surface. I could go on with way more insights just by looking at the “data”, the individual chart and the partnership chart. And I hope you get a feel for how it can be used in a partnership context – being it business or private.
How can a Partnership Analysis be used?
As mentioned already above, there is no such thing as a perfect partnership. Every partnership has its strengths and challenges. The beauty of a Partnership Analysis is that you can see the Energy Dynamics in the Partnership so you can capitalize on each other’s strengths and be aware of the possible pitfalls so as to not take things personally and avoid misunderstandings. These Energy Dynamics are Mechanical, just the way that the design operates and they are far from being personal.
Examples of where a Partnership Analysis can help in a business context include
- Two people in Business Partnership are struggling working together.
- Business Partners want to see how they can improve their working relationship.
- Finding out the strenghts and challenges BEFORE someone enters into a Partnership.
- Help smoothing out a relationship between two coworkers.
- Help ease the tension a boss feels with an employee (or vice-versa).
- Help a small business owner individualize their communication with each person on their staff.
Who are these 2 partners?
I would be so curious to see who you think the 2 partners are. And nevertheless I promised in the beginning to reveal the secret at the end. So here you go: Partner 1 is Steve Jobs and Partner 2 is Steve Wozniak.
Now I let you re-read or reflect on the article.
If you are in a Business Partnership where you have challenges as mentioned before or you are about to embark on a business partnership and you would like to get some mor hints spare 30 minutes of your time and schedule a free introductory call with us.
And if you want to read more, I invite you to visit the Human in the Center homepage or the Human in the Center Blog.
What a complete analysis and sharing of Partnership you’ve done. The example is a famous dynamic duo which the majority would be familiar with, and by the end of the reading and the reveal of the names, I think it made even more sense why their partnership was how it was.
I like the way you have segmented this major topics and the organization of the explanation is easy to read.
Most importantly the language used to explain the system is very comprehensive, thank you for sharing~