The Essence of True Partnerships: Collaborative Partnering

At this stage of my career, I think it's safe to say I've earned my wings when it comes to partnership strategies. Some of my most memorable achievements include expanding the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) from four to 44 countries with more than $10 billion annually in partnership deals between members, being deeply involved in the vibrant Ultimate Partner community, supporting The WIT Network, cheering for Black Channel Partner Alliance and being a Microsoft advisor for the ecosystem on partnership strategies.

A long time ago, I created the P2P Maturity Model that was based on my experiences from the IAMCP. It was endorsed by the analysts at IDC as well as embraced by Microsoft. This model has served our community well and still does because it’s a structured approach for your partnership journey.

In all the companies that I have led over the years, building and nurturing partnerships have always been crucial for commercial success.

For this blog, I want to talk about the essence of true partnerships and what makes them successful. I call it "collaborative partnering."

I like the word ‘collaborative’ because it describes doing something with someone else. One might argue that partnerships are always together with someone else, but in reality, it’s often less collaborative and more of a traditional resale arrangement where partner A sells something that partner B produces or delivers.

Today’s customers surround themselves with several partners. One or two might be more strategic than others, but they all have a seat at the table because they’re specialized at something and are in a great standing with the customer.

Customers value partners that are specialized and that have a proven capability of working together with others. Sometimes partners bring in someone that they recommend, and sometimes it’s the customer that does the matching. One of the worst mistakes that you can make as a partner is to be overly protective and to be difficult when you’re matched with another partner.  

When I think about collaborative partnering, I see the vision that two (or more) partners strengthen each other. We see it all the time in the fashion and luxury industry where another brand is brought in to help co-design a new line of clothes, shoes, watches, etc. and it’s being launched as a ‘collaboration’. Think Swatch and Omega, or Barbour and Paul Smith, or Manolo Blahnik and Balenciaga. The list of successful collaborations is long, and it’s growing, simply because 1+1=3.

Let’s apply the same mindset in our Microsoft ecosystem and adjust it to how we do business. I have been doing collaborative partnering since the 1990s and it really works and grows the pie for everyone involved.

The core characteristics of collaborative partnering are:

1. Executive support: Each partner needs to have an inclusive mindset and there needs to be buy-in from the senior leadership where everyone is being transparent and vocal about the partnership(s) so that all organizations understand that this is strategy and not ad hoc. The senior leadership needs to trust that this leads to long-term commercial success.
2. Bi-directional: Each partner needs to get something out of the partnership. It’s either a profit from the sale, or the ability to add more services, which is the formula when partners resell Microsoft products and add their own services to multiply the deal value 8x, or it can be deals being referred to in the other direction. If it’s one-directional, and not bi-directional, the partnership will die. And it is never quid pro quo ("something for something") as that is not how it works, but on a larger time scale, it should be a balanced value for all partners involved.
3. Respect & trust: All partners need to respect each other and not see themselves as superior. One partner is probably bigger or more widely recognized than the other(s) but that doesn't justify less respect. Respect builds trust, and trust is the fuel for continued business. When the trust stops, the partnership will stop too.
4. Joint marketing & sales: The partners involved should do some marketing and sales activities together so that they’re growing their combined market share. These can be webinars, podcasts, joint customer calls, submitting for awards, among others. And don’t be shy to publish joint customer success stories and to elevate each other on your websites and in blogs.
5. Give up control: Not all deals will go through you. Today’s partnerships are often a matter of the customer buying directly from the partner that delivers the service and does not need to be a traditional resale play. By being strategic to your customer, you also need to give over a bit of control when you have brought in a fellow partner. If you have brought in the right partner, you’ll gain in reputation. But if you’ve brought in someone that the customer is unhappy with, your reputation is equally damaged, so choose carefully and partner with the ones that understand what’s on the line.
6. Structured system support: Utilizing modern systems and relevant marketplaces to streamline and optimize your partnership makes sense and helps you focus on the right efforts. Integrate and share as much as possible between your trusted partners.
7. Shared accountability: Sometimes things go sideways. Even with the best partners in the world, there will occasionally be problems. This is where your partnership comes to a test and solving problems together with the customer’s wellbeing in focus is the path forward. By being united as partners and not blaming the other, you’ll win customers for life and learn together how to avoid similar problems, as well as building processes and culture for joint responsibility and accountability. 
8. See the customer as your partner: Enter transparent partnerships with your customers. Be bold to move beyond traditional billing of time and materials. Instead, have skin in the game where at least some portion of your pay comes from what business outcomes you achieve together with the customer. Do early-stage pilots and lighthouse projects in close collaboration with your customer that you can then take to other customers. Share the financial success with the first customer that allowed you to experiment in their environment and that served as the guinea pig.
9. The search for excellence: When collaborating, you should set joint goals for your partnership so that you know where you’re heading and make plans accordingly. Constantly measuring where you are in your joint journey and conducting regular sessions to discuss how to improve is true collaborative behavior that benefits everyone.
10. Mindset: When you’re into collaborative partnering, everyone that is meeting customers should be searching for an opportunity to recommend or bring in your fellow partner(s). You can financially compensate your people to a degree, but it’s more of a mindset where the people in both organizations know that helping each other means success for both and that it will come back to both. This is the part where you need to trust each other. Building trust happens over time, but while you’re doing activities together that are successful, you’re building that trust.

Everything on this list is strategic and needs proper planning, motivation and assigned accountability. True long-term success will never come from being ad hoc or purely opportunistic. It’s only the ones that really lay the right groundwork that ultimately win.

So, in essence, collaborative partnering is about doing things together, and with the customer’s success as a priority. When it works, it will strengthen everyone involved. Doing business with partners that you trust, and that are helping each other to grow their businesses, is collaborative partnering with a measurable positive outcome.

Long-term financial success often comes through solid partnerships and developing that over time is crucial. The ones that master partnership will be far more successful than the ones that don’t. Being collaborative and working together with your partners is how you drive success in partnering.

Good luck with collaborative partnering, and please do share your best success stories with me!

Posted by Per Werngren on August 19, 2026