by Peter A Arthur-Smith

“Organizations cannot exist in isolation: They need to collaborate with outsiders, too.”  

Ten days later, SuperGuard’s Strategist team assembled once more with Harry, its Co-Visionist, and Christine their outside advisor. Since everyone knew their firm needed every assist they could find, it remained for them to pinpoint every important constituent connected with the company. Before they plunged-in, they took fifteen minutes for a round-robin update on Dan and Roger’s progress with their pods. Dan’s teams were well underway with In-Team Discovery to enhance their customer capabilities, while Roger’s Vanguard team was getting ready for further expansion to other sites.

Even so, before everyone felt they could expand further, it seemed sensible to clarify if SuperGuard was fully connecting with all other momentum building forces. A prompt sub-team discussion, where they broke off into two sets of three once more, enabled them to discuss who these other positive forces might be. Once they reassembled and compared notes, they fairly readily determined the importance of chambers of commerce, suppliers, community groups, colleges and pertinent industry associations – see below Pictograph – PG 3-2B(1). Have you pursued such an exercise within your own venture?

Membership in their local chambers of commerce would put them in touch with potential customers, as well as rub should-ers with potential advisors and future recruits. Cultivating their suppliers would not only ensure they had good service; they would also help spread the word to poten-tial new customers – suppliers often deal with prospect “decision makers.” Active membership in community associations would aid recruitment and spread the word, too.

Beyond that, involvement with local colleges would spark internships and recruitment of the best available talent. Finally, they felt membership of security and building associations would also enable them to rub shoulders with potential clients, as well as keep them abreast of marketplace, technical and specialist trends. Your venture cannot exist and prosper in a vacuum, consequently needs a constituent-map like this.

Further sub-team discussion enabled them to reach a consensus on which of these five additional valuable constituents they deemed of greatest importance and value at this moment in time. You can identify the three they picked out. In fact, it was a crucial moment to assign colleagues who could really focus on all those “starred” in blue. Fairly readily, Mark, their Innovationist, agreed to foster positive relationships with suppliers, since he was always looking for new ideas for better security guard equipment and security systems – particular suppliers would help him stay informed on trends.

Rachel, their Humanist, volunteered her steadily growing team to connect with colleges on a “two-way” beneficial relationship; that is, what could SuperGuard offer these colleges in return for allowing them to sponsor senior level study scholarships? Such a partnership would help SuperGuard gain early connections with talented graduates to possibly fill its expansion efforts. Those graduate students would become aware of a dynamic, people-oriented firm.

Melissa, SuperGuard’s Promotionist and Co-Visionist, was naturally proposed to lead its efforts with indu-stry associations. Hence, she committed to pair-up her sales team members with other volunteer company staff to seek membership of all the most conducive ones. This meant joining committees as a “pair” and attending regular lunches-events, where they would rub shoulders with building owners, college leaders, security executives and property managers. “Paired” membership would give them greater confidence to attend jointly, as well as allow sharing of the load. To what degree does your venture invest in such activities?

Another important move for Harry’s team was to objectively evaluate how SuperGuard was currently meeting the expectations of these five key constituents. You will note their smiley faces, where suppliers were likely happy; chambers, colleges and industry associations had straight faces; and community associations wore a frowning face. And so it seemed they had work to do, which could potentially bring even greater positive, future marketplace impact.

One important thing for these Strategists to realize was that their networking efforts “would not” produce increased business results overnight. It would require a regular presence over time and a show of active involvement in events and committee meeting attendance. Assuming that they portray themselves in a mature and favorable light, they will gradually be approached by other association members for advice and insights. Such interaction would then provide openings to discuss collaborative opportunities. Patience is the key.

All six Strategists began to fully appreciate why Harry had called them to this additional meeting to identify and strategize how SuperGuard could more fully collaborate and leverage relationships with worthy external constituents. Additional teamwork had now identified their most appropriate players to cultivate such key resources. It was even more apparent how they could add value to their company’s momentum. So many organizations, with their “inside-out” rather than “outside-in” perspective miss the mark here. Where do you stand in this regard?

Before they concluded, Harry’s Strategists spent some time chatting among themselves about initiatives they could take with their highlighted constituents. In fact, not to be left out, Roger, their Expansionist, and Maureen, their Provisionist, huddled to reflect upon how Superguard could keep Chambers of Commerce and Community Associations in their sights. Such team reflections readied them for that well-deserved, light lunch where they could chat about the future and vital company strategic streaming activities to sustain momentum.

This would have them “thinking about”, “positioning-preparing” for next moves, and ensuring effective “execution/implementation.”  Melissa asked around for additional communication ideas, where she could share SuperGuard’s progress with everyone else within their venture. That way every person within the company would likely feel fully engaged and informed.