Our Blog
News, Insights, editorial and comments on hot topics relating to Strategic Partnerships
.....A Peak Preview Of Our Relationship Management Workshop.....
Our Beliefs, Principles and Guidelines
.....A Peak Preview Of Our Relationship Management Workshop..... .....We've been curating some great insight into how we can get a seat at the Decision Maker's table.... The way things get done in an organisation is through relationships. Success in Relationship Management is about building trust and managing expectations consistently To be credible, your words and behaviours need to be consistent; you need to be an expert in an activity that is valuable to your organisation. To become influential, practice different…
Value Management
The Top Challenges Facing IT Business Partners today
At the BRM Forum in London delegates gained some practical takeaways after participating in the BRM Forum. This is the last in a four part mini-series. BRM Forum: The Panel Article written by James O'Driscoll, Gilbert Scott Associates. On Friday 9th of June the 5th BRM forum took place in central London. The session was a mix of debate, presentation and business simulation via Grab@Pizza. In terms of the debate this was a panel discussion hosted by James O'Driscoll on…
Executive Support
The Top Challenges Facing IT Business Partners today
At the BRM Forum in London delegates gained some practical takeaways after participating in the BRM Forum. This is the third in a four part mini-series. BRM Forum: The Panel Article written by James O'Driscoll, Gilbert Scott Associates. On Friday 9th of June the 5th BRM forum took place in central London. The session was a mix of debate, presentation and business simulation via Grab@Pizza. In terms of the debate this was a panel discussion hosted by James O'Driscoll on…
Role Conflict
The Top Challenges Facing IT Business Partners today
At the BRM Forum in London delegates gained some practical takeaways after participating in the BRM Forum. This is the second in a four part mini series. BRM Forum: The Panel Article written by James O'Driscoll, Gilbert Scott Associates. On Friday 9th of June the 5th BRM forum took place in central London. The session was a mix of debate, presentation and business simulation via Grab@Pizza. In terms of the debate this was a panel discussion hosted by James O'Driscoll…
Shadow IT
The Top Challenges Facing IT Business Partners today
At the BRM Forum in London delegates gained some practical takeaways after participating in the BRM Forum. This is the first in a four part mini series. BRM Forum: The Panel Article written by James O'Driscoll, Gilbert Scott Associates. On Friday 9th of June the 5th BRM forum took place in central London. The session was a mix of debate, presentation and business simulation via Grab@Pizza. In terms of the debate this was a panel discussion hosted by James O'Driscoll…
Managing Difficult People
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help identify the key styles of engagement with Business stakeholders . It is last in a series of posts on how to influence others. In our last post we explored the various styles of engagement used in negotiations and sales interactions, and how we can recognize and utilize those to our advantage. Let's now move on to a topic that we will all inevitably encounter: managing challenging people. The key…
Taking Business Partnering to The Next Level
Business Relationship Management
The BRMIConnect conference in Amsterdam was the 4th and final international BRM conference in 2016. This article is the first part of two that discusses the outcomes of the BRMIConnect,written by Paul Wilkinson, owner and director of Gamingworks, a Baxter Thompson Partner who licences the "Grab-a-Pizza" Business / IT simulation. The conference kicked-off, in my mind, with a refreshing approach of actually asking the audience what they wanted to learn in the conference so that the speakers could align their…
Adopting Different Styles of Engagement
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help identify the key styles of engagement with Business stakeholders . It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. In our last post we discussed negotation techniques and how to utilize them, let’s further hone our skills by exploring and adopting different styles of engagement. It's important to recognize and master the different styles of engaging in order to achieve our ultimate goal of influencing…
Negotiation Skills
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help identify the key elements in negotiation with Business stakeholders . It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. There are four considerations when negotiating: People Maintaining the relationship and the dialogue is the first priority. This means making allowances for emotions (both yours and theirs) mis-perceptions, mis-communication, and different methods of expression. Discuss the other parties values and perceptions. Acknowledge their concerns, agenda, wants…
The Vocabulary of IT Business Partnering
Business Relationship Management
I come away from reading various consulting surveys that one of the key messages is that: IT stakeholders should partner strategically with Business stakeholders more. This is an easy itch to scratch and something that I have responded to my company's offer of services. However this thinking panders to stereotype roles and ways of (not) engaging. Is the paradigm so simple? Business stakeholders accuse IT stakeholders of not engaging, or the efforts to engage are not credible. IT stakeholders have…
Conflict Management Skills
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help manage conflict with Business stakeholders . It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. Now we’re comfortable with the crucial selling skills needed for influence, but what if our interactions don’t go as planned? There are five strategies to dealing with conflict, each of which have merit - this can vary depending on the context in a given situation. Your preference can be determined…
Business Stakeholder Selling Skills
Business Relationship Management
Business Stakeholder Selling Skills This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to ensure that the basics are covered in engaging Business stakeholders with new ideas. It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. Once we’ve established our personal brand and values, we have successfully established who we are and what we can offer to our relationships in business. The next step is utilizing that influence. Selling an idea or a solution requires homework.…
Managing Your Brand
Business Relationship Management
Managing Your Personal Brand and Value Proposition With an understanding of the skills and traits for influencing in place (see our previous post "The Principles Of Influence") , now we must get back to basics through building and utilizing our “brand” in influencing relationships in business. Your values and beliefs are a critical component of your personal brand and being authentic means acting according to your values and beliefs. You would then have a “consistent brand image”. There should be…
The Principles of Influence
Business Relationship Management
Achieving your goals as a Business Relationship manager begins with clarifying some core principles of what you do and why mastering influence impacts your effectiveness. The goal of the Business Relationship manager is to become a Strategic Partner. In order to do that, you will need to master influencing people. Self-assessment is important. To measure your effectiveness in influencing people you will need to have an appreciation of your own Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Political Intelligence (PQ). This provides a…
