Relationship 5: Collaborative Team

The collaborative team or consortium is the fifth of the business networking relationships and the second of the group relationships. This relationship is a more proactive version of the project team. The biggest difference is that a project team is formed after an opportunity has been uncovered; whereas a collaborative team may be formed before a client is even identified.

Collaborative groups typically work best when a small group of 3-4 traditional power partners (people from related disciplines) work together to find, close and deliver projects that are larger than any of them might be able to close on their own. These groups are formed to build collective strength and to construct a fuller offering for potential clients.

The group may not have selected a client to pursue, but they should have an idea of the type of target that makes the most sense to chase. For example, a human resources-oriented collaborative team may decide it wants to go after businesses with fewer than 100 employees because those companies often do not have fulltime human resources personnel.

Collaborative teams may or may not have written agreements in place, but roles and responsibilities, performance metrics and rules of engagement should definitely be discussed. The first step is to set proper expectations for the relationship from the beginning. Otherwise, there is a high probability that some or all of the partners may end up with hurt feelings at the end.

Collaborative teams can be difficult to implement, but can be very lucrative. So they are definitely worth taking the time to investigate.