Raise your hand if you’ve a survived at least one
not-so-enjoyable holiday office party. Me too!
My first disastrous holiday office party was early in my
career when the sales VP took to the microphone after one too many
spiked punches to hand out awards. (Thankfully, the HR VP exercised
impressive finesse as he gingerly escorted the executive from the
stage.) That experience, however, doesn’t hold a candle to the
Yankee Swap I attended along with more than a hundred employees and no
limit to the number of times an item could be traded. I’d still be
there today if it wasn’t for security informing the host that the room
rental was up!
Unfortunately for most, this time-honored show of management
appreciation repeats itself every year. Aside from the obvious risks of
letting loose with the people who sign your paycheck, planning the
event isn’t generally anyone’s day job, and so, little thought is given
beyond the when, where, and what to serve. Because the investment in planning
correlates to the outcome, the refrain “Survived another one!” is all
too common.
Delivering an effective Partner Advisory Council, however,
offers the promise of a much greater payoff, and hence, the need for
channel organizations to invest in planning the event carefully. Done well, a Partner Advisory Council
builds upon the core relationship with your partners and offers a
valuable problem-solving and idea-generating forum for all participants.
Do it poorly, and your partners may be reluctant to invest their time
again.
To that end, here are some
best practices that we see leading companies put in place for an
effective Partner Advisory Council.
1) Partner Advisory Councils should not be
standalone events. Rather,
they should be integral to an
interactive partner communications strategy,
designed to strengthen partner loyalty.
2) The
best meeting agendas are those formulated with partner input.
Send
out a list of “top 10” agenda ideas in advance of the council meeting
and
ask partners to rank order their interests, or
reach out to participants
individually to understand what will make the
meeting most productive and
effective for them.
3) Think working
session rather than presentation fest. Resist the
temptation
to schedule every product group for an update. Mix it up with
breakout
sessions that let partners and your executives tackle issues
together, and then report their respective
outcomes to the group. Take
advantage of your partners’ access, experience,
and success with
customers. Give
them an opportunity to share what’s going on out there.
4) As
tempting as it is, don’t invite only the nice partners. While it
feels
good to hear accolades,
you may be sheltering yourself from a reality that is
constraining your growth. And, don’t
hesitate to trade out council members
after a reasonable period of time (a year or two) to
keep the input fresh. As
with a board of directors, having term limits makes
sense.
5) In today’s traveling and economic environment,
less is more. While
everyone enjoys a resort with fabulous weather,
turnout will be optimized in a
location that is easy to get to in the shortest
amount of time. As for meeting
time: one and a half days is ample; one is better.
6) Whenever possible, outsource meeting facilitation and
time
management. (And, we’re not
just saying this because we provide this
service.) A facilitator can ensure the meeting stays
on track, and effectively
draw out sensitive dialogue that partners might not
share otherwise.
7) Follow-up is critical. Ensure that someone
records primary meeting
takeaways and distributes them to the
participants after the meeting. The
best council organizers hold themselves accountable,
assign “to do’s”, and
report progress on a regular basis.
Here’s to surviving the annual holiday party, not to mention
the entire season! I promise not to invite you to my party this year if
you’ll refrain from inviting me to yours. That way, I’m sure we’ll both
stay ahead of the curve.
email:
jwilkinson@thoughtwav.com