It can be said that partnering creates a whole that is significantly greater than the sum of the individual parts, and in the process builds greater value than any one partner could achieve on their own. In fact, the world’s most game-changing corporations, such as Apple, Warner Bros., Ebay, Yahoo, and Twitter were created out of partnerships.

But what does it take to make a partnership successful? And why is partnership broker training critical to the success of any partnership?

So what does it take?
Building partnerships is all about people. Successful partnerships are based on mutual respect and trust, open and honest communications, and require attentiveness, listening, and intuition. Partners must nurture their relationships and understand and support their partner’s needs and challenges equally as their own. But most people don’t have the training and knowledge to enable partnership success.

What could partnership training do for you and your organization?

1. It will provide “training and resources” for those engaged in the critical partnering process.
   Effective collaboration is not just a principle but also a process; success requires a skill and knowledge in terms of partnering processes. The Partnership Brokers course will help build insight and expertise in managing the partnering process from the earliest ‘scoping’ stage to the final ‘moving on’ phase, including the delivery of measurable benefits to all parties.
2. It will give you the ability to ask right questions
   Is partnering the right approach? Is the timing right? Upon deciding to undertake a new partnership, intuition and foresight are required to discern when the circumstances and context are right—and to say no when they are not!

Who is the right partner? What can each partner bring to the table? Partnering is about allocating individual talent in order to maximize collective potential. In the early stages of Apple, Steve jobs handled marketing while his partner, Steve Wozniak, dealt with the technical processes, showing how, when facilitated correctly, partnerships bring out the best qualities in each of its members.

3. It will introduce you to boundary spanning skills
   Leaders committed to partnership must have the ability to boundary span, to challenge assumptions and mindsets and to be open to new ways of conducting business. After all, building partnerships is not business as usual; it demands leaders who are willing to move outside their own comfort zone for the benefit of a bigger purpose. This challenge placed upon leaders to move towards a genuinely more collaborative model is a BIG one, and especially important within the Partnership Brokers curriculum.
4. It will embolden you with the courage to learn and the ability to be reflective
   True partnerships are made up of creative risk takers. The course encourages participants to be reflective and embrace vulnerability at all costs. At their core, partnerships are relationships, and relationships are dynamic and ever changing by virtue of their deeply human makeup. Therefore, authentic and vulnerable partners have the greatest chance at becoming powerhouse partnerships (thank you Brené Brown!).
5. It will help you build a local and global network of fellow partnership brokers

This is far more than a training course, it is a vehicle for building a local and global community of practitioners that are already playing a significant part in improving and scaling multi-stakeholder partnerships and non-traditional collaboration worldwide. It will provide links to regional/national networks of partnership brokers and gives access to further resources and professional development in a series of Level 2 options (Accreditation, Training Skills Certificate, Research Certificate).

Now for the logistics:
The Partnership Broker Training course is offered by the Partnership Brokers Association and hosted in Edmonton by The Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations. This is the first time the course has been offered in Edmonton, and runs from October 26 – 29 2015. Limited applications will be accepted based on experience and interest in expanding partnership skills and capacity. We also have a limited amount of bursaries available to Not for Profit agencies from Edmonton that will cover half of the registration cost.

The Partnership Brokers Association is at the forefront of developing the profession of partnership brokering by setting standards, building capacity and promoting professionalism for those operating in this role.

The heart of the Association’s work is the foundation course – a 4-day intensive face-to-face training designed to: deepen understanding of the changing nature of the partnership brokering role during a typical partnering cycle; share tools, tips and techniques for effective brokering and build key partnership brokering skills.

Register here!

ECVO will be offering $100 off to anyone who registers for interCHANGE