With allianceboard, you can now automate your regular alliance health checks. This post explains the why regular alliance health checks are important and how to do them easily using allianceboard.
Why are regular alliance health checks so important?
Every alliance manager knows regular alliance health checks help highlight possible problems early, which gives you the best chance of heading off issues before they escalate.
Many organizations conduct alliance health checks only after there is a problem. Conducting health checks reactively, instead of pro-actively, means it becomes an in-depth exercise that is time intensive, highly political and often requires expert external facilitation.
Others avoid doing regular alliance health checks altogether because they are time consuming and it becomes too tedious to evaluate results and prepare a meaningful report.
Take a minute to reflect: over the last 12 months, how many alliance problems could you have anticipated while they were small? And how much time you could save if you automated the process?
Here’s how easy it is to automate your alliance health checks with allianceboard:
Step 1: Choose the right template
Many organizations have their preferred alliance health check framework and questions to ask of internal and external stakeholders. You can simply load up your questions into allianceboard.
If you don’t have your own framework, allianceboard comes pre-loaded with templates recommended by the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), the global best practices organization for alliance management and our knowledge partner.
If your alliance agreement requires specific health check questions, simply add these to the template.
Step 2: Design and launch your health check
allianceboard lets you create an unlimited number of respondent groups for any one alliance. You can also choose how to weight certain questions and how you want your answers presented. (e.g. 5 or 7 point scales, traffic lights, percentages, etc.).
When you launch your health check, users receive a notification or link in their inbox. You can even set reminders asking for responses to maximize participation.
Step 3: Analyze and report automatically
You can see how responses are playing out in real time. Once the completion deadline has passed, you simply download an automatically generated report showing all relevant graphics, statistical and qualitative (text-based) information your respondents have provided. There’s also the option to download the report in PowerPoint, ready for you to present.
And that’s it – your alliance health check is done. Of course, allianceboard will nudge you when it’s time to conduct the next alliance health check so you stay on the front foot, tackling issues proactively before they turn into problems for you and your partners.
What you have achieved
Regular health checks help you achieve three important things:
Deep insights from your internal stakeholders and your external partner about the health of your alliances. What you do with these insights of course is up to you – you can proactively pursue opportunities identified or problems anticipated.
Build a repeatable process for conducing regular alliance health checks at the touch of a button. This digital approach is best practice and essential for leveraging your alliance team as you manage more partnerships.
Save hundreds of hours in the process that your alliance managers can use on more productive work.
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