Apr 27, 2016
Preferred Supplier Arrangement is a very dry way to describe what is meant to be a partnership. It’s a binding agreement, yes, but it can be so much more with the right intent. When we stand back from the paperwork and fees, we are asking another business to represent our company as well as we do, and in doing so, find the most important part of our business – great people.
I recently was told that people throw the word partnership around a lot without appreciating what it represents so I’d like to share the three ways we approach our PSA or PPA (preferred partnerships):
Spend time together
Share as much as you can about your business and find out as much as you can about their business and do so regularly. Discover your shared values, build a relationship that forms a trust, look at each other as colleagues with the same goal in mind. Remember to update on all the important aspects of change in your business. I will confess we are still improving on that last point here. As a talent team we meet and talk often, but more value comes when our leaders meet with our partners to share broadly on the great things happening in their business, and what talent plans and experience challenges they face. Find opportunities to talk outside of roles and share insight into the market and cleverer ways to both optimise the partnership. We’ve seen some high intelligence come our way when we talk frankly about a challenge – a pretty valuable outcome that makes you turn to your partners more often.
Give feedback often
There’s not a phone call we have with our partners where we don’t have a chance to review where we both can improve, and what our expectations are – from each other. We look to our partners to keep us updated on the talent market, what is happening internationally or locally, and where we sit on our offer. There’s been some valuable advice we’ve been given from our partners to improve as an employer of choice, and at other times, we’ve had to break down the ‘client’ attitude that existed, where the partner’s politeness meant we lost out on an excellent candidate. The more information we can get to improve, the stronger the partnership.
Don’t expect more of your partner that you wouldn’t be able to deliver yourself
When we turn to our partners on hard-to-fill roles we most definitely are needing their expertise. However, that doesn’t mean we short-change them. If it’s a highly expert role or a very tight market, then don’t expect your partner will have a stack of CVs ready or that they can provide a short list in three days. We wouldn’t be able to do that ourselves either. Talk things through and set expectations so you can represent your partner confidently back into your business. Support them as much as you can by communicating and explaining the pressures the company is experiencing, and in return, you’ll get and give better status updates and eventually the best possible candidate.
The way you work, the integrity in which you conduct your relationships, is a reflection of your company and its values, which is what you are pitching to excellent people in the market too. In a candidate market, I can’t imagine working as closely as we do with our partners and are so grateful for the care they put into representing us and finding you.
