In-Company Alliance Masterclass

One of the services that I offer is the In-Company Alliance Masterclass, a brilliant way of forging and motivating alliance partnerships.  The class is also available as an open registration class, organised in alliance with Anoop Nathwani, under the Alliance Accelerator brand.  Click here for more information.

A Guide to Increased Alliance Results Class

This Masterclass focuses on learning to apply the skills and tools that will help you to create and manage healthy alliances and partnerships, with increased results.

It is a one-day, on-site or online class led by an experienced instructor.  The class covers:

• Best practices
• Tools
• Models

The above will enable your team to apply their learnings directly to their work in managing partners for immediate improvement in alliance performance.  Additionally, the class delivers the following:

• Promotes experiential learning by focusing on the application of skills and knowledge in case scenario class exercises
• Provides a common vocabulary and glossary of terms as commonly used in the profession
• Integrates your experience into the course through discussion and application of Masterclass learnings

Alliance Masterclass

We designed this class as an interactive format, so that participants apply best practices and principles to alliance management situations. That way they choose the best course of action when solving a difficult situation.  Its focus is very much on team problem solving, within the context of case study scenarios, stimulating the situations that alliance managers face every day and challenging participants to apply their knowledge to those situations.

The Alliance Masterclass is based on the skills and competencies that the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) has found critical to the success of collaborative business relationships. The intent of this particular Masterclass is to develop the skills of the participating business professionals and to help them become better alliance professionals. 

What Happens During a Masterclass?

The Masterclass is a thorough session that spends time reviewing concepts and models related to alliance management.  It also spends time discussing cross-industry case scenarios.  The aim is to keep the Masterclass as practical as possible. This way the learnings can be applied to the participant’s work almost immediately.  We also aim to integrate discussion of the participant’s alliances, wherever possible.

Who is the Masterclass Designed For?

The Alliance Masterclass is especially aimed at alliance and business managers who are involved in the decision making process of forming and managing alliances.  The Masterclass has also been delivered as tailored, in-house classes as well as generic, open registration classes.

Previous Masterclass Participants

The managerial levels of previous Masterclass participants* include:

• Directors and VP’s of alliances
• General Managers
• Operation Managers
• Alliance Managers
• Marketing Managers
• Business Owners

*not limited to.

An Outline of an In-Company Alliance Masterclass

This outline provides you with an overview of the topics on the agenda for a one-day, in-company Alliance Masterclass:

• Welcome and Introductions
• What are Alliances?
• Alliance Specific Strategy
• Partner Analysis and Selection
• Building Trust & Creating Value
• Operational Planning
• Alliance Structuring & Governance
• Launching & Management
• Transform, Innovate, Exit
• Closing

The above outline covers the full alliance lifecycle.  It allows ample room for extensive discussion to delve deeper into the topics that are relevant to the participants.  Throughout the day, we will discuss tools, best practices, culture and behaviour (the latter being the so-called “soft elements” of alliances).

Tools Provided 

• Scenarios – We built the course around experiential scenario learning.  We will review concepts and tools. Much of the learning comes from interaction with your teammates in solving issues presented in these scenarios.  Scenarios represent multiple industry examples but the learnings can be applied across all industries and alliance types. 
• Worksheets and Templates – Many tools are provided within the context of the Masterclass’ materials. 

Alliance Masterclass Flow

As a best practice, we encourage all participants to complete a pre-workshop assessment. These is done confidentially and submitted to Simoons & Company. We use the information to determine the areas of the Masterclass that require specific attention.

During the Masterclass, we review concepts and models of alliance management, and we discuss case scenarios to extract experiential learning from participants. We integrate discussion of your own alliances and best practices into the Masterclass agenda.