Most alliances do not fail because of bad intent or poor strategy. They drift off course quietly, through small misalignments that remain unaddressed for too long.
A regular Alliance Health Check makes those blind spots visible. It provides a structured, evidence based view of how the alliance is really functioning, where expectations diverge, where trust or engagement may be eroding, and where untapped value still sits. It allows you to intervene early, before issues harden into escalation or disengagement.
Every alliance professional knows this. Yet Alliance Health Checks are important rather than urgent. They sit on the to do list while day to day execution, stakeholder pressure, and operational firefighting take precedence. As a result, many health checks are delayed, diluted, or never completed at all.
That is precisely where an independent expert adds disproportionate value.
When I perform an Alliance Health Check, the process actually happens. I take full ownership of the mechanics, from stakeholder invitations and reminders to closing the survey on time, analysing the data, and translating insights into a clear, actionable report. This alone frees up significant time and cognitive bandwidth for the alliance team.
More importantly, independence changes the quality of the outcome. You and your counterpart inevitably carry history, assumptions, and internal narratives. I do not. That neutrality creates psychological safety for respondents and produces a far more honest picture of the alliance reality.
There is a further advantage that is often underestimated. Because I have assessed alliances across industries, maturity levels, and governance models, I can benchmark what you see against what actually works elsewhere. Patterns emerge that are invisible from the inside. This allows me to challenge accepted practices, highlight structural risks early, and suggest concrete improvements grounded in real world alliance performance.
Two additional benefits tend to matter most at senior level. First, a well run health check creates a shared fact base. It replaces anecdote and perception with data, which makes alignment discussions faster, more objective, and less political. Second, it strengthens credibility. Presenting leadership with an independent assessment and clear recommendations significantly increases the likelihood that improvement actions are approved, funded, and acted upon.
If you want 2026 to be a year of deliberate alliance improvement rather than reactive issue management, an independent Alliance Health Check is a powerful place to start.
If you are curious what this could look like for one of your alliances, let us schedule a short exploratory call.