STUDENT

GUIDE

BSBLDR812

DEVELOP AND
CULTIVATE
COLLABORATIVE
PARTNERSHIPS AND
RELATIONSHIPS
 Contents

Overview 4
Topic 1: Determine partnership outcomes 5
Topic 2: Establish partnership through activity 23
Topic 3: Cultivate partnership performance 32

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 Overview

The Student Guide should be used in conjunction with the recommended reading and any further
course notes or activities given by the trainer/assessor.

Application of the unit

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to establish collaborative partnerships and
relationships with business and industry stakeholders. This unit covers communicating to influence
others, cultivating new and existing partnerships, establishing positive collaborative relationships,
leading the establishment of a partnership program and establishing reporting mechanisms.
The unit applies to people who use cognitive and creative skills to review, critically analyse and
synthesise knowledge, to generate ideas and provide solutions to complex problems. They use
communication skills to demonstrate their understanding of theoretical concepts and to transfer
knowledge and ideas to others.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Learning goals
Learning goals include:
 You are able to determine partnership outcomes.
 You are able to establish partnership through activity.
 You are able to cultivate partnership performance.

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 Topic 1: Determine partnership outcomes

Organisation transformation and change management

Organisation transformation is part of organisational development that arises in response to, or in
anticipation of, significant variations in an organisation’s environment or technology.
Transformational organisation change, or strategic organisation transformation, is characterised not
only by changes to systems and process but also by how the people of an organisation think,
perceive and act in their organisation. Strategic transformations require shaking up the status quo
and altering the prevailing assumptions on how organisations operate. The strategic transformation
entails a shift in corporate values, norms and behaviours to adapt to radical or emerging changes
in its environment.
Such is the situation when organisations form collaborative partnerships or new business
relationships with external stakeholders. Collaborative partnerships and relationships refer to
building alliance with stakeholders so that you and the partners can leverage and mutually benefit
from using other’s resources, systems, processes, and equipment to achieve business goals and
task objectives.
Organisations will want to form partnerships with other public or private entities to increase their
business viability. Many organisations incorporate collaborative partnerships in their strategic plans
to overcome the following disruptions:
 Industry discontinuity – significant changes in the organisations political, economic, legal and
technical conditions occurring due to shifting competition in the industry.
 Product cycle shift – product life cycle that requires changes to different strategies because
the prevailing strategies become obsolete and do not maximise profit returns.
 Internal company dynamics – changes in company size, portfolio, structure or leadership
turnovers.
The following diagram demonstrates the steps involved in the management of stages of
organisational change.

3. Prioritise 4. Leverage
1. Acknowledge 2. Communicate business needs and technology to
change is and engage with define the start, share roles,
required and everyone to make middle and end of responsibilities
establish a plan a case for change the transformational and performance
change indicators

5. Foster organisation
6. Use informal
culture to build process, 7. Engage with right stakeholders
influencers to build
systems and across the company to get their
staff support for
performance buy-in and support for the change
change
requirements

Source: https://blogs.oracle.com/oraclehcm/7-steps-to-leading-organizational-change-and-transformation

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However, sometimes businesses do not have the necessary skills and resources to implement and
change the stages of change on their own. This is when they seek a collaborative partnership to
facilitate the required transformative change. The cultivation and forming of collaborative
partnerships either with private companies or public enterprises or community usually encompass:
 Systematic and revolutionary changes in the leadership styles, HR department, information
technology, organisation structure ideally to motivate works employee behaviour towards the
new strategic direction.
 New organising paradigms such as a shift in mental and organisation framework where there
is a strong emphasis on continuous learning and improvement, participative employee
involved decision making, leaner and flat organisations, customer service excellence.
 Driven by senior executives and line managers who:
o envision or articulate credible organisational visions and goals for the new changes

o energise, communicate and demonstrate personal excitement, model behaviours and

attitudes expected of employees and management for the new changes
o enable the management team and employees by providing them with resources and
reinforcing good behaviours that support the change process.
 Significant learning and creativity and innovation that adapt to new behaviours, systems,
processes and make the organisation agile.
Therefore, leaders and managers must have the right skills and knowledge to venture into new
partnership relations. They need to have the skills, knowledge and attributes to manage
stakeholders, form collaborative partnerships and establish and implement systems to measure
benefits of partnership outcomes.

Determine partnership outcomes

It is always an excellent idea for companies to develop and maintain their industry network and
involvement with communities. It is from the business network where many businesses identify
their business partners (external partnerships). Many times, enterprises also ally with external
communities as part of their strategic plan or business transformation. Businesses can also form
strategic alliances between their company subsidiaries (internal partnerships).
However, business partnership and relationships, whether with external or internal stakeholders,
must be identified and developed after assessing company strategic goals, objectives and business
needs to achieve those goals and objects.

Outcomes of effective partnership

Establishing a collaborative partnership with stakeholders has many advantages.

Achieve cost saving

Ineffective partnerships can cost money and brand reputation.

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 Risk management

This helps identify and mitigate risks within and outside of the organisation. For example,
environment and social policies and legislation and/or communities of interest.

Avoid conflict

Understand the expectations prior to implementing programs, and feed information back to
stakeholders during and after program implementation.

Manage stakeholder expectations

An opportunity to identify stakeholder concerns and manage their attitude to the program.

Improve corporate governance

Implementation of leadership and management style, policies, procedures and practices to build
corporate social responsibility.

Improve company brand

Employees and the public prefer dealing with organisations that respect laws, rights, beliefs of
stakeholders, and that have an ethical, social and environmental handing: they promote
organisation credibility and reputation.

Better decision-making capability

Transparency and reporting requirements force the organisation to capture and analyse data that
can enhance organisational decision-making.

Achieve organisation goals

Alignment of value-driven strategies to the organisation’s values, mission and objectives helps with
better financial and non-financial outcomes.
Source: https://s21.q4cdn.com/589145389/files/doc_documents/EN/Stakeholder-Engagement-Plan.pdf

Strategic goals, task objectives and business needs

Before using too much effort finding and selecting business partners, you must identify whether you
need business partners to achieve strategic goals and task objectives. A thorough assessment of
your business strategies and tasks objectives will indicate whether the business needs to build
collaborative partnerships and relationships to achieve business goals.
You can assess strategic business goals and task objectives by:
 identifying business needs: how will the partnership help address the business need?
 evaluating key success drivers for the business: what does my business need to survive?

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 evaluating key performance indicators for the business: how will I measure the effectiveness
of my partnership?
 evaluating alignment of business strategies to business goals: do business strategies help
achieve business goals?
 evaluating whether seeking a partnership or business alliance will strengthen the business
position in the industry: how will the partnership affect your brand reputation?
 evaluating whether the partnership is able to provide a sustainable solution for business
needs: is the partnership reliable and a cost-effective option?
 evaluating whether it values the business depending on the objectives of the partnership: does
the partnership match the business values?

Activity: Brainstorm

 What partnership options could help a logging business in Australia build a

reputable brand in the industry?
 How will the partnership help address the needs of a logging business?

Identify potential partnership opportunities

Identification of potential partnerships includes recognising candidates or interested parties inside
an organisation and its external environment who can assist in establishing collaborative
partnerships and relationships with the business. It also involves considering existing partners and
how they can add value to the business strategic goals and objectives. To identify existing and
future partners, a company must assess its internal stakeholders and external stakeholders.

Internal stakeholders:
Board members, management,
employees

Organisation feasibility

External stakeholders:
Suppliers, government, interested
groups, unions, customers,
shareholders, vulnerable groups

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 Reasons to consider and involve internal and external stakeholder expectations and
involvement in forming business partnerships and relationships

 Stakeholders have expectations and organisations need to meet those expectations.

 Stakeholders have the power to influence the organisation’s partnership and relationship
building capability.
 Stakeholders are affected by the organisation’s actions.
 Stakeholders must be managed to mitigate the negative influence on an organisation’s
success.
 Stakeholders help to identify employees and managers with the knowledge and skills
required to form a successful business partnership.
 Stakeholders help to identify external “movers & shakers” in the external environment whom
organisations can leverage and collaborate with to form strategic business alliances to
achieve organisational success.
 It involves making a list of existing stakeholders, their roles, responsibilities and how they
can influence the formation of business partnerships.
 Identification of existing and potential stakeholders (partners) and to identify what other
partnerships must be formed to address the business capability and capacity gaps.

Activity: Read

The following link provides an overall view of stakeholders:

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/p13903/Think-Cranfield/2009/September-2009/
Stakeholder-Engagement-and-Corporate-Responsibility
 List down the type of stakeholders common to businesses who can assist with
identifying and forming for business partnerships.

Selecting partners
Once an organisation has assessed its need for partnerships, it must explore avenues to form
credible partnership options. The credibility of collaboration begins with exploring what type of
alliance best fits your business and your readiness to meet the regulatory requirements of the
partnership. Understanding the regulatory requirements of a partnership gives companies a sense
of their responsibility and helps them determine the level of commitment that would be required of
partners for the duration of the partnership.

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 Activity: Read and discuss

Read the information on Guide to Investing: Understanding Australian business

regulation:
https://www.austrade.gov.au/International/Invest/Guide-to-investing/Running-a-
business/Understanding-Australian-business-regulation.
 List some business regulatory requirements to consider when forming
partnerships in Australia
Read the information on Business structures and types:
https://www.business.gov.au/planning/business-structures-and-types and
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/
 Identify the types of partnership that exist in Australia.
Read the information on Registering not-for-profit or charitable organisations:
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/registering-a-company/steps-to-register-a-company/
registering-not-for-profit-or-charitable-organisations/
 What rules apply of section 184 of the Corporations Act that still apply to the
directors and officers of charitable organisations that are registered with the
ACNC?
Note your findings and discuss in class.
The trainer/assessor will facilitate a discussion about the outcomes of the research.

Establish a communication strategy in collaboration with

partners
As organisations form new partnerships, new relationships
are built. During this process, an organisation’s strategies,
policies, practices and management are bound to change
to accommodate a more agile and collaborative way of
doing business. If organisational changes are not planned
and managed correctly, there are high chances that
organisational changes will be resisted. Collaborative
thinking can help overcome resistance to change as an
organisation transition into their new platform of managing
their business. Leaders must have empathy and support
and communicate and encourage participation and
involvement of employees and future potential partners to
build mutually beneficial partnerships.
Image by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

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 Activity: Research

 What consultation and communication strategies should leaders use to influence

internal and external stakeholders prior, during and after the announcement of
partnership news to employees (employee engagement) and the general
public?
 What social media strategies can be utilised to address the above
announcements?
o What are the advantages and disadvantage of using social media in this
context?

Develop a communication strategy

A communication strategy is an overall plan describing the what’s, who’s, when’s and how’s of
communication between the business and its partners. It looks at how the partners share or
exchange information to achieve goals and objectives.
An effective communication strategy is crucial because it can help:
 achieve overall company goals and objectives
 foster effective engagement between partners and stakeholders
 set a benchmark for performance expectations
 evaluate the performance requirements of the partnership
 warrant that everyone understands what to do and what is being done
 address and modify attitude and behaviour if necessary.

Activity: Read

Read the article about developing a communication strategy:

https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/campaigns/communications/communications-strategy
 What are the critical elements of a communication strategy?

There are several uses of communication strategies. Some examples:

 Addressing what an organisation’s mission, purpose, values, objectives and strategies are.
 An organisation’s programs, its purpose, implications, the lifetime of an organisation’s
programs.
 Details of the contact person in the organisation from whom stakeholders can seek
information.

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The communication strategy incorporates a communication plan that outlines what communication
will be used to share what type of information. Communication strategies could include:
 a company website that has information about the organisation and its business ventures for
external stakeholders
 a company intranet for internal stakeholders
 a notice or information board within the company office
 communication or correspondence to lobby the company’s initiative or program using phones,
emails, social media, print media, radio announcements and/or television commercials
 one-on-one interviews to discuss any views or feelings about the company’s activities or
programs towards the business partnership. This can be done confidentially if necessary.
 formal meetings that involve presentations, professional documentation and discussions about
company partnerships
 training or workshops
 focus group meetings
 surveys as a mechanism to capture feedback or issues regarding business partnerships.

Communication/education plans
Information on organisational changes arising from new partnerships and business ventures must
be shared with stakeholders in a timely and appropriate manner.
The communication plan should therefore contain:
 identification of information type that needs to be communicated, such as:
o day-to-day operational requirements of the business.

o new or revised policies and procedures.

o changes to the workspace, working environment, job design, or organisational chart.

o dates and agendas for and minutes of meetings.

o protocols for and progress on topics that are identified under the strategic partnership plan
such as phases of partnership programs or projects, issue identification, problem-solving,
conflict management and staff training and development.
 names of stakeholders to receive each type of communication – so all the relevant or
designated persons receive the correct information.
o The contact details of stakeholders – email, social media, telephone etc.

o Their preferred method for receiving information.

 timing requirements – detailing the frequency of communications and, for example, the time by
which nominated information must be communicated.

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Facilitating communication through consultation
Consultation is a form of communication. Models of consultation will vary from organisation to
organisation because of an organisation’s purpose, function and practice. Plus, the stage of an
organisation – whether the organisation is in its growth, maturity, decline or revival stage, will also
play a role in selecting a suitable consultation strategy.
The four basic types of consultation models are as follows.
1. Expert model.
2. Medical (Doctor-Patient) model.
3. Process model.
4. EODC model (Emergent organisational development and change).
Source: Emergent Change

Consulting stakeholders
The decision to choose relevant stakeholder consulting methods will depend on:
 identification of relevant stakeholders
 using a suitable communication strategy to develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships
and relationships with stakeholders
 cultural appropriateness and availability of technical systems
 planning requirements. It is advisable to predetermine consultation methods based on who is
the stakeholder and what type of information is required. For example, government officials
will be consulted by holding formal meetings and use the presentation of formal documents or
reports to build organisational rapport with them.

Activity: Read

Read the article on four Basic Consultative Models:

https://emergentchange.net/2012/06/13/approaches-to-consultation-the-four-basic-
models/
 Identify the four models.
 Describe how these models are used to influence stakeholders.
 What is your preferred style of consultation? And why?
 How does situational leadership come into play with using different models of
consultation?

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 Activity: Research and discuss

The following link provides an overall view of stakeholders:

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/p13903/Think-Cranfield/2009/September-2009/
Stakeholder-Engagement-and-Corporate-Responsibility
List what consultation methods will be used to facilitate communication to influence
the following relevant individuals and stakeholders.
1. Employees
2. Management
3. Impacted community
4. Government
5. Unions
6. Vulnerable groups
7. Suppliers

External and internal forces and trends

An organisation’s external and internal forces and trends greatly influence an organisation’s
culture, the strategies it adopts to achieve its goal and how it disseminates information to influence
its stakeholders for its survival. PESTLE analysis, SWOT and Porter’s five forces tools are some
tools that organisations can use to design their organisation and develop their strategies. This
process can be complemented through seeking advice from both internal and external sources
such as management, staff, expert advice from functional business areas, consultants,
methodologies/frameworks, competitors, external expert advice from consultants, government
bodies, professional bodies and social media links such as LinkedIn.

Activity: Group work

Divide into small groups. Ensure you divide the work equally.
Select an organisation.
 Conduct a PESTLE, SWOT and Porter’s five forces analysis to identify the
external trends and internal forces of the organisation. Identify and note down
internal and external sources of information that can be used for PESTLE and
SWOT analysis and Porters fives forces (these can be links, intranet
information, ABS studies, etc.).
o Determine how external and internal sources of information determine an
organisation’s culture: what elements of organisational culture are
identifiable?
o Determine how the organisation uses external and internal sources of

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 information to influence its internal and external stakeholders.
 Research and explain how a company’s external and internal forces and trends
impact its communication strategy.
Submit all work as professionally written documents within the timeframe allocated.
Your trainer/assessor will provide your group with feedback.

Establish key indicators and feedback processes

Key indicators and feedback processes are valuable means for evaluating the health of business
partnerships.

Activity: Watch

Introduction to Key Performance Indicators.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKF_MvgAdpE (04:56)
“Key Performance indicators must be driven by outcomes and be quantifiable”.
 What are some drivers of key performance indicators?
 What are some quantifiable outcomes that can be measured in a sales and
marketing function of an organisation at an individual level, department level and
company level?
 Can these indicators be applied to partnership agreements? Support your
answers with reasons.

Use equal work to establish and evaluate partnership indictors

When partnerships are formed, more work is created for the organisation and its new partners.
Partners in the partnership need to ensure that the work activities are shared and allocated cost-
effectively and equitably. When partnership agreements or contracts are not appropriately solicited,
one of the parties may likely end up putting in more effort or work, which out-throws the benefits of
the partnership. The responsibilities and rewards of the partnership must be equally shared and
mutually agreed. The inputs and outcomes of the partnership must be made quantifiable, and
performance standards must be agreed.
Some examples of equal work allocation in the partnership are:
 Partners must understand and comply with their regulatory requirements.
 Partners capture data and provide information on time.
 Organisations must include other parts of businesses to implement a partnership agreement.
This includes finance, human resource, IT, marketing, etc.
 Understand each other’s organisational structure and strategic framework.
 Build relationships with stakeholders in the partnering business.

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 Structure of financial requirements of partnership and make it legally binding to minimise risks.
 Ensure the provision of resources, including human resources and technology to implement
partnership programs effectively.
 Put in place service level agreements so that partners know turnaround times for projects or
jobs.

Feedback process to establish and evaluate partnership indictors

Leaders and management must also establish partnership review and feedback processes that can
be used to evaluate the health of the work environment.
The diagram below demonstrates a typical feedback process:

Seek feedback form partners

& relevant stakeholders

Contact partners & relevant stakeholders Record both positive

to provide and gather feedback negative feedback

Manager promotes positive Report to respective personnel to

outcomes and resolves issues resolve the feedback

Often, many organisations only conduct a review of partnership agreements when it is due for
renewal. A properly executed partnership will encompass the following:
 A contract management team or leadership team – validate the need for partnership and
partnership viability.
 A procurement or contracts manager – ensures that all elements of partnership agreements
are executed and signed off and reviewed as required.
 A stakeholder liaison officer or coordinator – maintains a current record of stakeholder list and
disseminates information to correct stakeholders using correct media. Sometimes they also
play the role of Issues and Resolution Officer or vice versa who capture, identify and get the
issues resolved by working with respective internal stakeholders.
 Risk management or contingency plan in case the partnership defaults.
 Clearly state any quantifiable performance indicators such as costs, capital investment and
profit-sharing.
 Clearly state any qualitative performance indicators such as issues and feedback from staff
and customers.

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 Use management and financial reports to analyse outcomes of the partnership.
 Use continuous improvement strategies to maximise the efforts of stakeholders and
performance standards.
 Department or function managers – ensure service level agreements are met.

Activity: Self-assessment

Access the following website Organisational Resilience Health Check tool:

Organisational resilience:
https://www.organisationalresilience.gov.au/HealthCheck/Pages/default.aspx
 Complete the self-assessment using health check tool.
The tool has instructions, indicators, results and treatments that you can use to
analyse your individual or organisational health check.
Consult your trainer if you have any questions or unclear on the outcomes of the
assessment.

Identify and implement strategies for commitment and

contribution
A well-crafted strategic framework will support an organisation’s objectives, vision, and mission. A
strategic framework is an excellent way of influencing internal and external stakeholders’
commitment and contribution. This will enable internal stakeholders to better their efforts towards
achieving desired organisational outcomes and form the basis for advocating a positive company
image to external stakeholders.
A strategic framework is supported by an organisation’s:
 vision statement
 mission statement
 purpose
 core values that an organisation may uphold
 strategies to accomplish visions
 goals; and
 action plans.
Source: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/build-a-strategic-framework-through-strategic-planning-1916834

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 Activity: Group work

Divide into small groups. Ensure you divide the work equally.
Complete the following table.
 Articulate and list one organisational value that can be achieved by
implementing the following programs.
 Name the external stakeholders who you will partner with to implement the
programs.
 What media will be used to disseminate information about the program and its
outcomes?

Organisation Communication
Program Potential partners
values channels

E.g., Supporting E.g., Helping the E.g., Swags for E.g., Company intranet
homeless people community. homeless Ltd. and social media.

Save local marine life

and harbour

Recycle electronic
gadgets and appliances

Keeping kids safe from

cyberbullying

Connecting with the

indigenous community

Sustainable supply
chain

Apprenticeship program

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 Funding mission to
mars program

Activity: Report

Work in pairs for this activity, dividing the work equally.

 Define the following: Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Core Values/Beliefs,
Goals.
 Research and identify three organisations with vision, mission, values and
goals.
 Describe what message their strategic framework conveys to you about their
business.
 Identify if the organisations have any external partnerships. If yes, with who and
what type of collaboration is it? E.g., Community, business, not-for-profit?
 What media do these organisations that you have identified above use to
influence their stakeholders?
Type up all your responses in report format. Your report should be between 1–2
pages long and be written in clear and concise English.
Submit your report to your assessor trainer/assessor for feedback.

Implement influencing techniques

A combination of influencing strategies can be used to increase commitment from staff and
stakeholders to achieve the desired organisational culture.

Activity: Read

Read the article on an overall view of stakeholders:

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/executive-transitions/influencing-
stakeholders.html
 Describe the influencing strategies and note your findings.

Emotional intelligence
As a change agent, you must be able to navigate your own and others’ emotions to achieve the
best outcomes when forming partnerships. Having the ability to sense and monitor one’s feelings
and emotions can provide the benefit of information to guide own and others thinking and actions.
(Peter Salovey, Yale University & John D. Mayer, University of New Hampshire).

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 19

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 20
 Perceiving
Emotions

Managing Emotional Understanding

Emotions Intelligence Emotions

Using Emotions

Source: https://blog.zyncro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Emotional-inteligence-in-companies.jpg

Change facilitators with high emotional intelligence fundamentally have a better ability to build
healthy and effective interpersonal relationships, cultivate collaborative thinking, and have effective
communication skills, negotiation skills, enhanced adaptability and problem-solving skills. These
skills are profoundly crucial for fostering collaborative business partnerships.
Source: https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/leadership/importance-eq-business/

Lobby for change

Engage lobbyist to build a positive image of the
organisation to the broader community and stakeholders.
These are:
 Management – who establish the policies,
procedures, standards and boundaries of
relationships and partnerships. Management is
responsible for developing and cultivating
collaborative partnerships and relationships;
therefore, professionalism and modelling of desired
behaviour will need to start at the top of the
organisation.
 Organisation’s brand management team – this team
will identify the tools, mechanisms and appropriate
time for consultation with the targeted stakeholders.
 Communications officer – responsible for executing
the tools and mechanisms to engage with targeted
stakeholders.
Image by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

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 Activity: Group work

Divide into small groups. Ensure you divide the work equally.
 Complete the table by identifying situations in which the following influencing
techniques will be useful.
Submit all work as professionally written documents within the timeframe allocated.
Your trainer/assessor will provide your group with feedback.

Influencing strategies Situations

1. Empowerment
Make others feel valued
and appreciated by
involving them in the
decision-making process
and providing recognition.

2. Interpersonal
awareness
Identify and support people
and vocalise other’s ideas
and concerns.

3. Bargain
Negotiate and exchange
resources to gain a
mutually beneficial
outcome.

4. Build relationships
Take time and maintain
friendly communication to
understand partners and
stakeholders.

5. Organisation
power/strength
awareness
Identify key stakeholders,
build rapport to gain their
support in influencing staff

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 and other stakeholders.

6. Common vision
Link and show how the
partnership will support the
company’s strategic goal.

7. Make an impact
Select engaging, notable
and dramatic methods to
convey ideas.

8. Logical persuasion
Utilise logic, experiences
and evidence to convince
people.

9. Coercion
Apply threat and pressure
tactics to get people to do
what you want them to do.

Source: https://scottfenstermaker.com/9-strategies-for-influencing-others/

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 Topic 2: Establish partnership through activity

Business policies, processes and legitimacy of partnership

arrangements
Developing a business partnership plan is useful to keep track of task objects and helps with
making immediate and future business partnership decisions. Additionally, the business plan must
also provide sufficient information on the type of activities that will be conducted to form alliances
and how resources will be deployed. The following are the steps in developing a business
partnership plan.

1. Write a mission 2. Develop a reimbursement plan on

3. Develop a
statement outlining how costs, investments, interest on
process to resolve
what strategies and investments or repayments will be
partnership
goals will be achieved made throughout the partnership
disputes.
through partnership. term.

5. Divide partnership
4. Appoint trusted 6. Seek legal or
responsibilities and state
business advisors to financial advice on
payments/compensation terms
assist internal partnership
based on partnership
partnership issues. agreement.
contribution and workload.

Source: Business plan for partnership firm

As indicated in the diagram above, several activities must be conducted to establish a partnership.
Company policies, procedures, legal compliances and management of responsibilities and
resources are a few key elements that play a crucial role in establishing collaborative partnership
and relations.

Note: You must document your company and legal requirements of partnership on your
partnership agreement. Stating the conditions on an agreement sets clear standards, boundaries
and compliance requirements of a private or public sector partnership.

The following are examples of methods to deploy public and/or private sector partnership.
Public sector strategies:
 Become a government contractor.
 Public-private partnership.
 Sponsor and/or contribute to research and development programs.
 Actively contribute to forming and review of statutory programs.
 Use industry or government subsidised programs to execute workplace initiatives.

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 24

 Actively support environmental, and social-political agendas that support ethical, sustainable
systems, economy, and environmental programs or projects.
 Investments in stock exchange markets with government shares.
 The lobby in state or federal legislation through industrial associations.

Private sector enterprises:

 Acquisition
 Trust
 Mergers
 Joint ventures
 Private or public company.

Organisational policies and procedures in partnership plans

The purpose of organisational policies and procedures in partnership plans is to validate the rules
of engagement between or amongst the business groups and ensure that there is a mutually
agreed contract that promotes the interest of all stakeholders. Some of these policies and
procedures are:
 A policy to make changes to the business accompanied by a procedure stipulating
management to complete relevant documents and gain the consent of relevant stakeholders
before making any changes to operations.
 Organisational policy that requires all partnership agreements to be reviewed at regular
intervals.
 A policy that requires partners to review and complete partnership rollover within certain
timeframes and the consequences of not doing so.
 A policy on breach of partnership contracts with a procedure to conduct investigations into the
matter.
 Grievance policy and procedure to capture and resolve stakeholders’ concerns, complaints or
issues.
 A policy on requiring fit for duty disclosure of partners and investment in any other business.
 A policy that requires full disclosure of all business partners’ details and business information
such as Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Company Number (ACN), copies
of business certificates, contact details of partners, details of shares.
 A policy on solvency solutions.
 A policy requiring all stakeholders to comply with the laws and legislative requirements of the
countries they operate in.
 A policy on duties and responsibilities of partners.
 Company structure and reporting lines.

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Revise and update company policies and procedures
Leaders must consider the fact that the formation of the partnership will need a revision of its
policies and procedures. This is primarily done to consolidate various practices of partnering
companies into one practice. This establishes boundaries and grounds for all stakeholders and
takes away any confusion on how things will be done from now on. Therefore, as organisations
venture into new partnerships, they must consider inducting their existing and new employees into
new policies and procedures.
Some policies are:
 A policy on determining the need for partnership and choosing the partners.
 A policy on making partnership legally legitimate.
 A partnership health check procedure to ensure the partnership works.
 A partnership viability policy.
 A Corporate Social Responsibility policy that highlights the organisation’s vision, goals and
objectives towards its stakeholders.
 A Human Resources policy.
 A workplace health and wellbeing policy.
 A training and development policy.
 A privacy policy.
 A corporate governance policy.
 Confidentiality agreements.
 A stakeholder management policy.
 A communication and media policy.

Legal requirements for partnership activities

All businesses in Australia are required to comply with rules and regulations stipulated by
government institutes. The following are some relevant legal requirements that must be factored
while planning the establishment of partnership programs:
 Search business name availability.
 Registration of business name.
 Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Company Number (ACN).
 Taxation requirements such as Pay As You Go (PAYG), Business Reporting Statement.
 Goods and Services Tax.
 Superannuation Contributions.

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 Activity: Read

Access Business.gov.au using the links to determine:

 Tools, tips and information to plan, start and grow your business:
https://www.business.gov.au/
 Relevant laws on partnership depending on your state or territory:
https://www.business.gov.au/planning/business-structures-and-types/business-
structures/partnership
 Setting up a corporate governance structure:
https://www.business.gov.au/planning/business-structures-and-types/business-
structures/set-up-your-governance-structure

Activity: Develop

Refer to the following websites and research elements of partnership agreement:

https://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/partnership-agreement/?
s=QSGovLaw&g=QGGoverningLaw#.XciX4tUzaUk
Types of contracts:
https://www.business.gov.au/people/contractors/understanding-contracts/types-of-
contracts
Working with contracts:
https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-03/WorkingWithContractsGuide.pdf
Law Depot:
https://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/partnership-agreement/?
s=QSGovLaw&g=QGGoverningLaw
 Prepare a comprehensive yet straightforward partnership agreement.
Your agreement must have a partnership title, be written in clear and concise English
and should be between 1–2 pages long.
Submit your agreement to your assessor trainer/assessor for feedback.

Plan and allocate resource

Establishing a collaborative partnership and relationship also requires businesses to plan and
allocate resource to accomplish activity with partners.
You must ensure that you plan and allocate resources to parts of the organisation for partnership
programs to be effective. You can identify resources in the business partnership plan. Some
resources are:

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 budget: setup and ongoing costs
 human resources
 other partners equity or contribution to executing planned work
 systems
 equipment and technology
 corporate governance
 organisation and reporting structure
 corporate and operational budget
 trademarks, patents and intellectual property.

The resource must also be effectively managed to ensure cost efficiency and a higher return on
investments. Considerations include identifying:
 risks  policies and procedures
 financial implications  code of conduct
 outcomes of resource use  ethics
 other departments or financial units  effective utilisation of all resources
 team capabilities  future business and partnership
requirements.
 other projects

Activity: Read

Read the following guide to prepare a business plan for growth:

https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/use-business-plan-allocate-resources-
effectively
 Why is business planning crucial for resources allocation in partnership
arrangements?
Read the following blog on cost-benefit analysis:
https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/cost-benefit-analysis-for-projects-a-step-by-
step-guide
 What is a cost-benefit analysis?
 Why is it calculated?
 How is it calculated?

Activity: Develop

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 What are the relevant regulatory authorities in Australia that legislate policies and
procedures for organisations?
From your research, create a register of at least ten government authorities that
influence policy and procedure formation in organisations. Include the following
information on your register:
 What are these authorities? Include their names and website links.
 What policies and procedures are advocated? Name the policy or procedure
corresponding to each authority.
You may use the register for future reference.
Remember to review the register and update them as and when changes occur.

Risk register
The two primary objectives of risks management include:
 Decrease the probable or potential adverse impacts.
OR
 Increase the prospective positive impacts.
Change agents must apply risk management principles to identify and mitigate or manage risks
that can have adverse effects on the business partnership plans and use of resources. Maintaining
a risk register can help critical stakeholders plan and prepare for risks associated with the
partnership.

Source: https://www.nao.org.uk/naoblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2016/02/Principles-of-risk-management.jpg

Managing issues and resolutions between partners

One of the primary and ever-present focus points of organisational change during partnerships and
company mergers is problem management. It is critical and must be noted that the leaders must be

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 29

able to identify foreseeable situations and be prepared to mitigate the problems that may arise from
new business ventures. The organisation will then need to adopt a culture that can be proactive at
managing such issues and resolve conflict in a fair, equitable and collaborative manner.

Activity: Research

Research the conflict resolution strategies outlined in the table below.

 Outline the processes involved in each method of managing issues and
resolutions.

Methods for
managing
Process
issues and
resolutions

Problem
Solving

Conflict
management

Negotiation

Workplace
intervention

Brainstorming

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Implement reporting systems
Reporting systems are established and implemented for reporting results against planned
partnership activity outcomes.
Reporting systems include policies, procedures and practices that enable capturing of business
data. This business data forms the basis for business intelligence which is used for decision
making by management.
Following are some reporting systems that can be
utilised to report results against planned
partnership outcomes:
 Grievance management policy and procedure
 Continuous improvement register
 Financial reporting structures
 Information technology systems
 Human resources information systems
 Project management systems
 Customer relationship management systems
 Strategic planning
 Organisational structure and reporting lines
 Management reports
 Various business checklist
 Service level agreements
 Accounting software
 Company intranet. Image by Sharon McCutcheon on
Unsplash

Activity: Read

Read the blog on building your reporting strategy:

https://home.kpmg/au/en/home/insights/2018/02/building-your-corporate-reporting-
strategy.html
 What function does the corporate reporting strategy play in an organisation?
 What does the author mean by the phrase “trust through transparency”?
 Write down any other benefits that are not covered in the blog, and you are
aware of.

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 Activity: Read

Read the following article and answer the question that follows:
 Seven principles of effective tax governance:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Privately-owned-and-wealthy-groups/Tax-
governance/Tax-governance-guide-for-privately-owned-groups/Corporate-
governance-and-tax-governance/Seven-principles-of-effective-tax-governance/
o What responsibilities do business partners (in a partnership structure) have
towards the Australian Taxation Office?
 Benefits of effective tax governance:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Privately-owned-and-wealthy-groups/Tax-
governance/Tax-governance-guide-for-privately-owned-groups/Corporate-
governance-and-tax-governance/Benefits-of-effective-tax-governance/
o What are the five key auditable units used to assess your business risk
rating?
 How Information System Risk Assessment (ISRA) tool works:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Privately-owned-and-wealthy-groups/Tax-
governance/Information-system-risk-assessment-tool/How-the-ISRA-tool-works/
o Is it compulsory for businesses in partnership to report their earnings and
pay to ATO? Why?
o Who is responsible for lodging business taxes?

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 32

 Topic 3: Cultivate partnership performance

Analyse partnership performance outcomes

Partnership performance outcomes must be evaluated at regular intervals and on an ongoing
basis. Analysing partnership outcomes enables key stakeholders to measure success but also
implement improvement strategies to facilitate better partnership and relationship performance.
The progress of partnership outcomes can be monitored by reviewing reports on the organisation’s
key performance indicators. Implementing reporting systems requires a thorough understanding of
what information is needed, who needs the reports, how the reports will be delivered and the
frequency of reporting.
Reports contain business intelligence which should be free from data corruption or tampering. This
means reports should show stakeholders an accurate picture or position of an organisation’s
performance.
 Establish monthly and annual reporting in an accurate, consistent and timely manner for
internal stakeholders as part of the financial risk management process. The reports must be
customised for intended stakeholders and disclosed most appropriately. The reports can be
broken done for executive managers, operations team, or audit purposes.
 Establish monthly and annual reporting in an accurate, consistent and timely manner for
external stakeholders to fulfil regulatory compliance requirements. These are used as
evidence to demonstrate to external stakeholders how businesses manage and mitigate risks.
 Establish a monthly and annual meeting to oversee the results against planned outcomes.
This can also include reviewing, allocation and spend of budgets.
 Quarterly and annual organisation health checks – internal and external stakeholder surveys.
 Stakeholder register, update and reassignment of roles where necessary and reasonable.
 Review business strategy, mission, vision, goals and objects to ensure validity and viability
going forward.
 Annual review of partnership agreements and contracts.
 Measure individual and organisation’s performance KPIs.

Activity: Read

Read the article: The partnerships analysis tool:

https://hmstrust.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/VH_Partnerships-Analysis-
Tool_web.pdf
 Review how VicHealth establishes maintains and promotes partnerships.
 Note the phases of organisational change and how they are managed.

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Common data collection methods relevant to performance evidence
There are several other methods to collect data relevant to partnership performance aside from
compiling performance reports from reporting systems. These include collecting and analysing both
qualitative and quantitative information on the performance of the partnership through:
 staff surveys and feedback
 customer surveys and feedback
 grievance and complain management registers
 reports and feedback from partners
 general public reviews concerning products and service delivery through a partnership
 compliance reports
 workplace health and safety reports, etc.

Identify and implement improvement opportunities

The business partners must collaborate with partners to identify improvement opportunities in the
partnership arrangement.
There are two types of performance measurements that business partners can undertake:
quantitative and quantitative.

Quantitative measures and results

These provide results that can be used to resolve specific problems. Data can be used
to form statistic and analytics. Results can be measured through performance reports
e.g., return on investment, milestones completed on time and/or within budget, business
performance or financial impact.

Qualitative measures and results

These provide a bigger picture of how the collaborative programs are running. These
results can be obtained from surveys, feedback, etc. e.g., stakeholder perception of
value and their participation, stakeholder satisfaction.

The following are examples of tools and reports that partners must consider reviewing to identify
improvements in their relationships.
 Use real-time performance monitoring  Performance test.
systems.
 Product and or service acceptance test.
 Quality assurance plans and reports.
 Stakeholder survey and feedback.
 Partner progress report.
 Costs and benefits analysis.
 Earned value measurement and reports.

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Identify and address variance in performance
The business partners must be realistic about how soon they can see the results of collaborative
efforts. There can be many reasons for not achieving the planned performance results. Relevant
stakeholders must identify the variance in performance and collaborate to check the reasons for
variance and act on them. Additionally, evaluating variance or outcomes can also help identify
improvement opportunities and strength collaborative relations.
The following are examples of how business partners implement continuous improvement in their
partnership:
 Operations/Financial and customer service team.
o Check if the organisation and program objectives are in alignment with the collaboration
objectives.
o Ensure there is consistency in methods used for the analysis of performance.

o Ensure financial investment and commitment.

o It takes time for results to actualise.

o Are clients’ expectations being met? Yes or no and why?

 Human Resource.
o Ensure staff have the skills and ability to perform the tasks, if not ensure learning and
development occurs.
o Ensure there is sufficient staff to perform required tasks.

o Ensure staff have the right motivation.

o Ensure organisation policies and procedures are have been updated and relevant to
needs to the new arrangement.
o Ensure employees understand the importance of programs outcomes to the organisation
and themselves.
 Management and organisation governance and culture.
o Check for key stakeholder commitment in the collaborative program.

o Ensure key stakeholders are engaged and driving the program just as much as the
project team.
o Ensure collaborative agreement, organisational structure, policies and procedures have
been communicated and understood.
o Ensure effective communication strategies are adopted to keep stakeholders informed on
the progress of the partnership.
o Implement continuous improvement systems.

 Production and delivery team.

o Ensure there is an ordering systems and quality assurance mechanisms in place.

o Check for timeliness of production.

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 o Ensure production team have the right technology and tools of the trade.

o Have a clear understanding of product delivery requirements: the delivery team can the
program or project team who complete and deliver service tasks to program sponsors or
the actual logistics teams who deliver the physical products and services to clients.
 Marketing team.
o Ensure the program scope and marketing plans are in sync.

o Ensure marketing materials are validated and approved before product and marketing
campaign launch.

Implement identified improvements to partnership operations

Sometimes, the partnership agreement will need changing to implement partnership operations.
Making changes to the agreement means making changes to the agreed terms and conditions of
the initial deal. These changes could be due to changing expectations and values of key
stakeholders or changes in business environment circumstances. The program manager must
enable parties to consult, evaluate and agree to new arrangements before making any changes to
agreements.

Any changes to partnership agreement should be documented, reviewed, approved, formalised

and communicated to relevant stakeholders and staff.

Making the “differences” work

Business partners must consult their key stakeholders as part of their collaborative effort to work
out how the differences between the parties will be managed in the relationship:
 Spend time deciding on how the parties will work “together” instead of making detailing out
plans.
 Leverage difference to create value rather than eradicating them.
 Spend more time with internal stakeholders as they are central to influencing organisational
program.
 Alongside formal governance, encourage positive behaviour at all times. Be respectful,
courteous and humble.

Internal changes
Sometimes it is the internal behaviour or practices that need to be modified rather than the terms
and conditions of the collaborative agreement. It is recommended that collaborators perform self-
checks to troubleshoot and make changes internally where necessary.
Internal changes must be documented and implemented through organisational policies and
procedures and embedded in business culture.
 Ensure staff and management have:
o information on collaborative arrangements and understand the reasons for collaboration

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 o learning and development opportunities to hone the skills required for collaborative
programs
o sufficient resources to complete the tasks effectively

o sufficient time to adjust to changes from collaboration arrangements

o motivation to perform and understand rewards mechanisms.

o continuous updates and information on a collaborative program.

 Means for changes: do the following internal environment of the organisation support the
collaborative arrangements?
o Commitment from top leadership and management.

o Organisational structure.

o Organisational governance.

o Motivators for performance.

o Report mechanisms.

o Leadership style and culture.

o Organisation policies, procedures and practices.

External changes
Changes required of external parties might sometimes need alteration to the agreement. If the
agreed terms and conditions of a contract do not work, the changes to terms and conditions must
be approved by all parties and amended on agreements.
Variance emerging from external parties and/or environment can be harder to change and manage.
The following approaches can be applied:
 Take a strategic
approaching to manage
variances.
 Meet with parties and have
open and honest
communication with
collaborators about
variances
 Brainstorm and look at
options to resolve the
variance.
 Use advisor if necessary.
 Allocate time for changes
and results to occur.
 Worst case scenario is when, despite putting in all the effort, parties
Image cannot resolve
by Romain Dancrethe
on Unsplash
variances on the planned

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 37

 result. In this case, the parties need to dissolve or terminate their agreement per contractual
agreement and organisational policies and procedures.

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 38

 Activity: Group work

Divide into small groups. Ensure you divide the work equally.
Research the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that is delivering a training
program to you. Review the organisation profile on the internet. Your group has
established that the RTO needs a transformational change in the way it offers
training programs to the students.
Develop a business partnership plan including the new vision, mission and
objectives. Your plan must simulate real business requirements and should be
prepared in the following format:
Part 1 – Determine partnership outcomes
 Establish partnership requirements in collaboration with your team: include the
following in this part:
o Partnership outcomes, legislative and organisational requirements.

o A communication strategy.

o Performance indicators.

o A feedback process.

o What influencing techniques will be used to influence stakeholder

commitment and contribution?
Part 2 – Establish partnership through activity
 Plan partnership activities: include the following in this part:
o Who is/are the partner/s?

o What do they do?

o How will the partnership build RTO’s capability and capacity? (Identify
partner/s abilities and resources.)
o What are three activities you conducted to establish the partnership?

o What are three risks associated with this alliance?

o What collaborative approaches/techniques will be used to enhance

individual and team outcomes?
Part 3 – Cultivate partnership performance
 Establish how you will collaborate and build a relationship/s with partner/s.
Include the following in this part:
o What will be used to record and analyse partnership performances?

o How will you monitor partnership performance?

o Conder the following performance outcomes and make improvement

BSBLDR812 Develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships and relationships | 39

 recommendations:
 There is an increase in student enrolment numbers after the
partnership was formed. Dec 2020 enrolled students 230, Dec 2021
enrolled 360 students. What is the percentage increase in the number
of enrolled students?
 The administration staff are unable to complete student registration
with 48 hours. It usually takes them over 72 hours to complete the
registration process. The partnering team is taking an additional day to
release student usernames and passwords. Work out how effective
the team's turnaround time would be.
 The partner is unhappy because there were instances when the
company staff had forgotten to include the partners logo on a student’s
course completion certificate.
 The total revenue for the RTO for the financial year-end is $5.2 million.
Their total cost is $2.25 million. Calculate the cost-benefit ratio.
Submit all work as professionally written documents within the timeframe allocated.
Your trainer/assessor will provide your group with feedback.

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