There are several critical events in the development of the Transition Plan: creation of the transition plan, articulation of the transition plan to employees and investors, investment in and modification of the partner’s Functional Underpinnings to enable the transition plan to be successfully executed, and actual execution of critical components of the transition plan.
Of vital interest to partner management is how much lead time is required by companies prior to the actual execution of activities consistent with the Transition Plan, and how much cash is required.
Three models emerged for the development of Transition Plans by CEOs:
CEO as source – sometimes assisted by outside consultants or members of the Board, the CEO acts as the architect and author of the Transition Plan
CEO as catalyst – the CEO serves as the catalyst for a process which led the senior management to develop a Transition Plan
Crumbling into place – the CEO leads the partner through some sort of notional planning process that creates a Transition Plan that fails to adequately address what will be done or what it needed to support the plan in execution.
The first two models of plan development work better than the third model.
Successful articulation of Transition Plans to employees and investors seems to be most successful when treated as an “adult education” problem and not simply an internal public relations exercise. In order for employees and investors to commit to the plan, the tactics and the activities in the plan had to seem legitimate. Things have to make sense. Clear and compelling plans are just that – clear and compelling. Dream or fantasy based plans do not work.
Employees and investors needed to be educated as to the whys, hows and why nots of a Transition Plan before they throw their unbridled support behind the plan.
The beginning of the process of investing in, and modifying the Functional Underpinnings of the partner is an extremely critical event in the development/execution of the Transition Plan. Regardless of the Plan drivers, by this point the decision has been made. The parts of the company that are to grow, shrink or disappear have been determined. The “make” or “buy” decisions have been made regarding internal or external growth. The specific target growth business for the internal and/or external growth have been determined.
Profiles have been created to drive the alliance/partnership/merger/acquisition program. Fundamental determinations have been made regarding where theFunctional Underpinnings need to be shored up or established.Two models seem to surround this cluster of critical events. Often, the process seems to have been started much too late. We observe partners where the growth had gone on without adequate Functional Underpinnings, only to have the results of the Transition Plan collapse on the organization. The second mistake we observe is a systematic underestimation of the amount of investment and/or modification that is actually required for a Transition Plan to be successful. In short, too little time and too little money is being invested to support the plans that were on the partner’s books.The first moves towards actual execution of the Transition Plan appear to be critical. In the most successful partners, management told employees/investors what they were going to do (and why they were going to do it), they did it, and then they told employees/investors what they had done and how it had worked.
Implications for management
Successful Transition Planning led by a “real” functioning CEO is critical to successful partner growth. Unfortunately, inertia is the key driver of many Transition Plans. Transition Plans require CEOs to make a number of critical decisions in order to guide the longer term investments and activities of the organization. The CEO is also tasked with driving the process of critical events that need to take place to get the organization into action. The investments that need to be considered are in the service, support, training and consulting business. As a CEO, are you defining and driving a process that will result in a more successful organization? support the Transition Plan in place? If not . . . when?
Bruce Stuart, ChannelCorp President, is an international expert in the fields of vendor channel strategy and solution partner profitability improvement.
