Partnering

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PARTNERING AGREEMENTS
SECURING PARTNER COMMITMENT
Partnerships are little more than dialogues until those involved have made a
tangible commitment to collaboration. Such a commitment is typically recorded
in some form of Partnering Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding. The
difference between an agreement and a contract is that an agreement is
usually:
• Not legally binding
• Developed and agreed between the parties as equals
• Readily re-negotiable
• Open-ended (though sometimes a series of short-term
agreements is more appropriate than an open-ended one)
• Entered into voluntarily
Effectively partners are creating an ‘agreement to co-operate’ and this may be
all that they need to start working well together. At a later stage it may be
necessary to create legally binding contracts in order to undertake a large-scale
or complex project; to handle larger amounts of funding or to register as a new
form of ‘institution’. But a Partnering Agreement is usually the first step and in
many instances it may be sufficient to confirm and consolidate the partnership
medium to long-term.
INTEREST-BASED NEGOTIATION
Securing agreement requires negotiation - but in a partnering arrangement this
is not negotiation in the sense of a ‘hard-nosed’ business deal. What is required
is the opportunity for the underlying interests of all parties to be drawn out and
discussed in a purposeful way that aims at building consensus and complementarity
out of diverse aspirations.
Partners going through this form of negotiation need to exercise considerable
patience, tact and flexibility - but if just one individual demonstrates their
willingness to do this others will follow their lead.
REMEMBER
Interest-based negotiation is best served when those involved:
• Listen carefully
• Ask open (rather than closed) questions
• Summarise what has been said to see if they have understood correctly
and
• Agree to disagree when necessary in order to move the discussion forward
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