Partnership

Partnership is the journey towards being better together than apart

Do you have a partner in your life? If so, what makes you good together? Or perhaps you have experienced partnerships at work – between colleagues, or organisations, or communities?

If you have, you will already know a few home truths:

Partnerships are not easy, but they can be rewarding;

Partnerships can exist for a fleeting moment, or they can last a lifetime (or longer);

Partnerships are what drive progress and evolution, but when they fail, they can fuel destruction and chaos.

So why do we enter into partnerships in the first place? And what makes them successful?

In society – be it in families, communities or nations – we enter into partnerships because we can achieve more through collaboration that we can in isolation.

And in our personal lives, we are drawn to partners because they bring out the best in us;

They allow us to create something together that we couldn’t have done alone.

The underlying principles of partnership are the same at any level. Partnership only exists when there is a common purpose – a mutual goal or set of ideals and aspirations.

Partnership only works when each party complements the other – the strengths of the one compensating for the weaknesses of the other, and vice versa.

Partnership does not fail because of a diversity of goals, but because these goals are not aligned.

Partnership is a journey in which we walk together with others. As soon as the paths diverge, the partnership is over.

Partners are not parts of one whole – these are called fragments.

Partners have their own identity and integrity, but choose to work or live together with others to pursue a common purpose.

Hence, partnership is a free choice, which can be revoked by any party at any time.

For this reason, the invisible glue of partnership is mutual respect.

Despite its fragility, partnership is the rule of life, rather than the exception.

The ocean partners with the sun to form rain.

The sun partners with the rain to grow plants.

Humans partner with nature and each other to form homesteads and communities, organisations and industries, nations and civilizations.

On and on it goes.

In short, life on earth is a grand experiment in partnership.

If we ignore the lessons of partnership – common purpose, beneficial co-operation and mutual respect – we will descend into destruction and chaos.

If we heed the lessons of partnership, life will flourish and we will prosper.

So choose your partners carefully, but don not ever think you can go it alone.

For nothing great or worthwhile was ever achieved without partnership.

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