Relationships That Matter to the BRM

The relationship between a BRM and their business partners is a no-brainer. It’s usually the first relationship that comes to mind when we think about business relationship management—and arguably the most important.

A primary reason for deploying the BRM capability is that business partners typically feel (and indeed often are) disconnected from or weakly connected to their internal provider organization. Either they feel underserved by their internal provider or they see their provider simply as an order taker, which is a common and egregious form of underserving.

Increasingly, business partners have alternative sources of supply, such as cloud-based providers (Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, and so on) and management consulting firms eager to serve them. Enter the BRM to “repair” the business partner-internal provider relationship, close the gulf between the parties, and elevate realized business value from investments in provider capabilities and assets.

Within this category, BRMs typically have several different business partner relationships in their portfolio, each at different relationship maturity stages and representing different relationship value, including:

1. Formally assigned business partner relationships
2. Informally adopted business partner relationships
3. Prospective business partner relationships they are nurturing
4. Relationships with enterprise leadership, whether directly or through the Chief Provider Officer

The BRM Institute Interactive Body of Knowledge and Business Relationship Management Professional^® (BRMP^®) training and certification provide the guidance and tools necessary to assess relationship strength and value, in order to help BRMs develop their relationship portfolio strategy and approaches.

A second type of BRM relationship that matters—yet is often overlooked—is relationships among BRMs. The most effective BRMs work as a team to identify common issues and opportunities and to leverage common solutions—to ‘fill the spaces,’ as it were, between business partner domains. Therefore, individual and collective relationships with other BRMs are important to nurture and manage in the BRM’s relationship portfolio.

A third type of critical BRM relationship is that among business partners and key provider stakeholders. In the new practitioner-level Certificate of Business Relationship Management^® (CBRM^®) training, we teach Cultivating Relationship Networks, which examines why people reach out to others and reviews the types of roles individuals can fill in an informal network, as well as techniques BRMs can use to leverage purpose-based relationship networks in the pursuit of realized business value.

Harvard Business Review identifies four important network role-players in their article “The People Who Make Organizations Go—or Stop:”

• Central Connectors, who link people in an informal network with one another
• Boundary Spanners, who connect an informal network with other parts of the company or with similar networks in other organizations
• Information Brokers, who keep the different subgroups in an informal network together
• Peripheral Specialists, who anyone in an informal network can turn to for specialized expertise

Building on this, CBRM^® introduces the concept of purpose-based relationship networks, with purpose framed in a set of shared visions, goals, and inter-dependencies that stimulate and sustain collaboration and cooperation within an informal network towards a specific end. The BRM, using their influence and persuasion skills, has a significant boundary spanning role to play in being a network connector, orchestrator, and cultivator of productive purpose-based relationship networks.

To do this, they must differentiate between network nodes that possess positional power to control and commit resources, and those with personal power to influence those with positional power. They must then work with these power-holders, using their own personal power to influence and persuade.

Next, we move from internal to external relationships. These include:

• BRMs in other companies. For example, BRM Institute members enjoy access to other members through the BRM Institute Online Campus and through BRMConnect conferences around the world.
• Institutions that serve the BRM community. For example, taking a more active role in organizations such as BRM Institute, International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA), and so on, which goes beyond leveraging the Bodies of Knowledge and interest groups to actively participating within the community. Examples of this active participation are serving as a coach or mentor, contributor to the Body of Knowledge, or presenter of a webinar or conference session.
• Institutions that serve the business partner’s profession or industry. This can be a highly effective way to build credibility, develop your knowledge about your business partner’s domain, and get quality ‘face time’ with your business partner if you accompany them to a conference or event.
• External providers. These are often seen as ‘the enemy,’ but this need not be the case if they can be enlisted in ways that are constructive and consistent with the larger demand/supply strategy and Operating Model. For example, I’ve taught BRM courses to progressive clients who include ‘relationship managers’ from their strategic external providers. This helps to create a common language between internal and external providers and business partners, while removing value-depleting noise and friction and accelerating time to value realization as internal and external providers collaborate in the pursuit of business value.

The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, so being thoughtful about external relationships that matter and bringing these into your relationship portfolio can increase your knowledge, power, and influence in ways that augment your ability to optimize business value realization.

Finally, don’t forget the need to attend to relationships with your family and friends. A BRM who is unhappy at home will undoubtedly be less effective at work. You can also learn a great deal about relationships, business issues, industry trends, and so forth from your friends, whether or not they are in industries and jobs similar to yours.