Building Partnerships to Create Mutual Success
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2025
by Shauna Walwood
I’ve spent my career in customer facing roles, learning what it takes to cultivate and maintain meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships. I am currently responsible for strategic account management with PPG and would like to extend a little of what I’ve learned.
We all know that business relationships are important, but how many of us truly invest in them? We hear all the time that business is “all about relationships,” and while I certainly agree with this sentiment, I think many of us stop there. Instead, nurturing those relationships into partnerships is where the magic happens!
So, what’s the difference? We’ll get there—but before that, which one of these are you identifying with right now? Either you’ve perked up because your job revolves around relationships, or you are not sure how this could apply to you. Perhaps you have an obvious relationship role, such as sales, customer service, or some kind of position where you spend a lot of customer-facing time. Or maybe you are in more of an internal or administrative role and thinking, “I’m not really sure how this is going to relate to the work I do.” If you are part of the latter crowd, hang in there with me!
By the end of this article, I want every reader to understand the unique way in which your role intersects with others, and to feel inspired to grow those relationships into mutually beneficial, collaborative partnerships.
Let’s dig in—is it really ‘all about relationships?’ Or is there more to it? And what’s the difference? A relationship simply describes the way two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected. Whereas a partnership describes an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.
In my experience, most of the time when people talk about working relationships, I think they want to mean business partnerships. However, I don’t think that most of us take the time to realize the nuance of difference between the two. One way to think about this is by perceiving the difference between the words ‘vendor,’ ‘supplier,’ and ‘partner.’ As you say those words in your head, how do they evoke different connotations? Another example might be ‘employee,’ ‘team member,’ ‘leader.’ These three words can be used to describe the same person in a given role yet carry very different connotations of how one imagines that person functions.
Take a moment to think of the many relationships you have in your current role, both external and internal. We are each connected with people in what we could call work relationships. Now, take a moment to imagine what impact to success could be had if even a select few of those work relationships were developed into true partnerships? When operating in a partnership—agreeing to cooperate to advance mutual interests—goals are accomplished, initiatives are advanced, and success is achieved.
Looking at a few types of relationships that are typically found in a work environment, ask yourself where you fit. You may be in a direct/indirect customer facing role, part of an internal customer relationship (i.e., operations with supply chain), or what I call a horizontal relationship, those you work alongside with in similar roles.
I’m compelled at this point to share a story about an experience my husband and I had when shopping for a camper. We had been kicking around the idea of moving from previous die-hard tent campers to small trailer campers and decided to attend the RV show when it came to our town. Because I have not spent a lot of time trailer camping, I was pleasantly amazed at all the niceties offered, including the realization of no more carrying my dirty dishwater to the woods to dump it! As I was oohing and aahing, the vultures swooped in. You know the type; the salesmen whose egos precede them by a mile and don’t care to give you the time of day when they realize you aren’t writing a check that day. After dealing with a few blokes, we happened to be looking at a particular trailer when the sales guy approached. Right away, we noticed something different. He was pleasant, curious, and asked really good questions with a genuine effort to understand what we were looking for. He then proceeded to show us, in detail, the camper we were looking at, and in a relatively neutral manner explained the differences among the others on the floor. He gave us his card, left us to peruse without a chaperone, and stayed near enough to answer any follow up questions we might have. I had the strong sense that he cared more about making sure we ended up with just what we wanted than in making the biggest sale of the day. Can you guess which dealer we decided to work with?
Now let’s look at some key principles to consider in transitioning everyday work relationships to partnerships:
- Authenticity: Genuinely invest in the success of others.
- Curiosity: Get curious—ask good questions to learn more beyond face value.
- Shared Goals: Listen to those answers and identify where your interests overlap.
- Connecting with the Right People: This is where the magic happens!
Authenticity is a big deal. People know when you actually care about their interests and needs vs. when you are just there to score a deal (remember the vultures?). Being authentic simply means having genuine intentions. When you bring authenticity to the manner in which you approach your work, those questions asked out of curiosity are well- received. Being curious means that you aren’t just looking for the ‘what’—but more importantly, the ‘why’ and ‘how.’ In my career, I’ve often been told that I understand my customers better than they do themselves, and that’s because I embrace principals 1 and 2 every day. Understanding the work of those you interact with allows you to identify those important shared goals so that you can provide solutions that meet more than surface-level needs. The result of this is that you end up connected to the right people, advancing your goals and elevating your professionalism.
Let me share a real example of an opportunity that came about with a customer due to applying these principles to our interactions. While doing some work with this customer in our lab on an unrelated project, we started mulling around a conversation about a sustainability dilemma. I asked a lot of “what if ” and “how do you deal with that” kinds of questions to understand the full end-to-end process. I had already put in the work of acting from a place of authenticity and banking trust, so my questions were met with eagerness to share internal details with me. We were able to start some active brainstorming, thinking outside the box, which led to new innovation together. The circular supply chain we created got them closer to their sustainability goals and worked to solidify our strategic partnership. What started out as a project developing new paint colors led to a separate project aimed at reducing powder paint waste going to landfill. The success of the project, and subsequent good press for both companies, would not have been possible had we not engaged in a mutually beneficial partnership.
Even if you aren’t in a customer-facing role, you have a sphere of influence in the work that you do. You are a contributor to others’ success, and others contribute to yours. As a final exercise, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you understand the goals of the company you work for?
- Do you see how your piece of the puzzle fits into those goals?
- Do you understand your customers’ and end users’ needs and wants?
- Can you identify those directly and indirectly impacted by the work you do?
- How can you approach the work you do with authenticity and curiosity to identify shared goals?
You can build those everyday work relationships into mutually beneficial partnerships for success.
Shauna Walwood is key account manager industrial coatings for PPG.