Better together: Why partnership is the key to faster growth and bolder decisions
What if the key to unlocking faster growth and bolder decisions wasn’t in a new strategy or tool, but in how your team connects and collaborates? How much more effective could your business be if a mindset of partnership was the foundation for your team and organization as a whole?
Through our work with executives, we’ve seen what happens when leaders let go of the need to have all the answers and lean into partnership—both with us and with each other. Take, for example, two leaders who were in conflict—not only with each other but also within their respective teams. One leader proactively reached out to the other, inviting them to attend a key client meeting. The other leader, in turn, adjusted their travel and meeting schedule to prioritize this peer. This small but significant step marked the beginning of a new, collaborative relationship between them.
Later, during a team session, one of the leaders became visibly emotional while sharing something vulnerable. To everyone's surprise, it was the other leader who spoke up first, acknowledging their peer’s vulnerability and helping to re-establish a sense of safety within the team. This moment marked a shift, not only in their relationship but in the dynamics of the entire group, proving that trust and partnership can evolve even from the most challenging conflicts.
At Incito, we’ve found that successful partnerships are built on a set of principles that guide how we connect with peers, teams, and even ourselves. We’ll explore how adopting a partnership mindset can help you and your leadership team unlock deeper trust and accelerate their progress in ways that might even surprise you.
The table stakes and drivers of partnerships
Strong partnerships start with shared values. A highly effective executive team develops clarity of their shared values. And clarity on your leadership team principles and practices forms the foundation for working more effectively together. Once this table stake is in place, you can focus more on the key drivers of a strong partnership:
Taking calculated risks together: You can trust each other to make bold decisions and support one another through uncertainty.
Challenge each other to be better: In a strong partnership, you encourage each other to reach higher and push beyond their limits. These challenges are designed not to tear down, but to uplift and empower.
Authentic relationships: Your team members can be themselves and bring their best qualities to the table. They can express ideas openly, solve problems creatively, and have honest conversations that move the partnership forward.
Looking out for each other’s needs: You support each other’s well-being to strengthen the entire team. Give without expectation.
Sharing responsibility: "Many hands make light work." No challenge or task is too small or too big to be handled together.
Assume good intent: Assuming the best in others to build trust and connection.
Collaboration and creativity: Strong partnerships spark fresh ideas and creative solutions through open dialogue and brainstorming.
Shared experiences: Partnerships grow stronger through shared experiences, whether overcoming challenges, celebrating wins—big or small, or simply spending time together. These moments create a sense of togetherness.
In these relationships, leaders are co-creators of a better, more unified future. But partnerships aren’t always smooth sailing.
The derailers of partnerships
One of the toughest parts of any partnership is managing conflict and tension as it arises. If handled well, conflict can actually make the partnership stronger, but it requires emotional intelligence and courage. Leaders need to be able to recognize and embrace all emotions, both good and bad, and see them as signals rather than threats. Ignoring tension can derail even the strongest partnerships. We've been in team coaching sessions where we have thrown away the agenda in service of important conversations that bubbled up that no one could have anticipated. As executive coaches, we want to surface and do the most important work, not work an agenda.
Here are a few ways to manage tension effectively:
Drop your defences: When leaders see each other as real, authentic humans, they create the space for vulnerability and courage. When leaders feel safe enough to drop their defences, they get to the hard stuff faster. And that’s where the real transformation begins.
Embrace and address emotions: Pretending conflict and difficult emotions don’t exist erodes trust. Instead, create space to share how you feel and have honest conversations.
Invest time and energy: Strong partnerships don’t happen overnight. They require consistent effort, vulnerability, and care, from everyone involved.
Stay curious: In moments of tension, assume positive intent and try to understand rather than judge. When tension surfaces, we take a step back and look at what’s really happening in the relationship. Did we get too serious? Forget a core value? Overlook an emotion?
Invest in your partnerships
Leaders who embrace partnership as a core part of their approach create higher impact, are faster, better equipped to navigate complexity, and make courageous decisions. Consider how you’re showing up in your partnerships. Where can you challenge your partners to be better? Are you showing up authentically? Are you managing tension, or are you stepping over it?
Leaning into your partnerships has the power to change how you lead. Invest in them. Strengthen them. And watch how they transform your impact and your organization. Need a partner to help you build stronger partnerships? Let’s talk!