Updates
How To Botch A Relationship
Posted: Fri 12 Jun, 2009
Posted by Clare Reddington on Fri 12 Jun, 2009 at 00:06
Listening to Jon Drori on How To Botch A Relationship at bTWEEN. An extremely enjoyable presentation on how to reinforce prejudice and kill collaboration. His top tips for really messing up:
How to really mess up a relationship with a commissioner:
- Avoid understanding decision makers
- Always ask for money straight away
- Only engage at the very top level. Never form relationships across organisations
- Always use buzz words and jargon
- Never use evidence. Don’t try and match your ideas with their aims.
- Don’t ask for anything specific and never use reason
- Put in as much detail as you can to all pitches and documents
- Avoid challenge but get lippy. Shame them into funding you
How to both a relationship with people pitching to you:
- Develop a handy one size all procurement process (if possible get a large consultancy to design your process for you)
- Make sure tenders come as a nice surprise. Don’t give any notice
- Make them jump through hoops – they will feel more rewarded and valued when they get the work
- Call distant meetings at very short notice - this helps the transport industry and small agencies value the rest on the train.
Most importantly: make sure you patronise, lecture and confuse your partners. Ignore what they really want and make sure you do not understand their needs.