Do you have the right balance between contract enforcement, problem-solving and idea generation? Is the relationship still generating innovation? Does the relationship with partners still feel positive and constructive? How well do you understand your partner’s future plans?  Are you actively engaging with and influencing those plans? Have the partners agreed a stream of transformational projects?


In successful partnerships, during this phase, the parties will move beyond the success of the changes identified in the business case to develop a lasting process of innovation, change and improvement. When considering a longer-term deal (10 to 15 years), the performance targets set at the outset will be hopelessly out of date well before the end unless they are revised regularly. Such a process of review and renewal should be an ongoing part of the relationship management and governance arrangements.

Even apparently successful partnerships can begin to decay and, eventually, fail. There are many potential causes.  For example, new owners could take over the provider and introduce new financial targets that damage both the culture and relationships with partners.  Or, client-side management or leadership changes could actively undermine the partnership because, for example, it is seen as a legacy of the previous leadership.

At EightyTwenty Insight we can help to keep the partnership alive through constructive forward-looking interventions, such as a governance or relationship healthcheck. Where partners cannot agree on the causes of, or the solutions to, problems it might be time to consider an independent review through either an adviser or a specialist mediation service (ideally dispute resolution arrangements should be built into the contract from the outset).

We can also help with formal renegotiation of contracts, for example to reflect new performance targets and measures. Given the length of some of these arrangements, this should not be considered a failure of the contract – but an opportunity to breathe new life into the arrangements and to reinvigorate them.

Return to the Overview of the stages