Building strategic relationships Published April 1, 2009 By Col. Gary Goldstone 375th Airlift Wing commander SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Some of us may be very good at organizing our time. Our schedules might be filled up to the minute with meetings, events and taskings that come our way. But, how many of us schedule time to build strategic relationships? Each week as we tackle the mission, report our progress or complete assignments, we should set time aside to build partnerships with people around us who help us enable combat power. How often have we talked with people over the phone or e-mail, yet never met in person? I know it happens all too often. Our schedules are quickly filled, but I have learned that when we take a few minutes to walk over to see where they work or create a time to meet, even more can be done to facilitate the mission. Personal meetings and interaction can also increase understanding and help us come up with ideas for improvements. Building strategic relationships is achieved by making time to see, listen and learn from those around us. It's about taking what they have to offer and applying it toward our mission success. However, professional relationships are never just one sided, and should be looked at with an attitude of what we can do for each other as we move forward to achieve successful results in our work. There are many examples of strategic relationships that can be found in the commercial industry. Companies create alliances to access a partner's resources, technologies, capital and people. Teaming up with others adds complementary resources and capabilities, enabling them to grow and expand more quickly and efficiently. Smaller companies may use strategic alliances to benefit from more-established channels of distribution, marketing, or brand reputation of well-known players, which helps with expansion, cost reduction, manufacturing and other supply-chain synergies. The military certainly partners with the commercial industry and we will work with these business partners for solutions to many of our requirements. However, I'm not only speaking to commercial relationships, but also to relationships with other government agencies, our community leaders and even members throughout Team Scott. The Air Force recognizes the need to do this as Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley said recently, "Increasingly, we are recognizing the Interagency and International context of our work, and that trend will continue throughout 2009." He spoke about how representatives from the State and Agriculture Departments are partnering with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, which enable those countries to strengthen their own institutions for legitimate and effective governance. "We're also paying closer attention to Interagency relationships," he added. "This includes strengthening our partnership with the Department of Energy for nuclear surety; advancing our partnerships with NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office and others for space capabilities; and more clearly articulating our relationships with the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence community for our cyber work. Interagency work is not new to us, but there is a growing demand to more closely integrate our capabilities with the expertise of our Interagency partners. That means that across the Total Force, we need to examine, and manage, these (relationships) appropriately." Building these relationships, at all levels, takes time and work. How long has it been since you included on your calendar of events time to build partnerships? If you've been at your job awhile and still need to find time to get over and meet your "e-mail" counterparts in person, then I would encourage you to do so now. I have found that if I can focus on at least one partnership a week, then that will provide a strong foundation as the wing moves forward with its many activities and requirements. Let's continue to foster relationships with our Total Force partners so we can continue enabling combat power!