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President's Page: Partnershipsforge opportunity, innovaton, and action

n a society built on rugged individualism, we admire the heroicsof cultural icons such as aviator Amelia Earhart and astronautJohn Glenn. But even these brave leaders weren't in it alone.

Behind their historic accomplishments were partnerships - teamsof individuals sharing a vision.

A successful partnership of pooled resources gives each part-ner something he or she cannot achieve alone. As C. K. Prahalad,management guru from the University of Michigan, explains,"Only when your aspirations and desires lie outside your re-sources does creativity occur, because you have toinvent new ways of competing and changing the rulesof the game" (1). Prahalad urges his client companiesto focus on their core competencies while searchingfor ways to expand beyond their existing resourcesthrough partnerships.

Companies large and small are discovering thepower of partnerships. IBM has made at least 400strategic alliances with companies here and abroad.Partnerships are so central to Corning's strategy thatthe corporation now defines itself as a "network of Finnorganizations" (2). Since mid 1991, more than 50groups of small US manufacturing companies havecreated or proposed flexible collaborations in produc-tion, marketing, purchasing, and management (3).

Partnerships are critical to dietetics because thefuture is invading our profession at unprecedentedspeed, creating a host of challenges. Advanced tech-nology and treatments, shifting demographics, thewellness movement, escalating costs, and health carereform stretch the traditional competencies of dietet-ics professionals. Carefully selected partnerships al- Bajuslow us to meet emerging challenges by harnessing ourstrengths with the complementary strengths of our partners.

WHO ARE OUR PARTNERS?Partnerships give us access to talented people outside our profes-sion. Partnerships enable us to open new markets for our mes-sages and services, reduce capital needs, share scarce resources,and spread risk. We can also leverage the core competencies ofour partners to our advantage (4). ADA presents attractiveopportunities to potential partners who are eager to reach thepeople who know and trust us. It is our task to select partners withwhom we can best collaborate on mutual goals.

Currently, ADA has more than 150 partners in government,health care, and industry. These alliances are part of a strategicplan that focuses our efforts to achieve a substantial and sustain-able competitive advantage in the marketplace. For example,ADA's food labeling partnerships recently placed dietetics profes-sionals in the forefront of the national news. The Association iscurrently spearheading the Food Label E ducation Dialogue Group(FLEDG), which is composed of more than 20 organizations fromthe American Heart Association to the Food and Drug Administra-tion to the Library of Congress. This powerful coalition willdevelop educational materials to help consumers use the newfood label effectively.

We have also worked with high-profile food companies such asMcDonald's on National Nutrition Month® materials. The con-sumer hot line now operated by the National Center for Nutritionand Dietetics was initiated through a generous grant from KraftGeneral Foods. Other food companies have since joined in sup-

port of the hot line. The Association has also formed a partnershipwith the American Institute of Wine and Food to promote the factthat healthful food can look good and taste great.

TEAMWORK TRANSCENDS INDIVIDUALISMPartnerships recognize the power of ideas over the power ofposition. ADA's recently instituted Champion Teams bring thisphilosophy into sharp focus. Seven champion teams that targetstrategic initiatives are chaired by a volunteer leader and a

headquarters manager, each with expertise in a spe-cific issue. "Team learning," according to managementconsultant Peter Senge, "develops the skills of groupsof people to look for the larger picture that lies beyondindividual perspectives." A learning organization con-tinually expands its future, Senge says (5).

The strength of partnerships lies in respect fordiverse perspectives and experiences. Consider theextraordinary accomplishments of the 1991-1992 Stra-tegic Thinking Initiative. This planning team includedthe full Boards of both the Association and the Foun-dation for two program years. Continuity with the pastand a real-time knowledge of current issues made itpossible to quickly create a vision of ADA's future.Participation from all team members generated thebreadth and depth of contribution needed for a fruitfulstrategic thinking process.

As more and more health care organizations flattentheir hierarchies, dietetics professionals are findingopportunities to become partners with other provid-ers in learning teams that can outthink and outper-form individuals. Reaching outside their organiza-tions, dietetics professionals can form alliances with

community leaders, educators, other health care providers, in-dustry, and the media to foster mutual or complementary goals.

Recognizing a window of opportunity and having the confi-dence and leadership skills necessary to take a risk are the firststeps toward forging a productive partnership. The Roman phi-losopher Seneca reminds us that "It is not because things aredifficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that theyare difficult." The successful enterprise of the future, built on anetwork of partnerships, will be an adaptive organization wherechange replaces stability as a key trait. The new managementparadigm values teamwork over individualism, and the Associa-tion is rapidly moving into this new paradigm (6).

Collaboration is a watchword for the '90s. The opportunity isyours to gain competitive advantage through partnerships.-SUSAN CALVERT FINN, PhD, RD, and BEVERLYBAJUS.

References1. Bryne JA. Management's new gurus. Business Week. August 31,1992: 44-47, 50-52.2. Sherman S. Are strategic alliances working? Fortune. September 21,1992: 77-78.3. Selz M. Networks help small companies think and act big. Wall StreetJ November 12, 1992: B2.4. Crouse HJ. The power of partnerships. JBusiness Strategy. Novem-ber-December 1991: 4-8.5. Senge PM. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learn-ing Organization. New York, NY: Doubleday Currency;1990.6. Bryne JA. Paradigms for the postmodern manager. Business Week.Fall 1992 Bonus Issue: 62-63.

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