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Executive Education

Developing Successful Partnerships

Creating the future together

Partners in business come in all shapes and sizes. They include any person or group whose interests intersect with your organization, spanning external groups like customers, suppliers, governments, First Nations rights holders and community associations; or internal groups such as investors, shareholders and employees. 

This program explores best practices for building and maintaining effective working partnerships. Learn to identify who your partners are. Apply proven skills to analyze their requirements and align their expectations with organizational strategies. Create a plan to continuously influence and engage them. Win their buy-in and remove roadblocks to cooperation. Manage and monitor the partnership to foster productive, sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships. 

Partners are essential to the success of your projects—and ultimately, of your organization. Learn to work with them! 

Download program description

 

How you will learn

The action-learning format will immerse you in simulated exercises set in real-world scenarios. Working in teams, you will apply the tools and techniques you are learning to gain hands-on experience in collaborative planning. You will also engage in dialogue sessions with your peers and receive guided feedback from the workshop leader. You will leave with the ability to apply your knowledge immediately back at work. 

Who is this for?     

This program is designed for those who want to strengthen project and business relationships. It suits:

  • Project managers and team members
  • Department heads and line managers
  • Business analysts and change management professionals
  • General or operational managers 
  • Staff members involved in engaging internal and/or external partners
  • Project sponsors and key partners
     

The impact

Embarking on an Executive Education program focused on successful business partnerships can be a transformative experience for individuals seeking to enhance their professional impact. Participants stand to gain a multitude of benefits:

Analyze partner dynamics:

  • Identify your partners—it’s not as easy as you think! 
  • Uncover their attitudes, needs and expectations

Strategize partner engagement:

  • Prepare and execute a partner engagement plan
  • Proactively manage partner expectations 

Build and maintain strong working relationships: 

  • Deal with objections and challenging behaviours
  • Resolve barriers before they occur
  • Generate cooperation, consensus and support

Lead with confidence and competence:

  • Facilitate collaboration to improve outcomes
  • Nourish a culture of partner engagement
     
  • Understand how relationships can influence key people and groups
  • Determine when and where to engage partners, and the optimum level of effort to allocate to each one
  • Define a partner engagement strategy and set up a structured framework to guide the organization’s efforts
  • Ensure partners comprehend their roles clearly
  • Prioritize and balance conflicting needs
  • Achieve goals by developing trustful, cooperative relationships
  • Advance your professional growth by earning recognition as a proactive partner engagement manager
  • Improve the business outcomes of your day-to-day operations and project activities 
  • Elevate the organization’s partnership management maturity level
  • Create a common understanding of partnership management and its value to the business 
  • Minimize problems and costs associated with insufficient engagement
  • Cultivate a proactive engagement culture, improving project and business performance across management levels

Partnership Management Framework

  • Partner characteristics
  • The purpose of partner engagement
  • Challenges in identifying the right partners
  • The four partner quadrants

Planning for Partnership Management

  • Developing the engagement strategy and plan
  • Identifying and categorizing partners
  • Discovering and analyzing partner needs, expectations and motivations
  • Defining roles and responsibilities

Managing and Monitoring Partner Engagement

  • Key understandings to share with partners
  • Executing and refining a dual action partner engagement plan
  • Dealing with conflicts and difficult partners
  • Maintaining partner engagement throughout a business initiative

Tracy Page

Tracy Page

Senior Associate

Tracy is a certified project management and change management consultant. She is renowned for her expertise, and sought after locally and internationally to guide clients through the successful delivery of complex projects.

For over a decade, Tracy has led programs in project management, communication and leadership at UBC Sauder, where she brings the latest evidence-based strategies in team and project management while applying best practices in adult learning. Known for her empathetic, “people-first” approach, she empowers her students to enhance their delivery skills, become more effective in their day-to-day working relationships, and elevate team morale.

Tracy has also worked with companies both large and small in a wide variety of industries. Her client portfolio includes BC Hydro, BC Real Estate Association, Cisco Systems, Copperleaf Technologies, CPA Canada, PHSA and VCHA. Additionally she has served on the boards of two non-profits to establish training and mentoring programs.

Tracy holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and a Masters in Adult Education from the University of Calgary. She has held PMP certification for over 20 years and is ProSci Change Management certified.

[Executive Education Programs] Project Management EssentialsProject Management for Administrative ProfessionalsLeadership Excellence for Administrative ProfessionalsRisk Management, and Developing Successful Partnerships

Denise Holleran-Boswell

Denise Holleran-Boswell

Senior Associate

Denise is the Founder & Managing Partner of Collaborators In Knowledge Inc. and a long-standing instructor at UBC Sauder Executive Education. She has over 40 years of industry experience as a practicing project, program and portfolio manager, specializing in change, risk, contract and partnership management. In her role as a project management mentor and coach, she has performed several project health checks, developed project management methodologies, and has trained thousands of people in both the private and public sectors.

Denise is both a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) & Prosci Change Practitioner, and a past President of the Society of PMP’s of Greater Vancouver. She has worked on a wide variety of industry projects in the private and public sectors, at both the national and international levels. She has also run management consulting practices at PricewaterhouseCoopers; BC Oracle, Pacific Northwest Consumer & Industrial Products and Global Forestry Technology. In addition, she has advised on project Executive Steering Committees for PwC and the International Association of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs).

Denise is often requested as a guest speaker. Most recently, she provided expert insight at Project World*Business Analyst World, the International Association of Business Analysis, Society of PMPs of Greater Vancouver, itSMF Annual National Conference, BC Manufacturer’s Executive Council and PwC’s Annual Global Forestry Industry Conference.

[Executive Education Programs] Project Management EssentialsRisk Management, and Developing Successful Partnerships

Upcoming sessions

calendar Program dates
price_tag Fees and Taxes
notebook Format
filled_point Location
May 26 - 27, 2025
$2390.00 + tax (5%)

In-person

UBC Robson Square
Feb 9 - 10, 2026
$2390.00 + tax (5%)

In-person

UBC Robson Square

Why UBC Sauder Executive Education?

Elevate your career and organization with UBC Sauder. Recognized as a global leader in executive education by the Financial Times, our programs deliver a transformative learning experience, resulting in tangible impact.

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Participating organizations

Success stories

“This is an excellent course that delivers what it promises! I came out with excellent understanding of the two critical aspects when working with stakeholders.”

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