PartnerHacker Principles: Partnerships Isn't a Department - Chip Rodgers & Marco De Paulis

The PartnerHacker Principles are the principles we live by. With daily practice, these principles form the foundation on which we build a successful partnership ecosystem.

Our content manager, Aaron Olson, met up with Chip Rodgers - Chief Marketing Officer at WorkSpan, and Marco De Paulis - Director of Partnerships at Whiplash, to talk about the PartnerHacker principle: partnerships isn't a department.

Chip and Marco have built their careers on creating a company culture where every department and every team member is partaking in building partnerships.

Below, you'll find some nuggets of gold that the two of them shared regarding how you can change the culture of your team to embrace partnerships!


This is the 10th article in our series exploring the PartnerHacker Principles. You can read more about the other principles here:


Integrate the partnerships mentality within your org

Chip believes partnerships requires a shift in company culture. He says you need buy-in from the top in order for people need to see partnerships in practice before they can understand it for themselves.

Get buy-in on partnerships

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For partnerships to work, you need to make friends and you need to make champions. - Marco De Paulis

You need to start partnering from within your org in order to adopt a culture of partnerships. Create partnership champions within the workplace; share your wins org-wide to instill the partnership mentality in your culture.

Make champions for partnerships

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If it's one person or one team sort of operating in their own sort of island or silo, it's not going to be successful at all. So it absolutely has to be more than a department,it has to be a philosophy from the top down. - Marco De Paulis

Marco and his team have made a habit of sharing their wins. He's constantly looking for ways to get other team members involved and support partnership efforts.

Take time to help your team understand how partnerships work. Actively share your work and your wins. By learning out loud you can promote a culture of partnerships within your org.

Use partners to build a great business

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Partnering is a winning strategy. So it's worth the time and effort. - Chip Rodgers
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If you're working together, you're co-selling together – that increases your chances that you'll able to close deals faster and actually see bigger deal sizes as well. - Chip Rodgers

In practice, involving partnerships in your culture expands your network and makes it easier to build and grow your business, even in a recession.

Partnering is a never-ending process

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It's not something that's like a checkbox, you don't just do it, and it's done...it's this thing that you never stop working on. - Marco De Paulis

When you consistently nurture a philosophy of partnerships you stand out above the fold. And it is a continual process of learning what works.

Don't be afraid to experiment as you continue your journey in partnerships.

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