Everything you’ve done up to this point has been focused on getting you to the full partnership stage. You and your partner have worked hard together, navigating the Stages of Relationship Development to produce trust and mutual benefits. You’ve also engaged in the steps necessary to accomplish a task in order to determine the partnership’s worth. You’ve used the Plan–Do–Check–Act cycle to continuously improve the task and relationship dynamics of your partnership.

You’ve seen the partnership move from a past to a future orientation. The final two stages will feel almost anticlimactic. This is a good thing. You’ve worked so hard to increase your Partnering Intelligence that by the time you’re prepared to make a commitment and move to full partnership it will feel like the only logical step. The only thing that stands between you and full partnership is one more task: to conduct a joint strategic planning session in order to solidify your future vision and spell out the plans to get you there. Your partnership is now in the Commit Stage of Partnership Development. You have achieved the trust and communication needed to help you maximize the synergy. You have identified the mutual benefits that the partnership provides. Having managed the changing dynamics of the relationship and its impact on each organization, you are now positioned to perform.