Partnering for Performance
Managing Service Partners for Better Outcomes
Build productive partnerships. Monitor performance. Address issues early. Deliver better outcomes through others.
- Dates
- 4–5 January 2027
- Time
- 9.30am to 5.00pm each day
- Duration
- 2 full days
- Format
- Face-to-face
- Venue
- To be confirmed
- Fee
- S$350 per participant
- Class size
- Up to 25 participants
When someone else delivers the service, how do you remain accountable for the outcome?
Organisations increasingly rely on external service providers, vendors and delivery partners to achieve important outcomes.
Managing these partnerships requires more than checking whether a contract has been fulfilled.
You need to know what good performance looks like, recognise issues before they become bigger problems, have constructive conversations when expectations are not met, and decide when to give partners room to act, when to support them and when to intervene.
Partnering for Performance is a practical two-day programme for professionals who are responsible for achieving outcomes through external service partners.
Who should attend
This programme is designed for professionals who manage external partners responsible for delivering services, programmes or organisational outcomes.
It is particularly relevant for:
- Account and partnership managers
- Programme and project managers
- Service-provider or vendor managers
- Contract managers
- Professionals overseeing outsourced services
- Staff responsible for partner performance, service quality or programme outcomes
No prior formal training in vendor or contract management is required.
What you will learn
By the end of the programme, you will be able to:
- Clarify roles, expectations and accountabilities with service partners
- Identify meaningful evidence and early indicators of partner performance
- Distinguish facts from assumptions when diagnosing performance issues
- Conduct constructive performance conversations and gain partner buy-in
- Decide when to allow autonomy, provide support, intervene or escalate
The partner performance journey
The programme follows a practical cycle for managing service partners.
Rather than treating each skill separately, participants apply them progressively across realistic partner-management situations.
- 01Set Expectations
- 02Monitor
- 03Diagnose
- 04Influence
- 05Support
- 06Intervene or Escalate
Programme overview
Manage for Outcomes
What is my role when someone else delivers the service?
Managing a service partner requires a different mindset from delivering the service yourself.
Explore how to establish clear roles, expectations and boundaries while balancing partner autonomy with organisational accountability.
Topics include
- Moving from direct delivery to achieving outcomes through others
- Clarifying roles and responsibilities
- Aligning service delivery with intended outcomes
- Understanding partner and stakeholder interests
- Balancing oversight with autonomy
- Avoiding micromanagement and overly hands-off management
Monitor and Diagnose
How do I know whether the partner is really on track?
Good partner management should identify issues before an end-result KPI is missed.
Learn how to look beyond activity reports and use evidence to understand what is actually happening.
Topics include
- Leading and lagging indicators
- Monitoring service quality and outcomes
- Recognising early warning signs
- Separating observations from assumptions
- Diagnosing possible causes of performance gaps
- Determining what evidence is needed before acting
Influence and Give Feedback
How do I address issues without damaging the partnership?
Service partners may not report to you directly, yet you still need to influence behaviour and performance.
Practise how to raise concerns clearly, understand the partner’s perspective and work towards meaningful next steps.
Topics include
- Influencing without relying on formal authority
- Understanding partner motivations and constraints
- Giving specific, evidence-based feedback
- Managing disagreement or defensiveness
- Framing requests around shared outcomes
- Agreeing actions and follow-up
Support, Intervene or Escalate
How far should I step in?
Not every performance problem requires the same response.
Sometimes the right move is to give the partner space. Sometimes they need coaching or organisational support. At other times, firmer intervention or escalation is necessary.
Topics include
- Assessing severity, recurrence and impact
- Identifying capability, motivation, resource and system issues
- Coaching or supporting a service partner
- Deciding when to intervene
- Recognising when escalation is appropriate
- Choosing a proportionate response
The programme concludes with an integrated partner-management scenario where participants apply the full process from diagnosis to action.
Practical tools
Participants will use simple, practical approaches to:
- Separate observations from assumptions before acting
- Structure clear, objective and constructive feedback
- Listen and respond effectively when conversations become difficult
- Analyse partner-performance issues before deciding what action to take
- Decide when to give partners autonomy, provide support, intervene or escalate
The emphasis is on applying useful tools to real situations, rather than memorising frameworks.
How you will learn
This is a highly practical programme.
Participants will work through realistic situations such as:
- A service provider falling behind expected outcomes
- Delivery that does not reflect what was originally agreed
- Weak follow-through with customers, employers or other stakeholders
- Disagreement about the causes of poor performance
- Recurring quality concerns despite earlier feedback
- A partner that needs support rather than corrective action
Learning activities may include:
- Case discussions
- Partner-management decision exercises
- Practice conversations
- Small-group problem solving
- Reflection and peer learning
- An integrated final scenario
Participants are encouraged to bring their own partner-management experiences into the discussion.
Programme details
- Programme
- Partnering for Performance: Managing Service Partners for Better Outcomes
- Dates
- 4–5 January 2027
- Time
- 9.30am to 5.00pm each day
- Duration
- 2 full days
- Format
- Face-to-face
- Venue
- To be confirmed
- Course fee
- S$350 per participant
- Class size
- Up to 25 participants
- Registration
- Advance registration required. Registration closes on 15 December 2026.
Places are limited to 25 participants to preserve opportunities for discussion, practice and peer learning.
Fees are invoiced after registration and paid by bank transfer. No GST is charged. Substitutions are welcome with advance notice; please email admin@herkconsulting.com.
Your facilitator
Herk Ng
Herk Ng is the Founder and CEO of Herk Consulting, a capability development firm helping leaders and organisations navigate complexity with clarity by developing leadership, strengthening teams and creating meaningful, measurable impact.
He works with public, private and social-sector organisations in areas including leadership, stakeholder management, team effectiveness, coaching and organisational capability.
Prior to founding Herk Consulting, Herk held senior leadership roles at SG Enable and the National Council of Social Service. His work involved extensive collaboration across government agencies, employers, service providers and community organisations.
Herk is also an ICF Associate Certified Coach and adjunct faculty member with the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Register for the January 2027 run
- 4–5 January 2027
- Face-to-face | Venue TBC
- S$350 per participant
- Up to 25 participants
Registration closes on 15 December 2026.
Looking for a programme for your organisation?
Partnering for Performance can also be adapted for teams managing specific vendors, partners, programmes or outsourced services.
Herk Consulting designs customised programmes using your organisation’s context, scenarios and operating challenges.