What does it mean to be an effective partner?

Merriam-Webster defines a partner as, a: one associated with another especially in an action :associate, colleague b: either of two persons who dance together, etc. In business I like the second part of this definition. Last evening I watched the Winter Olympic Ice Dancing finals and thought about all the work that these partners have put in for their 6-7 minutes on the ice. Effective business partnerships are much like these athletes, two parties working together to produce a result. In the dance, partners support each other in many ways, one might lead and the other follow, one may lift or carry but to do this the other jumps, in planning the dance there is collaboration and the sharing of ideas. Successful partners understand what each other's strengths and weaknesses are and work to utilize the strengths and minimize the weakness. When successful, the dance is a series of fluid movements resulting in an appealing and often awe-inspiring performance. Sound fairly simple? I don't think so. We often fail to realize that in order for the partners to achieve that near perfection on the ice, hours of dedication, trial and error, practice and failure was endured. If one partner does not put in the necessary effort the dance will fail. This all holds true with business as well. In my past roles as a technical manager one of my responsibilities was to present technology to customers. Each and every time, clients were amazed at the possibilities and left excited about moving forward. My job was complete. It was now up to the sales representative and the client to create the effective partnership. Of the numerous clients I met with, only a handful use the technology today. Why? The partnership was not effective. Either one partner or both lacked either the desire or ability to put in the necessary effort to succeed. My point is that effective business partnerships only work as a result of hard work, dedication and the desire for both the provider and their customer to support each other. Doing so will produce the fluidity of a perfect dance. So the next time you read about someone being a partner, ask yourself a few question. Am I willing to put in the effort to make the partnership succeed? Do I have the resources available to support an effective partnership? Can I count on my partner to provide the support I need and am I willing to support them in return? If you can say yes to these questions then an effective partnership can be within your reach, you may even have place on the podium.