COMPLIMENTARY RMX DIAGNOSTIC

Relational risk hides in plain sight

People experience it in delayed decisions, guarded conversations, conflicting priorities and problems that keep coming back.

The RMX Diagnostic brings perspectives together and turns scattered signals into structured evidence for action – better decisions, better conversations and better performance.

with one important relationship

  • Capture your experience
  • Receive your personal report
  • Compare perspectives with up to 6 colleagues
  • Includes a free one-hour interpretive session

you don’t need to engage the other party yet, but there is a path to scale

In complex delivery environments, many of the biggest risks don’t sit neatly inside one organisation. They emerge between organisations – in the way priorities are interpreted, information is shared, trade-offs are handled and people adapt under pressure.

Performance increasingly depends on the quality of relationships.

The RMX Diagnostic is a structured way to evaluate a relationship, capture different perspectives, and reveal where those perceptions are aligned or misaligned. It makes visible the hidden sources of friction, delay, risk and lost value, so the right conversations can happen earlier and with more clarity.

Try the RMX now – complimentary offer

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Choose a relationship

Select one important customer, supplier, partner or other type of relationship

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Capture your perspective

Complete the RMX Diagnostic in around 20 minutes and receive your personal report immediately

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Invite up to six colleagues

Invite people with relevant experience of the same relationship to add their perspectives independently

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Explore the combined picture

Receive a group report and an optional complimentary one-hour session to help interpret the findings and consider next steps

with one important relationship

  • Capture your experience
  • Receive your personal report
  • Compare perspectives with up to 6 colleagues
  • Includes a free one-hour interpretive session

you don’t need to engage the other party yet, but there is a path to scale

The RMX Diagnostic gives you deeper insight, a shared language and structured evidence for improving the conversations, decisions and behaviours that affect progress, reduce friction and determine whether people can deliver the value expected of them.

It evaluates aspects of relational maturity, experienced by people in practice, in a psychologically safe way.

Capture Experience

Help people independently and constructively evaluate how the relationship is performing from their own experience

Reveal Patterns

See where perspectives converge, where they differ and which strengths or warning signals recur

Evidence for Action

Create a clearer evidence base for more focused and constructive conversations, decisions and targeted action

Shared Language

Engage and motivate people around things that matter – giving them the language to continue the conversation

You will immediately receive a report based on your response.

You will also receive a report that constructively combines the (unattributed) responses of the people you chose to join you.

This report shows where perspectives align, where they diverge and which areas deserve further attention. It also gives you and your team the language and evidence you need for structured relational development and improvement.

Trusted by Leaders in Supply Chain Relationships

More from Mick Harris on wider use of Diagnostics – full interview / highlights here.

Additional Benefits
  • People feel seen and heard – they know where they stand, how they contribute, and why decisions are made; they’re motivated
  • The relationship becomes a source of pride – where value is created, not lost
  • Contract and relationship professionals feel influence, not pressure – they’re empowered to shape outcomes; not just manage fallout
  • Stress levels drop – burnout fades; reflection and learning replace fire-fighting and defensiveness
  • Clarity about the state and purpose of the relationship – not just on paper, but in real-world impact
  • The relationship and the people making it work are elevated – recognized, respected, and resourced in line with their true strategic value
Not sure you’ve got any relational blind spots?

The RMX Diagnostic is a great place to start if you recognise any of the following signs.

Contractual policing overrides partnership

Outcomes constantly threatened, revised or pushed back

KPIs viewed as manipulated or irrelevant

Disconnect between rhetoric and reality

Toxic behaviours go unaddressed

Communication mostly top-down and one-way

Operational overload and overwhelming busyness

Fragmentation between operational and leadership levels

Regularly blindsided by external disruption

Local teams not empowered to adapt

Leadership promises not followed through

Collaboration inconsistent and person-dependent

Frontline needs ignored in strategic decisions

“Them and us” culture undermines collaboration

Staff feel disempowered and disengaged

Lack of joint communication initiatives

Engagement of front-line personnel superficial or too late

Mutual distrust and blame entrenched

Lack of aligned purpose or mutual commitment

Short-term fixes trump long-term sustainability

Senior leaders remote and disconnected

Blame and defensiveness are default modes

Third parties brought in to attempt to resolve delays

Engagement varies wildly between sites

Micro-management and centralized control

“Cost first” mentality undermines quality and value

Meetings lack purpose, clarity, and outcomes

No shared understanding of value between parties

Siloed teams and lack of cross-functional collaboration

Culture of “doing it my way” over standardization

No consistent strategy for information sharing

Cultural differences erode trust

Meetings perceived as performative, not productive

Performance reporting lacks transparency

Poor mutual understanding of roles and responsibilities

Too many redundant and unfocused meetings

Feedback not listened to or acted upon

High staff turnover and retention issues

Disconnect between leaders and operational realities

Adverse impact on staff morale and well-being

No shared vision or stability in leadership

Poor communication flow from leadership

Leadership doesn’t model unity

Local relationships stronger than systemic ones

Low morale due to overwork and poor recognition

Power imbalances prevent fair engagement

No learning or improvement from metrics

Joint ownership of issues rare

Culture of blame dominates discussions

Lack of leadership ownership and accountability

Not enough shared objectives across organizations

Systems contribute to inefficiencies and increase risk

Blame culture dominates problem-solving

Overburdened leaders struggle to prioritize people

High leadership turnover disrupts relationships

Widespread lack of trust in leadership

Unclear roles and decision-making authority

Assurance processes seen as tick-box exercises

Little cross-communication on issues

Poor planning, preparation, and follow-through

Stated high-level objectives don’t guide the day-to-day

Disconnect between corporate and operational messaging

No shared identity or ethos

Problems ignored or solutions take too long

Decisions perceived as financially motivated

Fear-based culture suppresses initiative and collaboration

Statements perceived as corporate lip service

Lack of feedback or corrective actions

Personality clashes hinder teamwork

Contractual compliance works against relationship quality

Senior leaders seen as distant or invisible

Crisis management replaces structured planning

Staff feel unsupported and isolated

Communication chaotic, unclear, and untimely

Need for consistent presence and clarity

Culture of fear undermines effective decisions

Centralized decisions override local needs

Lack of effective and relevant training and user guidance

Staff unaware of or disconnected from mission statements

Blame-shifting instead of problem-solving

Misalignment between expectations and outcomes

Adversarial relationship dominates interactions

Staff don’t believe metrics reflect real work

Disconnect between targets and end results

Inconsistency in auditing and follow-up

Contracting parties have fundamentally conflicting goals

Value perceived through profit, not impact

Important messages often lost or ignored

Disconnect between values and leadership behavior

Frequently Asked Questions

This is not just another survey.

We understand people get “survey fatigue”, but aside from some superficial similarities, the purpose, nature and outcomes of this diagnostic are entirely different to a survey:

This is a structured diagnostic tool for synthesizing, comparing and highlighting differences in perspectives.

It will not only reveal misalignments you wouldn’t otherwise see, but it will clarify them through the specific detail of the Value Codes – focused areas you will be evaluating.

The RMX Diagnostic consists of 24 Value Codes relating to the things that matter most in cross boundary relationships.

Even if your relationships are fine, you don’t want to let things that matter go without saying. Choose a relationship important enough that uncertainty matters.

RMX identifies whether different people are experiencing the relationship consistently, and whether important strengths are being overlooked.

If the picture is broadly positive, that is useful evidence too.

Invite people who experience different parts of the same relationship.

A useful group may include commercial, operational, technical and leadership perspectives, provided each participant has some direct experience of the relationship.

Alignment is a necessary foundation for success.

But it is very difficult to achieve and very difficult to know how far away you are from achieving it.

This diagnostic will give you an idea of where things really are, and establish a benchmark which you can return to later, to track change and evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken.

If everything is looking good, and if everyone agrees, then the diagnostic will start to substantiate this.

More likely, though, you’ll uncover areas of opportunity, where the diagnostic and report will:

  • Provide a constructive outlet to surface concerns regarding some key things that matter, and prepare to reorient around solutions
  • Encourage and support individuals that want to take a lead in understanding and making progress in developing alliancing capability
  • Clarify where to focus, which may include discussing and resolving different perspectives

True alignment doesn’t happen by accident.

Alignment happens when teams see their differences, discuss them openly, and take action together.

Face to face meetings come with their own challenges.

But the diagnostic can absolutely be deployed to support those meetings and make them more effective.

Crucially though, the diagnostic can be used in circumstances where face-to-face meetings are not practical (especially when engaging relationships at scale).

The standard complimentary RMX journey begins with one person, who can invite up to six other people from their own side of the relationship. This allows you to understand where your people agree, where their experiences differ and what may need attention internally.

The other party can separately initiate its own complimentary RMX Diagnostic for the same relationship. Where both initiators give their permission, we can then combine or compare the two group reports to reveal cross-party alignment, differences and opportunities for joint improvement.

No report will be shared without the relevant initiators’ explicit agreement.

The RMX or something more ‘situation specific’ can be used to engage across any number of relationships at scale, when you’re ready. We can discuss that after you’ve tried it for yourself first, or you can let us know now if you’re ready for more structured relational development and improvement.

Absolutely.

Think of this as a powerful diagnostic lens that complements and enhances your current initiatives — helping to align efforts, prioritize actions, and avoid wasted time or conflicting approaches.

Not at all.

While it’s especially valuable for high-value, high-importance relationships, any contract or partnership where outcomes matter can benefit. The approach scales to fit your needs.

You’ll be asked to set a password to keep your responses secure (nothing will be shared with any third party).

After you’ve submitted your response, you can invite up to 6 other people to share their perspective.

Most participants complete it in about 20 minutes, and immediately after submitting their response, they each receive a personalized report that presents back and highlights aspects of what they have said. 

When all participants have submitted responses, a more detailed report is generated that synthesizes and analyzes all the data to identify:

  • Overall trends.
  • Specific areas that seem agreed to be of concern (and areas that seem to be going well).
  • Areas with a diverse spread of opinion, suggesting division or perception gaps to resolve.
  • Patterns amongst what has been surfaced.
  • Frequent terms used, which can be the beginnings of a shared language.
  • Recommended next steps.

We get it — there are many “silver bullets” out there.

This diagnostic isn’t a quick fix or a generic tool.

It’s a rigorous, collaborative process that uncovers hidden misalignments and overlooked value drivers that contracts and KPIs miss.

It helps your entire team see what’s really going on, so you can act with clarity and confidence:

  • It’s proven to scale — but feels deeply personal.
  • It builds insight before demanding action.
  • It fits how people naturally learn, decide, and engage.
  • It doesn’t impose or instruct — it invites and unlocks.
  • Most importantly: it works where other efforts haven’t.

In this case, the focus is on the quality and experienced maturity of a particular relationship. But because the approach is configurable, the diagnostic can be adapted to different relationship types, business contexts and levels of engagement — from a focused initial review to wider assessments involving more participants, both parties or related areas of performance and change.

Absolutely.

Your responses are 100% confidential, and results, not attributed to a named person, are only shared within your participating team.

Any benchmarking is fully anonymized to protect your privacy at every stage.