When a partnership stalls, the first guess is usually people. Wrong partner. Wrong contact. Wrong rep. The real cause is almost always the structure.
Channel conflict sticks around when working together makes no sense under the compensation plan. Partners go quiet when the value they get is unclear. Co-sell stalls when there is no routing logic, no account plan, and no agreed meaning for "partner involvement."
These are design problems. They look like relationship problems because relationships are where the symptoms show up.
The difference matters, because the fix is different. A relationship problem calls for better conversations, more QBRs, new contacts. A design problem calls for changed decision rights, changed pay, changed process.
Most programs do the first and skip the second. That is why the same problems come back quarter after quarter, with new people in the same seats.