Healthy Business Partnerships Part 2: 6 Tips

Why smart businesses fail

Sometimes early on, the priority start ups place on functional areas steals the focus from the overall health of the group.

Many times, one person believes they are doing more than others. So he or she thinks they deserve more of the company.

Over time, the partners become more focused on equity position than on the company itself.

I can’t tell you how often I hear about this situation in the businesses I talk with. Often, even organizations with very well established names often find themselves at risk of going under – just because the partnership has become essentially non-functional.

It begs the question, if your leadership team wasn’t focused on interpersonal conflict, how much more could your organization be accomplishing?

Bottom line, it’s always true that a well functioning team can perform better and come up with better solutions than a group of persons focused on individual objectives.

6 ways to create a healthy business partnership

1. Unwavering focus on the greater good, not the personal gain — Early on, you must establish that the success of the team or the collective vision is the most important thing to that group of entrepreneurs. Everyone must demonstrate that they will sacrifice individual gains as they look toward making the team successful.
2. Establish the purpose — Be clear about your purpose and why you exist. Sometimes partnerships fail because each partner has a little bit different version of what the goal really is. How can the team stay together if everybody’s working toward something different? Put thought into your purpose as a company and commit to that.
3. It’s all about behaviors — Behaviors are really based on a set of values that absolutely must be in alignment with every person on the team. Answering the question of what those values and behaviors are (and are not) will serve you well every day.
4. Communicate, communicate, communicate – The most important thing to real estate is location. The most important thing for a successful partnership is communication. It must be clear, healthy, and genuine. Each partner in the company has to communicate in a healthy way to prevent the cracks that can ultimately doom an organization.
5. Commitment to the business purpose and behaviors is imperative — If one partner in the group lacks commitment to those critical items, they will continuously create unhealthy conflict and strife for the group. Ultimately, it’s not a question of if, but when the relationships will sever if a consensus cannot be maintained on what the business is and how it behaves.
6. Build maximum levels of trust early on – Each partner must be able to engage in critical conversations that address why high levels of trust may not be developed or established. Each person must be able to ask, “Is there any reason we may not trust each other?” If there is no trust, there’s no solid partnership. Laying a solid foundation for trust is really important to avoid the dysfunctions that cause business failures.