Part One

If you’ve already taken my Business Partnership Success Free Assessment to find out where your partnership stands on the Success Meter you want to know what you can do to improve your chances for success.

PART ONE – The Secret to a Successful Partnership
That No School Teaches

The Secret to a Successful Partnership That No School Teaches is that business partnerships are basically business marriages! There is an "I do" alright, a mighty covenant heart and soul. Therefore when entering into a partnership a strong foundation of knowing one another needs to be priority in the business partnership relationship.

Most people who decide to be partners do it on a somewhat sketchy basis, an idea and the notion that each one of them brings skill sets or finances that the other does not. On that limited basis they often conclude they are a good match. Because of that haste it should come as no surprise that partnerships break up at a greater rate than marriages do.

The breakdown of the relationship in most cases is the reason for the breakup of the partnership. I will show you how the relationship and the business plan interact in both a positive or negative way. Remember, like in a marriage, no one really changes when you sign the papers. What you don’t like now will still be there when the commitment becomes a legally binding one.

Here are the Five Stages of a Business Partnership.

Which one describes best where you are? The stages are overlapping and you will most likely be dealing with issues of more than one stage at any given time.

STAGE 1 -TAKE THE PLUNGE!

This is an exciting time. Shared creative adrenaline has birthed a partnership! This time is much like becoming engaged and preparing for the wedding of a lifetime. Of course, planning a wedding is different than planning a marriage, a lifelong plan to be together where hopefully, not only personalities, but values also are known about each other, and line up well. That is the beginning. There is a lot of groundwork that should be done here, but often because it appears to be daunting or even unknown, it is skipped over.

STAGE 2 – THE HONEYMOON

Everything is moving along quickly. The partnership is blooming into a (mostly) beautiful thing. Of course, there is the occasional "miscommunication" which is quickly discarded. The partners are accommodating to one another and often don't point out each other's negatives or weaknesses.

One partner may be seen to hold key strengths that are of higher importance at the time of partnering such as financing or key sales contacts. The other partner wanting to compensate may then assume roles and priorities that are not his or her core strengths. Optimism is high, pitfalls or challenges that show up early may be diminished or underestimated by one or both partners. They may not see the need to document their agreement regarding non-financial dealings (and in some cases even the financial is neglected)!

Partners may share the same goals, but have widely different values and motivations for achieving those goals. Values and motivations out of alignment can provide warning signs to potential challenges down the road.

STAGE 3 – THE HONEYMOON’S OVER

Issues and challenges that were glossed over in the honeymoon stage suddenly appear as glaring obstructions or problems. Depending on how partners communicate relationships may start to show signs of strain or tension. Partners who have not met their initial goals (by timeline) may start to secretly blame and judge each other often underestimating their own role in the current circumstances. Partners who have exceeded their initial goals (by timeline) may secretly overestimate their own role in the success of the company. In some cases one or both may start to think about getting out while the going is good.

STAGE 4 – THE DAILY GRIND

The relationship can often suffer when partners begin getting caught up in the daily grind, putting out fires, or just dealing with issues as they arise. Communication becomes even more of a rare occurrence. Routine, automated listening replaces active listening. Even when there's dialogue there may be limited understanding. Partners who are accustomed to each other's nuances, habits, routines, quirks, may not notice symptoms of bigger problems. One or both partners may feel stuck doing tasks they hate (Things they took on during the honeymoon stage when they didn't want to break the mood by speaking up.)

STAGE 5 – PARTING OF THE WAYS (PLANNED OR UNEXPECTED)

At this point the partners may begin to worry about how other people will talk about them if they "fail" as a partner. Thinking shifts from what they can gain from the partnership to what they think they will lose by walking away. It becomes more difficult to remember why you entered into partnership with this person. Focus is on all the things that are wrong or not working. One or both partners avoid time onsite.

HOMEWORK:

Based on the descriptions of the stages of a business partnership where do you and your partner best fit? Don’t forget that most partnerships overlap into more than one stage.

It is extremely important to the success of your partnership that you are deeply honest with yourself and with your (potential ) partner.
Ask yourself first and then discuss these points with each other:
Why do or did you really want a partner?
What kind of a partner are you or will you be?
What did you or are you looking for in a partner?
What do you bring to the table?

A more comprehensive and complete guide on how to have this discussion is included in the Business Partnership Blueprint package. You can read about it at www.businesspartnershipsolutions.com.

A successful business partnership relationship is even more important than the business itself. If a particular business idea doesn't work for whatever reason, but the partners know how to be with each other, they can take that partnership to another business that will be successful.

You don't want to miss Part Two: The Lie Everyone Believes About Business. It should arrive in your inbox in 3 days. Take this time to consider the relationship you are in with your business partner and get prepared to learn the TRUTH!

As always I welcome any question or comments.

I wish you success,

Dorene Lehavi, PhD
Business Partnership Coach
www.coachingforyournextlevel.com
support@businesspartnershipsolutions.com
323-931-7204

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