Being an owner is hard. You are where the buck stops. You’re the one who must solve the problem no one else could handle.
Because of this, many companies have more than one principal. Sometimes it is a pair of good friends. It could be two spouses working together.
The challenge is that everybody changes over time and partners rarely change at the same time.
If you are married or in a committed relationship, you know what I mean. This continual evolution toward a better future (ideally) takes work. Basically, any relationship takes work to make it work.
So, how can you make a business partnership more likely to be successful? Here are four ideas.
A Partners’ Meeting
When my wife Nina and I worked together, we met for lunch weekly. We met out of the office at a restaurant that served food quickly.
Knowing that meeting was going to happen allowed us to bring to the table any issues that either of us had noted since the previous meeting.
We did it outside the office to avoid distractions and so that I would not succumb to the allure of the crisis of the day.
By following this practice, we were more or less on the same page. This alignment of the partners is very comforting to the employees of the company.
Be Professionals
The familiarity that comes from knowing somebody for a long time can make it easy to not behave professionally at work.
The result can be sullen silences or unnecessarily heated exchanges where things from the past get dredged up.
It is very important when you and your partner show up at work to be two professionals who happen to be working together. You need to set aside your personal relationship and work together in a manner that makes your employees feel inspired, not depressed.
Clear Job Descriptions
As time goes by, what each of the partners does in a company changes. The result can be confusion about who is responsible for what. Boundaries blur, causing frustration for both partners.
Clear job descriptions are essential. Without them, nobody knows what they can expect from one another.
A good practice annually is to look at each other’s job descriptions to see if they are still accurate. If they need to be modified, make that happen.
Share the results with your team. They will like knowing what you are each responsible for doing.
Not Working Out?
Early on when we were running our remodeling company, we worked with a company that had two partners.
They were both nice people … and very different. One was laid back and satisfied where the company was. The other had a vision for the future of the company.
Eventually the driven partner bought out the laid-back partner.
Sometimes a partnership ceases to provide what the partners were looking for. The best thing to do then is part ways and move into separate futures.
Most of us want things to last forever and ever. The truth is that virtually nothing does.
Embrace that. Work with it, instead of denying it. When you are honest with yourself and your partner, you can make better choices than avoiding addressing the disconnect.
Pay attention and enjoy when things are going well. At the same time, be prepared for the possibility that it won’t always be that way.