Partner Communications Session 2
The husband and wife partnership I started working with a few weeks ago has progressed nicely. Last week there was a complaint from the wife (aka Jane) that she needed access to ‘resources under the husband’s (aka Joe’s) control and Joe had not been willing to agree. Their homework assignment was to discuss it again to see if they could come to agreement. Upon hearing more from Jane, Joe became convinced that it was better to designate time from his staff than for Jane to go outside to get the needed resources. In the future the decision might be different. It was agreed that if either had need of the other’s services and they could not agree to provide them with staff, the other would have the option to hire outside resources, keeping in mind the return on investment of the decision.
Also historically they said they often disagreed with each other in meetings with their executive staff. Because this took extra time and was not a good face to be presenting to those who had major responsibilities, they decided that when they found themselves disagreeing they would stop the discussion and say they would work out the disagreement at a later time and come back with a unified position next time. At this past week’s meeting they didn’t disagree in the meeting, but realized they didn’t agree and decided to discuss it afterward. By taking it up specifically after the meeting they were able to reach agreement and are prepared to come back next time with a unified statement. Both felt it wasn’t perfect, but that progress had been made.
The bottom line: in order to move forward on anything, agreement must be reached. When there is disagreement it saps energy and time and keeps things from moving forward.
Husband and Wife Business Partner Challenges
I recently started working with a husband and wife partnership running a company of 40 employees and $20M in revenue. They came to me because they seemed to butt heads whenever they had a decision to make. Each had strong feelings about how things should be done and frequently found it difficult to reach an agreement. Fortunately they both were eager to find a resolution to their communication issues, which they had not been able to resolve on their own.
In addition to finding out where they were together and where they were apart, I learned each of their strengths. I asked if there was a delineation of duties, with each having responsibility for specific areas. While it seems they knew their areas of strength they did not have anything like a table of organization.
So their first assignment was to agree that each would be the final decision-maker for specific areas. The husband took web site development and marketing; the wife took operations and product management. For projects they agreed that the individual responsible for the department bearing the bulk of the work would oversee the project from beginning to end and would assign tasks to the other departments if needed.
They also agreed that before major decisions were made in their areas they would run the details and facts by the other partner. If the other partner had issues or concerns they would take 24 – 48 hours to consider everything before making a final decision.
This change meant they would need to communicate the new structure to their department heads, which is on the agenda for next time.
They have used the new system for 2 weeks and things seem to have gone smoothly so far. We’ll see what comes up as new projects are started and the staff adjust to a clearer delineation of roles and responsibilities.
A Case for Business Partnership
I’m writing this review because I think there’s a lesson to be learned in “Business Partners Can Enrich or Ditch a Start-Up”. The lesson is that a business partnership has the potential to more than double the power of each individual. The objective of a partnership should be to be bigger, better, or stronger than each partner alone. A strong partnership can be highly successful.
In her article, Laura Petrecca covers the good , the bad and the ugly parts of a business partnership. She quotes Barry Nalebuff, a Yales School of Management professor, who co-founded Honest Tea with former student Seth Goldman. He says “his partnership helped propel Honest Tea from $250,000 in sales in 1998 to $13.5 million by 2006. In 2008, Coca-Cola purchased 40% of the firm.” That’s quite a success story.
Laura’s case for a partnership is the extra skill set a partner provides, if done correctly. “With a company comrade, there is always someone to brainstorm with, to share work duties and, of course, to help carry the financial burden. An agreement covering the ownerships structure, financing and division of duties is a must”. And be sure to address contingencies like what happens if a partner becomes disabled or dies.
Laura includes examples and tips on handling issues between married partners, as well as family and friend partnerships. Reporting on two high school friends who formed a partnership, she quotes “Things have been a little rocky, but we’ve managed to stay afloat, …I think (the troubles) have helped our business get stronger and our friendship get stronger.”