Avoid Conflicts in Your Business Partnership

Are you considering a professional partnership? Or are you in the midst of a business partnership that is not going as well as you imagined? Partnerships allows a person to be able to have the flexibility to do what they are good at and share the ownership responsibility and investment with other partners who get to do what they are good at.

For a successful partnership, first evaluate the long range goals and vision. Second, be aware of any potential conflicts and work towards minimizing them.

No partnership will have zero disagreement. The idea of this article is helping you explore potential areas of conflict and identify the big stumbling blocks towards having and running a successful business partnership.

Here is a short list of potential areas of conflicts:

Personal values and situations. Ensure that personal goals and personal desires for the future are complimentary with your partner; that they do not conflict with each other.

For example, I have a partner who is 32 years older than I. His pronouncement to retire from business affects the types of decisions he is making about the business. I am not looking to retire, so the decisions I make are different than his.

Family situations. Family situations can affect how the business is run and the type of decisions made. Avoid family situations that can conflict with the ability to run the business.

Core Values. Understand what core values define each partner and ensure they are not in conflict with each other. These things, unfortunately, have nothing to do with the business, but when engaged in a business partnership, a lot of these core values will come to the surface and determine how long a partnership will last. These values may or may not include religion. Remember, core values do not have to be identical, but they must be compatible.

In one conversation with a potential partner, I was actually told to go take a hike because the skills that I brought were of no value because I did not believe in God the same way they did.

Charity alignment. Will your business give to charity? Which charity, how often and how much?

Lastly, understand what you are afraid of, the obstacles that stop you, your opportunities, the things you personally are excited about, and the strengths, talents and skills. Be clear. The clearer you are and the more honest you are with yourself about the context of your relationship with the potential partners, the easier it is to achieve things together.

Partners do not have to have identical values, visions or goals, but whatever those goals and visions are they cannot be in conflict with your partners, because those conflicts will come to the surface very quickly.