Great Partnerships

I was at two different women’s business networking meetings last week where the subject of ex-husbands and ex-business partners came up. While these very savvy businesswomen were “complaining” about lingering problems caused by their ex-partners they were also talking about exciting new partnerships that were unfolding for them.

This all started me thinking about the likelihood of these new personal or business partnerships surviving. After all, statistics indicate that 50% of first marriages fail but the failure rate of second marriages is a staggering 70%.

Business partnerships fare even worse. According to the Harvard Business School they start out with a 70% failure rate and who knows,  like marriages this rate may climb for second partnerships.

This raises questions for me. Why are people jumping in again without learning from their mistakes and past experience? Why aren’t they learning from other people’s mistakes? Why do they think that next time will be different? Are they spending the time and energy to make more intelligent decisions? Do they realize how they may be contributing to these failures?

And the big question for me is - how can I help?  Since, in my mind one ex is enough. 

It came up again today in a coversation with a client - “How to maximize your network building ability at a professional conference.” Some of the best advice I have seen is from Keith Ferrazzi’s book ‘Never Eat Alone’ in the chapter called Conference Commando. I have decided to share (with the permission of the author) a tip-filled excerpt from that chapter.  You can download it by clicking this link  15tipskeithferrazzicc.pdf

I am back to this blog after a six month hiatus during which I was trying to figure out how to tie together my various offerings. I have decided to concentrate on my core message that the way to success in life and business is through building great partnerships of all types.

My plan is to share insights and information here that will help you build a great life by connecting and collaborating with yourself, others and the world. So, you may see posts on personal relationships, business relationships, marriage, family, networking, business building, or anything else I believe will help you to grow and prosper. 

Jean Charles, Business Relationship Coach

The last but not least stage of partnership is Completion. Just as it is advisable to plan your exit strategy from any business, it is important to know when to dissolve and how to break up with a business partnership. The process should be defined in your written agreements, but even so many times issues arise that are not clearly articulated in the formal agreement. So, it is important to commit to:

·         Delineate each partner’s preferred exit strategy

·         Clearly define what each partner expects to get out of the business

·         Never discuss merger or acquisition proposals without informing all partners beforehand

·         Set up probable timelines

·         Plan thoroughly for possible changes in the partnership structure

Once you have mastered the art of cooperation you can move on to the most exciting and productive stage of any partnership. This is when the productive energy just seems to flow between partners, they feed off of each other’s ideas and actions and the results are exponentially more than the sum of their efforts. This is the Synergy stage. This is the fun stage and where you want the partnership to stay, so commit to:

·         Acknowledge, appreciate and reward each partner’s contributions

·         Keep adding creative energy to the business

·         Communicate differences of opinion without becoming argumentative or defensive

·         Truly value your partner’s differences

·         Take full responsibility for reaching your own business goals

The more partners work together in a synergistic high-performance team, the more productive and profitable the business will become. Synergy is exciting with possibilities of truly significant gain and improvement so it is worth the effort and commitment.

The fifth and last stage of partnership is really the one that should be considered in the beginning of any partnership and usually is not. Come back here to read it soon so you can be prepared to build prosperity through partnership.

When you learn to trust one another and to resolve conflicts to your mutual benefit, you will enter the Cooperation stage of partnership. You learn to share power and appreciate each other’s unique abilities and gifts. Getting past the power struggle stage and building a workable relationship that fosters true collaboration will pay off well. Your teamwork will move you into the cooperation stage if you commit to:

·         Treat each other like real partners and divide tasks equitably

·         Stick to your clearly defined roles and responsibilities

·         Make sure the authority goes with the responsibility

·         Be direct about how you will make decisions together

·         Continue building trust and respect for each other

·         Develop strategies for avoiding pitfalls

·         Create guidelines for handling future problems

Now that you are working well together your partnership can progress to the next level where true connection occurs and your combined efforts equal much more than their sum. Stay tuned to learn about this most productive and profitable stage of partnership!

When the Honeymoon is over the Power Struggle will start!– It is inevitable that when new aspects of personalities emerge conflicts will occur. This is the stage where partners test and judge each other. It is necessary to build trust in this stage of the partnership to move on to working well together. Hopefully all major issues that arise have solutions built in to your partnership agreements. For handling ‘smaller’ issues commit to:

·         Be flexible

·         Work out differences side by side

·         Balance emotions with rational dialogue

·         Listen to the other side of arguments and reserve judgment

·         Seek common ground and learn the underlying intentions of each partner

·         Keep partners informed on any matters that could affect the business

·         Not assume you know the other persons thoughts or feelings

·         Give the benefit of the doubt to your partner

·         Revisit agreements and revise or amend as needed

·         Seek outside advice and support when necessary

Sadly many partnerships fail because they get stuck in the power struggle. Don’t let this happen to you. See past the disagreements and commit to working out issues. The rewards will be evident when you progress to the collaborative stage of partnership.

Partnerships, and all relationships for that matter, go through predictable stages. Knowing these stages is like having a map that will help you to know where you are and get to where you want to go. It will also allow you to deal effectively with the particular issues of the stage you are in.

The first stage is Attraction. This stage of relationships is characterized by a fascination with another person, organization or project, a desire to learn more about them, and to share with them. This is the stage that is fun, feels good and people wish would last forever.

The Attraction stage is similar to a Honeymoon in that everything is exciting and everyone is on their best behavior. This is when partners are focused on and exploring positive possibilities. Small disagreements are probably overlooked until they build up to become major issues. While the relationship is still in the agreeable Attraction stage commit to:

• Resolve any doubts that you should be partners by learning more about each other

• Make sure your individual visions for the business and its growth are similar

• Undertake a strategic planning process

• Clarify with yourself and each other what you want from the partnership

• Build trust and confidence in one another and your ability to jointly manage the business

• Contribute what is needed to make the venture a success

The partnership will inevitably progress to the next stage. After all, the Honeymoon does not last forever! But if you have set a strong foundation using the above suggestions, the negative impact of a power struggle will be minimized.

I have not been posting to this blog lately as I have been focused on writing an ebook about how to form great business partnerships. I have been gathering information for several years about the right and wrong things entrepreneurs do when partnering in business. In the past few weeks I have been prompted by questions and comments from several of my contacts to share this information. I’m not sure what is prompting the recent interest in business partnerships in my network; perhaps the current economy.

Instead of handing over or emailing lists of tips and notes about why and how to partner in business, I decided to put the info together in an easy to use, concise ebook. I am putting the finishing touches on it now and adding valuable resources. Stay tuned.

I was angry watching the Today show the other morning. Their producers picked up on the NY Times article I mentioned in my last post about successful women entrepreneurs hiring their husbands.

They showed clips of interviews with two of the couples and then had two “experts” comment on this business model. The male “expert” is a journalist whose then-wife was his boss at a publication for which he wrote. When she turned down an article from him he went above her head for approval and was also rejected. He thinks no man should ever work for his wife. He had no experience working for a successful entrepreneurial woman. Working for a woman who is a manager in a corporate environment is not analogous to working for a woman entrepreneur who owns a family business.  Also he was so bitter and surly, I don’t think he could work for any woman and it is evident why his former boss is no longer his wife.

The other “expert” was a family therapist. Also, in my opinion, not qualified to comment on this topic since couples working together or otherwise do not seek therapy until it is too late. She did not mention that she has experience counselling couples who work together and if she does, she probably only sees couples with insurmountable problems and not those who are working together with some minor issues that need improvement.