5 Ways to Save Your Business Partnership Before it's Too Late
When business partnerships flounder, companies can take a major hit. A CEO’s relationship with his business partners and his executive staff such as his second-in-command set the tone for his company’s success.
Many CEOs wait to fix their failing relationships until it is too late. After years of battling, what generally ends up happening is that the executive employee quits in frustration or the business partner bows out of the relationship. Then, the CEO is left scrambling to fill the position or find a new partner. They would save themselves tons of time, energy and frustration if they would merely work to preserve those relationships in the first place.
Here is my best advice for CEOs struggling with failing relationships in the workplace:
Celebrate successes together. When an employee or a business partner does something positive, whether it’s a momentous accomplishment or a small positive act, make sure that you shine a light on that achievement. I always tell my clients: Catch your employees doing something right.
Find the gift in their failings. No one is perfect. Maybe your business partner is terribly unorganized. It’s easy to focus on that failing and become very frustrated with them. But I challenge my clients to find the gift in their partner’s failings. Okay, so maybe he’s disorganized. Perhaps this is because he’s someone who thinks outside the box, someone who’s a visionary and an innovator.
Stop trying to change them. Don’t go into a partnership planning to change what you don’t like about your business partner. Growth and change is possible, but it has to come from the inside, not from being badgered and criticized. Accept where you are currently with your partner and set goals for moving forward, but don’t get caught up in the blame game or fault-finding.
If you spot it, you got it. The qualities that most annoy you in other people are almost always the qualities that you also struggle with. For example, if you hate that your business partner is overly sensitive, it could be that you also have that quality of being defensive and easily offended. Together, you can actually help each other to face this quality and find out where the issue could be stemming from.
Choose self-awareness over self-protection. Look at the ways where you might have screwed up, Ask yourself what areas you most need to work on. You may even use a survey tool so that your employees can give you feedback on your leadership and management style. Be willing to work on yourself and accept the reality of your own imperfections. This is the only way that true growth can happen.
