Business Coaching for Partners
I’ve had occasion to work with business partners as my clients, and it’s an interesting dynamic. Here’s why:
Partners often enter into a business relationship because they recognize that they need to bring together different skills and viewpoints in order to help the company succeed. That’s wonderful, and it usually works quite well.
Often the two will have a “50-50 mindset”: the significant decisions will be made with equal input from both people, which then implies that consensus (pretty much full agreement) is the way to bring it to conclusion. Even if one partner owns more of the company than the other, it’s still desirable to reach a consensus agreement because that makes for a stronger forward motion. Employees like to see consistency and agreement, as do customers and investors.
Remember, though: These are two different people, with different backgrounds, viewpoints, and personal goals. So if you rely entirely on consensus decisions as your only tool, you may find times where you reach an impasse. Or, you get APPARENT agreement, but without full commitment. That can be even more dangerous than outright disagreement, because there’s less than full honesty.
This is where a business coach really helps to create a stronger alignment. When I’m working with partners, I often explore HOW they make decisions, where they have independent areas of ownership and when they want to drive a deeper alignment. I help them to get their viewpoints, opinions and emotions out on the table where they can be talked about in a less contentious way. Part of that is just having a third person in the room, but it’s also important that I ask some probing questions and honestly listen to the responses.
The result is sometimes quite startling: I find partners who are able to go back to their core reasons for working together, rather than focusing on the differences. Often what appears to be a large gap becomes much smaller, and can be resolved via compromises and creative alternatives. And what results is stronger alignment to create a powerful future for the business.
If you work in a partnership of some kind and sense that there could be value in aligning the two of you and helping to resolve differences, give us a ring. We’d be glad to sit down with you and show you what a great coaching conversation looks like.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
Maintain A Balance In Business
I had a person cancel a meeting with me this morning, which might have been a bit annoying. But the reason was that he’d experienced the death of a close friend, and was frantically trying to figure out how to get to New York as soon as possible.
You know what? That’s more important than our meeting. And even if he would have shown up, he would have been totally distracted because of the emotional turmoil that he’s going through. So we rescheduled for next week, no problem.
In your own business, I’ve found that it’s helpful to keep a little perspective about such things. Sure, business is important – you’re devoting a huge amount of your time and energy to it. But if you can’t take a little time to focus on relationships, on your mental and spiritual health, then what’s the point? And remember, the same is true for your employees. They also need to get away from the stresses of the job in order to maintain a bit of balance.
That balance will make them better employees too: more dedicated, more inspired, more customer-focused. You can’t beat that into them using pressure.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
Transitioning Ownership of Your Business
I’ve worked with several people who were involved in a transition of leadership for their companies or organizations. It’s a very interesting journey, with many layers and nuances.
If the current owner started the company, then he’s going to have a great deal of personal ownership tied up in it. Even if he’s getting burned out and wants to leave, he’s still going to be attached to the history. He’ll remember sitting around the kitchen table drawing diagrams, the day the business opened, and the first customer. All of these are emotionally charged events, and it’s hard to give them up.
It’s kind of like a divorce, or a close friend dying. It’s impossible not to get drawn into emotional responses.
The new owner, on the other hand, has her own history – both inside and outside this company. She’s going to have a fresh viewpoint, even if she’s a strong supporter of the previous owner. It’s natural for her to have difficulty balancing these new ideas and the old way of doing things. If she moves too quickly, that’s taking on significant risk. But staying with the old means that progress can slow to a crawl.
Notice that I haven’t even talked about the technical knowledge needed to transition ownership. That’s the easiest part, because often the technical skills are fairly visible. When the new and old owners have a chance to plan the shift a year or more in advance, it’s not hard to build a comprehensive list of everything that needs to be done, to analyze how decisions were made, and the relationships that will be tested when the switchover occurs.
Let’s not forget the adjustment that employees make when leadership changes. Usually their jobs don’t change much, at least not initially. But the relationship with your manager, especially if that’s the company owner, is an important part of whether you’re happy on the job or not. So all these relationships will essentially be re-negotiated from scratch. That takes time.
The best advice I give people is to:
- Plan the transition well in advance – preferably, more than a year
- Create a rigorous plan for transition of technical knowledge
- Develop a comprehensive list of all the relationships which will be touched: partners, employees, managers, suppliers, and customers
- Be patient with the internal emotional journeys each person needs to go through
- Learn as you go – it’s never perfect!
Are you thinking about how you might change leadership in your company? Start working through these points, even if you’re not sure when it’s going to happen.
Carl Dierschow
Small Fish Business Coaching Fort Collins
www.smallfish.us
