Your business started out as a small operation but it has grown every year. You’re constantly employing the best possible talent and you’ve also brought in a business partner.
A successful business partnership can help to protect your business interests and continue the acceleration of your success. An unsuccessful business partnership can threaten your company and significantly stunt your growth.
Disputes with your business partner are something that you really want to avoid if possible. Outlined below are a few factors that might unsettle your business partner.
Undermining their authority
Your business partner was brought in on a 50-50 basis. In other words, you are both bosses. But recently, your partner has made some decisions regarding employees which you have later reversed. The workforce is starting to lose respect for your partner because of the perceived lack of authority they possess. If your partner feels cheated or disrespected by staff, then a dispute is almost inevitable. It’s very important that workers know who has authority within a company.
Unclear responsibilities
Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and this is the basis on which a business partner should be enlisted. Your skills are in building new client relationships and keeping existing customers happy. Your business partner’s strengths lie in motivating staff. It’s vital that you get the balance right in terms of workloads though. If the company is large then that’s a lot of employees for your business partner to manage. If your business partner starts to feel like their workload is unfair compared to yours, they may begin to feel like they are being taken advantage of. Allocating workloads is one of the most important factors to get right in an effective business partnership.
One way that you can manage the issues discussed above is by having written partnership agreements. Seeking legal guidance will help ensure that you put the appropriate arrangements in place.
