Business Partnerships 101

From the moment that Guy and I agreed to form a business partnership last year I've had to learn what exactly it means to be somebody's business partner. Now, by no means do I think that I've even scratched the surface in regards to the lessons that I'm going to learn but I thought that I'd share some of the basic things that I've learned so far:

• Fight vs Flight - Sometimes when I know that Guy is upset or venting his frustrations I will just let him go off and get everything off of his chest, because at that moment that's all he needs to do. Other times, I've learned that engaging him in a discussion and then telling him straight up to either get over it or take some action to resolve it is the answer as well. Although my approach might not always be correct I think that I'm continuing to learn and gain a better understanding of what is required through things like the exercises that we do at the leadership forum and obviously through his inventory.
  
• Agree to disagree - One of the first things that I identified about our working dynamic was that Guy and I could disagree on something, and even argue about it, but at the end of the day we would understand that a solution had to be reached. Whether that means that one of us compromises our opinion or that we find an alternative solution altogether we understand that focusing on the big picture is the most important thing, not on padding our ego or having it our own way.
  
• Find the time - With both of our schedules being quite full and often requiring us to be at the facility at different times it's been important for us to find the time to meet and catch up. Sometimes this happens over lunch, while walking to get a coffee or even briefly while rolling towels and although it may only happen for a few minutes I can't stress how beneficial it is.
  
• Divide and conquer - There are times when both of us can't be present at a meeting or when it just makes more sense for one of us to take on a task. Being able to trust that Guy will make the right decision or that he will keep me completely updated as to what happened or what was said is absolutely necessary as long as there's a high level of communication that follows. This is obviously one of the strengths of forming a partnership in that there can be times when one person can take things on without the other person being present, otherwise it's almost the same as running it by yourself.

As I said, these are only a few of the lessons that I've learned so far and I know that there will be many more to come. What's funny is that as I am writing this blog I can see that the traits of a business partnership are not all that different than the ones that are necessary between us and our teammates.