Preserving business partnerships.

AuthorShaff, Rob

Effective communication among partners serves to support business growth and development. Effecting such communication requires establishing and observing certain ground rules. This approach can serve you and your partners as well as your client partners.

Business relationships begin with shared goals and aspirations. Constant care and the positive manipulation of business objectives, in most cases, leads to success. In an ever-changing business environment, however, the inability or unwillingness of partners to revisit and reconstruct their objectives inevitably means disaster. For partners, a key to avoiding such disaster is communicating with each other respectfully and purposefully.

Consider the case of Bob and Joe, both mechanical engineers, who formed their partnership ten years ago. In the beginning, they shared similar goals, and an intense passion for the work. They based their partnership on sharing equally in every way--responsibilities, oversight, client development (rainmaking), product quality, and of course, finances. From the outset, the JoeBob Engineering Group was incredibly dynamic and synergistic. Joe and Bob met regularly to brainstorm new ideas and explore creative postures. Given their common passion for the business, JoeBob's revenue grew exponentially in its first few years providing them both with very lucrative incomes. Life was good.

As the partnership grew, "life is good" became "life is hectic" as day-to-day responsibilities, began to seem not just abundant but never-ending. Both Bob and Joe commented that it seemed that they did nothing but "run the practice" as opposed to "practicing engineering." After six years or so, the dynamic growth of the early years began to plateau; obtaining new clients became more difficult and the economic marketplace pinched all businesses. Client attrition was virtually nonexistent, however, because Bob and Joe ensured effective management of their clients' needs.

With the advent of stagnant revenues, Joe and Bob spoke and met less frequently. Their attention to the spirit of the business waned, as they felt saddled by the incredible responsibilities of managing and maintaining the existing client base. Additionally, their staff was now at ten and counting, providing the additional headaches of refereeing personality and "turf" wars among employees.

Joe called to ask if he could buy my lunch and bounce some ideas off me. During lunch, however, our discussion centered on his firm and its internal problems. Joe said his passion for the business was "not one iota less than when I started this firm," but he was totally frustrated by the firm's failure to gain new market share and revenue. As I delved into the market issues, Joe off-handedly indicated that Bob obviously wasn't interested in the growth of the practice or he would have been at this luncheon. When I asked whether he had invited...

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