With the right person by your side, having a business partner can be quite rewarding. They can make managing your business easier. They can bring skills you lack into play. They can even help push your business to new heights.
Not all business partners can live up to these expectations, however. Your business partner may frequently argue about how to run your business, or you may find they are taking advantage of you. They may even hold your business back from growing due to rash decisions and personality clashes with your employees or the public. They may just not be putting the work in.
At times like this, it’s best to approach your business partner and discuss how to resolve the issues you’re seeing with their work performance. Here’s what you may consider doing:
Know what key points to discuss with a disruptive partner
Some business partners may have one or two issues that can easily be discussed. Other business partners may have serious, deep-seated troubles. Whatever the case, you should know what issues you need to discuss with your business partner.
Approach your business partner knowing exactly what you need to discuss, and have a game plan in mind for what you want to see happen in the future. The clearer you are about your expectations moving forward, the better results you may see.
Don’t wait for the right time to talk about your partner’s issues
Letting an issue go unfixed for too long can only make it worse for your business – and harder to resolve. It can also lead your partner to feel blindsided, especially if they saw no hint that you were unhappy with their performance.
Talking with your business partner early can plant the seeds to stop further problems from happening. In other words, resolving issues today can go a long way for your business – and keep the lines of communication open.
An unprofessional partner can hold your business back from being everything you dreamed it would be. If you’ve done everything you can to resolve a business dispute with your partner then you may need to understand more about your dispute resolution options.