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How To Communicate Better With A Business Partner

Guest post by: Adam Sonnhalter

Article Overview: About one-third of our business coaching clients have involved situations where there are multiple owners in the business. This has included spouses, siblings, parents & kids, in-laws, friends, and business acquaintances. One of the biggest struggles with multiple owners is getting all the owners on the same page. When the business is first formed, everyone is usually on the same page. But as the months and years go by, it's easy to drift apart. Here are a couple of keys for better communication with your business partner: 1. Understand Behavior Styles 2. Keep The Appointments 3. Do What You Say You're Going To Do 4. If You Feel It, Say It

How To Communicate Better With A Business Partner

About one-third of our business coaching clients have involved situations where there are multiple owners in the business. This has included spouses, siblings, parents & kids, in-laws, friends, and business acquaintances. One of the biggest struggles with multiple owners is getting all the owners on the same page. When the business is first formed, everyone is usually on the same page. But as the months and years go by, it's easy to drift apart.

Here are a couple of keys for better communication with your business partner:

1. Understand Behavior Styles: one of the things we do for all of our clients is to take them through a behavioral assessment from Extended DISC. It's amazing how something so simple as understanding your own behavioral style (and eventually the styles of other people) can help you to communicate better. In fact, our experience has shown that most of the problems that occur within an organization could have been avoided if everyone understood people's styles better. Let's say you're not that detail oriented, but your partner is. If the two of you don't adjust your natural styles when communicating with each other, there will be friction sooner vs. later. In times of stress, your natural behavioral styles become more important because your tendency will be to overemphasize your natural style.

2. Keep The Appointments: for some reason, meetings have gotten a bad rap. Usually it's because the meetings are not focused, not interactive, and not kept on schedule and on task. There's a reason why nearly every football team huddles between plays, so why should your company be any different. A key role for you as the owner of your business is to set regularly scheduled meetings throughout the organization which will improve communication. This starts with having meetings with your business partner(s) and keeping them. Although it can be tempting to push back or skip a meeting due to some current "fire" in the business, it is imperative that you put your meetings into your appointment book with pen, not pencil. Treat it like a meeting with your top customer.

3. Do What You Say You're Going To Do: if you tell your partner that you're going to do something, then make sure it gets done. There's no quicker way to erode trust than to continually promise that something will get done and then continuing to fail to deliver. The quickest way to lose a customer is to overpromise and underdeliver. Don't do it with your business partner(s).

4. If You Feel It, Say It: I heard this quote from sales trainer David Sandler, and it made so much sense to me that it has stuck with me. If you can't be open and honest with your partner, then what are you doing in a partnership with that person? If there is a perceived slight or if something is unclear or if you're frustrated, simply say it! Don't let it fester like an open sore which will only grow worse over time if it continues to be ignored. You're not a mind reader and neither is your partner.

Chances are, if you and your partner(s) are not communicating well, then there are probably some big communication gaps within the rest of your organization as well. Just like in a family, if the relationship with the mother and father is not strong, it's difficult for the rest of the family unit to be strong.

Understanding and following the four steps outlined above will go a long way to ensuring the strength of the relationship with you and your partner(s).

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Article Tags: business coaching, business partner, parents, siblings



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