HOW TO DEAL WITH CONFLICTS IN PARTNERSHIP ?

Partnership is a very complicated thing which means that it has both good and bad sides. The thing is that actually when you are in partnership with someone you can feel that there is someone to always rely on and that you are not alone. You know that there is someone who is experiencing exactly the same and it makes you feel a bit better. At the same time, business is a hard place and especially when you are in partnership, you can face a lot of troubles and disagreements with your partners. This is quite natural but sometimes it can turn into a very complicated situation and things will not be great for you then. So what you can actually do, is trying to resolve all this issues as fast as you can.

Now let’s understand how you should deal with these conflicts in partnership.

• One of the major problems that the partners face is when the work is not proportionally divided. So one of the partners thinks that he or she works more than the other one. This is also quite natural, but resolve this issue before it all happens. How can you deal with it? You should divide the work before you start the business. Understand who is responsible for what and in this case there will not be a lot of mess.
• Do not ignore the viewpoint of your partner. If you signed a partnership contract with him this means that you already share his viewpoint and that you actually respect his point of view as well. This is very important to understand. You should respect the point of view of your partner. Otherwise it is not really a partnership and it was a mistake to sign the agreement. Just sit down and try to understand who is right and who is wrong.
• Do not be scared asking for a help of your partners. You are partners which means that you should back up each other and you should support each other as well. In this case if there is something you cannot handle alone, you should ask for help and in your turn you should be willing to help your partner as well. This is a great thing as it will make you both understand that you are not alone and you have each other to help and support.
• You should also understand your roles by the proportions. For example one partner has more share than the other. In this case of course the one who has less share must understand that actually the other partner has more autonomy but at the same time he should not behave as if he does not have any role there.
• One of the most important thing about partnership is also when partners start arguing with each other and start yelling at each other in front of employees. This is not right to do because even if there is not tension in between you, the workers should not know about it and should not feel it. The thing is that they might start respecting you less, or they must start working under big tension which is also not so good. That is the reason why you should be smart enough to argue with your partner in private. Never ever do it in front of other people.
• One of the major problems in partnership is when partners start arguing in front of clients or in front of donors. This is can turn it into a disaster. Never ever do it in front of your clients and donors. They will be immediately disappointed from you. The thing is that if you argue in front of such people they are going to think that you actually do not know who you are, what your company is all about and you are going to lose you name for sure.
• Another problem is of course sharing the income. The partners always argue about sharing the income. One of them thinks that he must get more and this is how it all starts. Well, things here must be cut very clear. If your shares are equal then you should divide the income equally if not that you should share it according to the percentages you have.

This were all the things that you need to know about the partnership and about how dealing with it. Conflicts are everyone and even if you start partnership with your best friend, there will still be a lot of work to do in order to improve your partnership skills and you will be having a lot of misunderstandings. What you should actually do is respect you partners, be loyal in business and both put the maximum time, effort and wish into your business. This is how you will be successful in partnership.