I recently had a coaching client ask me about how I approach partnerships/joint ventures/strategic alliances and when it may be time to “cut the teather”. In this particular case my client had a partnership with another company, but he was doing all the work, the partner did not show up for a couple scheduled meetings and did not have the courtesy to let my client know, they never returned calls or emails (unless hounded) and generally showed a lack of respect for my client and their partnership and this was before they had even finished defining how they were going to work together!
My advice was to put an immediate stop to the partnership and to continue moving forward himself.
Partnerships are great when:
- There is a mututal benefit for all partners involved
- The partnership isn’t “one sided” (meaning one partner isn’t doing all the work)
- There is strong communication between all parties in the partnership
- You have defined everyones Roles and Responsibilities
- All parties in the partnership are clear on expectations (expectations of each other and the end results)
- There is a written agreement in place covering the points above
When partnerships/alliances/joint ventures begin to show signs of sinking, abandon ship and don’t look back.
Cheers,
Liam
