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Money and ownership · peer advisory council

Partnership and ownership challenges

“My partner and I want different things now, and neither of us has said it out loud.”

What it often sounds like at the table

Business partnerships get complicated when roles, expectations, money, authority or future goals stop lining up. It can be one of the loneliest problems an owner faces, because the person you would normally talk it through with is part of it. The room gives you a confidential place to step back from the emotion and sort out what’s really going on.

You might recognize this if…

  • You and your partner avoid certain topics.
  • Decisions stall because you don’t agree on direction.
  • One of you feels like they’re carrying more of the load.
  • There’s no clear agreement on what happens if one of you wants out.

Questions the room might ask you

  1. What does each of you want the business to look like in five years?
  2. Where do your roles overlap or leave gaps?
  3. What have the two of you already agreed to in writing?
  4. What conversation have you been avoiding?
How the council works on it

What happens when you bring partnership and ownership challenges to the room.

  1. You put it on the table

    You lay out the situation in your own words, with the numbers and history that matter. Ten or so owners give it their full attention.

  2. Questions before advice

    The room asks questions like the ones above until everyone, including you, understands the real issue. Often that’s where the breakthrough happens.

  3. Experience, not opinions

    Owners who have faced something similar share what they did and what they would do differently. No competitors sit at the table, so nobody holds back.

  4. You make the call

    The group doesn’t run your company. You decide what to do, with a lot more perspective than you walked in with.

  5. Say it out loud

    You name your next step before you leave. Next month, the room asks how it went.

What you leave with

A clearer read on the real issue and your options, from better communication to clearer structure to a bigger change.

Bring this to the table Why it matters: People you can actually trust

Related conversations

Profitability and financial performanceMore sales don’t always mean more profit.Succession and exit readinessThe work for an exit starts years before you’re ready to leave.

Prefer to work on partnership and ownership challenges privately instead of in a group? I also do this one-on-one (opens JeffreyRands.com in a new tab).