The StartUp Blog at PartnerUp

This is a guest post by Jamie Flinchbaugh.

Finding the right partner is tough, so how exactly do you get it right?

I suggest finding a way to dig deeper and engage with potential partners. It is not enough to both like the same business idea. You must go further than that.

Do not focus too strongly on obvious characteristics like style, level of assertiveness, language, age or background. Most of these either become unimportant as far as fit or can easily be overcome through a combination of learning and process. Instead focus on the deeper meaning behind his or her purpose. Why are you in this thing to begin with? What do you want to get out of it?

You’ll also want to gauge how a potential partner will handle various stressors should they arise at some point in the business-creation process. The problem is that it can be counterintuitive to stress test a relationship that is just beginning. Most people advocate for building trust over time instead. Nonetheless your business relationship will encounter stressful situations, and it’s better to find out early how your partner will handle that.

To conduct a relevant stress test, play out one of those difficult scenarios that are likely to confront you and your partner at some point down the road. For example, let’s say a financial backer allocating a new block of stock to you and your partner wants you to decide how it will be allocated. What criteria will you use? Or what’s your preferred strategy when you start running out of cash? Cut and scale back? Or raise/borrow more funds? These conversations will tell you a lot about each other.

Once you’ve found someone who is a good fit, don’t stop there. Partnerships, like all relationships, require work. Make sure you have given thought to how you and your partner will stay aligned, connected and upfront. Here are three things you can do to help.

1. Schedule regular meetings to talk about the bigger picture.
2. Get a coach to help maintain a balanced perspective when you and your partner have issues.
3. Occasionally do small, random acts to show your appreciation for your partner, similar to the way you would an employee. It forces you to consider their perspective.

The right partner or partners can not only make or break your business, they can make or break the experience that you personally have with your business. Don’t underestimate the importance of this step in your business venture.

Jamie Flinchbaugh is an executive coach, consultant and entrepreneur. His latest venture, the Lean Learning center, is a premier lean education and advisory firm. Follow Jamie at twitter.com/flinchbaugh or LeanLearningCenter.com.

There’s a new book out called The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You. I’m not going to pretend I’ve read the book, because I haven’t, but I did read an article on some of the arguments made in the book. Author Michael S. Malone’s take on Generation Y definitely got me thinking.

Here’s his first argument in a nutshell. Gen Y, which is currently entering the workforce in massive numbers, will be difficult to manage. In fact, the exact words are, “Managing this generation may not only be a nightmare, it may actually be impossible.” They are certainly not worker bees and will probably never work at a steady job for a single employer. Basically they’re not the loyal, long-hours type of people.

Excuse me! That’s MY generation you’re talking about. Lucky for Malone, there was a second, less-hostile argument to follow.

Gen Y is fiercely independent, innovative and enthusiastic about rapid change. They have “little interest in ever taking an office job or working for a business that doesn’t change,” but because of this they will transform the economy from that of corporation-focused to entrepreneurial.

That sounds about right to me. I’ve always viewed Gen Y as restless. It’s not that they’re not loyal; it’s that they have this incessant desire to learn more, do more, see more and go further. While I may have been slightly offended as I began to read the article, I’m pretty pleased with the overall picture it paints of me and my generation.

Have a great weekend!

It’s easy for employers to look at lackluster productivity and attribute the problem solely to poor employees. While sometimes it’s valid to point the fingers at them, in many circumstances employee motivation and effectiveness relates directly to the manner in which employees are managed.

I’m not advocating that you coddle employees and give them gold stars each time they do something right, this isn’t Kindergarten. But there are things that you as a manager can do to impact the amount and quality of output of your employees.

1. Give employees freedom over their work. Let them have input on the tasks they perform and/or how they perform them. You could give them choices in assignments or creative license to complete tasks however they wish. This will boost their feelings of ownership in what they’re doing.
2. Challenge employees. Give them difficult tasks that push them further. You don’t want to make the tasks so difficult that you set them up for failure. Rather, by pushing them slightly further you’ll motivate them to perform their best and also encourage pride in their work.
3. Provide each employee with the right motivation. While cash may motivate employees to accept a job or stay in a job, it may not motivate them to put their best foot forward at that job each and every day. Instead, tailor motivation to the personality and lifestyle of each individual employee. Work to understand what’s really important to an employee and use that to create motivational tactics. What works for one, may not work for another.
4. Convey to employees their value. Explain how their pieces of work fit into the greater puzzle that is your business. Employees that are aware of what they bring to the table will feel like they are a part of the team and truly have an impact on the success of the company. 
5. Recognize and address employees’ concerns. Be cognoscente of employees’ concerns and the problems they may be facing. Once you have an understanding of how they feel, communicate that you are aware of the issues and are willing to work with them to create a better overall environment.

These tactics aren’t something that you do once and then you’re done. To ensure productivity over the long haul, you need to be constantly repeating the cycle and going further to nurture the work that your employees perform.

One of the most important characteristics a person can have when starting a business is passion. If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, then success will come that much easier. The problem with passion is that even if you have it, you can lose it.

I recently read two blog posts about passion in business—one about losing it and one about maintaining it. The post about losing your passion pointed to “trying to do it all” as one of the ways entrepreneurs quickly lose their enthusiasm for the job. It’s hard for them to relinquish any amount of control—even if it’s tasks they hate—because they rarely believe that others are capable of doing things up to their standards.

What the other post (the one about maintaining your passion) points out is that entrepreneurs must take it upon themselves to fight the urge to be a do-it-all entrepreneur. Obviously when entrepreneurs are in startup mode they have no choice but to do it all. When business starts to pick up, however, the onus is on them to maintain their passion by continuing to do the things that they enjoy and then outsourcing those tasks that are sure to cause burn out.

As a business owner your job is to strategize and manage, not code a website, write a press release or create sales collateral. The bottom line is that you need to make sure you’re focusing your efforts on those tasks that will continue to give you that zest for business, not those that you just don’t trust others to do.

Being a leader is like being a lady, if you have to go around telling people you are one, you aren’t.
–Margaret Thatcher

Having good leadership skills is an incredibly important characteristic for small business owners, if they have employees that is. Good leaders are good motivators. They set clear goals and challenge their employees to achieve high levels of productivity.

Bad leaders do just the opposite. They create low levels of productivity and a tense work environment. In addition, employees don’t want to work for bad leaders, so turnover and absence rates tend to increase as well.

In order for you to prompt your employees to eagerly jump on board with you; you have to display good leadership qualities. Here are five qualities of effective leaders. Follow them, and your employees will be happy to hang on your every word.

Having a Vision
Make sure your employees are aware of your vision and then delegate tasks that further it. This helps people understand their roles, maintain focus and accomplish the mission you’ve set forth.

Understanding Employees
Treat them equally in terms of respect, but also recognize the needs that are unique to each of them.

Clearly Communicating with Employees
Poor communication is a leadership killer. Employees need to know exactly what is expected of them, how they are performing and where/how they can improve.

Showing Confidence in Employees
By showing your employees that you believe in their abilities, they will in turn want to not only meet your expectations, but exceed them.

Pushing Employees to Reach Their Full Potential
Effective leaders are not content with employee complacence. Instead they are always encouraging employees to develop and expand on their skills to reach new heights.

Sometimes you and your business partner are just going through a rough patch. Other times it’s just not meant to be. But seeing the writing on the wall before things get ugly is key to successfully dissolving an unsalvageable partnership.

There are many subtle signs that the partnership is heading south, but those can be difficult to spot and sometimes mistaken for just minor disagreements. On the other hand, there are three red flags that should prompt you to take a serious look at your partnership’s dynamics.

1. You’re carrying more than your fair share of the weight, and you have been for some time: A large gap in the workload between partners usually causes resentment from the partner getting the short end of the stick. If things don’t start to change, neither will your resentment.
2. Your vision for the future and overall direction of the company is distinct from that of your partner: You want to expand, opening up more stores and offering more products. Your partner wants to maintain a “small town” feel and just invest in the business you already have. You’re at a stalemate, and neither of you is willing to budge.
3. Your partner has lost all interest in the business: Your partner doesn’t seem to understand the magnitude of running the business and, on top of that, doesn’t care.

If you and your partner fit any of these, then you have to be willing to walk away, no matter how difficult it may be. But that doesn’t mean that you have to contact a business broker and put the company on the market right away. There may still be a viable business there worth saving.

Before you get too hasty and exit the business on the spot, it often pays to take one last, well-constructed stab at it (if you haven’t already). Set up a meeting with your partner to discuss why things aren’t working out, and then try to craft a remedy to solve those issues. Develop clear goals with clear deadlines. If things aren’t getting back on track in the given time, then it’s time to bail (and call a lawyer). No ifs, ands or buts about it.

You and your partner should have drawn up a formal business plan with an exit strategy, without legal documentation things can get heated. But if you didn’t draw one up, you still have options. It’s just going to be a stickier situation. There could be a buyout where either you or your partner buys the other’s share of the company. One of you could try to sell to a third party to create a new partnership. Or if none of these is right for either of you, then go ahead and put the entire business up for sale.

Entrepreneurs put everything they have into their businesses and are often reluctant to let go—so reluctant that they prolong a south-bound partnership and end up hurting the company in the end anyway. But if you recognize the early warning signs, try to remedy them and still come up short, dissolving the partnership is your logical next step.

The chances of there being entrepreneurs out there who have both the skills and the time to cover all of the important functions of a startup are slim to none. It just doesn’t happen. Even if you can make due by yourself for a while, there are still other areas you could be concentrating on that you’re not. That’s why startup teams are so important.

The key to building a well-rounded startup team is establishing all of the important functional areas and then filling in the gaps. So let’s say that your strengths are in marketing and sales, and on top of that you’re a pretty good speaker. You may also want to find someone who knows about Web development and basically be your IT person. It might also be wise to find someone who knows a lot about finance and accounting and is maybe also a good writer. If possible, look for people who can cover a couple different areas instead of just one. If one of the roles that are being filled is a critical part of the business, you’ll also need to consider whether that role will be a paid position or you will make that person a partner.

Let’s face it, we don’t all reside in the entrepreneurial hub of Silicon Valley, which can make it more difficult to find like-minded entrepreneurs. Fortunately the Internet has helped make finding the right people much more feasible. There are a ton of ways to use the Internet to your networking advantage. Participating in forums relating to entrepreneurship and small business is one of the best ways to get you off on the right foot. You can also, of course, use PartnerUp, which was designed specifically for this purpose. No matter how you decide to network, just make sure that you do it. It’s crucial to getting yourself out there and spreading your ideas. No one will ever express an interest in working with your startup if they don’t even know it exists.

Now comes the sticky situation of working with family in friends on a startup. My advice: shy away from it or at least be very cautious and not too hasty in your decision include them. Friends and family may seem interested and eager in the early stages, but many relationships become strained or even torn apart when one person stops pulling his or her weight or things get rocky within the business. It’s a tough situation, and only a select few people can truly handle the pressures of balancing a working relationship on top of a personal relationship. So make sure that working with a friend or family member really is the best fit before he or she gets on board.

Your employees seem to be developing a lackluster attitude toward work. Sure, a solid compensation package may have been the key to attracting and retaining your employees, but they still seem less than thrilled to be there everyday, and it’s causing productivity to suffer. When the compensation is already up to par, keeping them happy through non-monetary motivation is often a more effective way to bring about high levels of productivity.

One of the more obvious ways to motivate your employees is through recognition. Your recognition of a job well done goes a long way in building an employee’s workplace self-esteem. Whether you do it in casual conversation or in a formal performance review, make sure that you take the time to really think about the employee’s accomplishments and provide genuine feedback by being specific about what the employee is doing well and how it helps the company. (more…)