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Barter: It's Not Just for Doctors Anymore
Time was, in the country, the local “doc” was as likely to get paid with a couple of chickens as a couple of dollars. Doctors these days won’t stand for that, of course, but while some people have moved completely away from barter and stayed...
Keeping Abreast Of Your Domain ...Updates and Keeping Up With It All
Another major complaint that most business owners have is all the reading they need to do to keep abreast of what is happening in their business area. Again time management and organization can be a tremendous help.
Be sure to put your...
Learn To Manage People
Learn to Manage People By Arthur Cooper (c) Copyright 2004 If you are a manager you are by definition dealing with people. You are managing them. As such, to be successful you must be able to build up a rapport with those you are managing. If...
R² = EOC (Recruitment and Retention = Employer of Choice)
Copyright 2005 Rick Johnson
Problems with staffing and retention may not be due to bad hires or a low unemployment rate. In fact, they may be related to poor management insight by not recognizing your employees as a core competency in your...
Turnover is Not a Problem
“Ha!” you say. “For someone to make a statement like that, they obviously haven’t worked in the real world and certainly have never had to run a company.” Well, let me assure you. In my past I’ve not only run companies, but spent many years...
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THE “SEVEN Cs”: PARTNERSHIP DANGER SIGNS - Competitive, Not Complementary Action
A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.
Competitive, Not Complementary Action
James Carville and Mary Matlin are public relations spokespeople for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. They are each articulate, sharp and feisty. Sparks fly when they debate in favor of their parties, so much so that they seem like arch enemies who couldn't possibly exchange a friendly word. I remember the shock reaction I had (how many years ago was it?) hearing that they were getting married. I pictured a contentious loud fighting household.
Recently I saw the two of them on television talking about their private lives. One never knows for sure the truth about public figures or anyone else for that matter, but if taken at face value, they have a solid marriage, children and good family life. They displayed mellowness, respect and total togetherness. It was obvious that the party competitiveness was left outside of the house and what was brought inside was love, goal sharing, and family first.
Businesses run by partners are very much like marriages. If the partners are in competition with each other they are creating a lot of damage. First of all, their relationship is limited because there cannot be complete openness between competitors. The ultimate goal of the success of the business is undermined and lost in the morass of the need to win over each other. If the competition is obvious to others and it usually is, it creates a situation of two camps where employees, directors and suppliers choose sides.
If the business is comprised of family members, the situation can be even more intense and damaging because the negative effects
permeate to personal lives and to family members who may not even be directly involved in the business.
As a coach, I help the partners focus on their goal for the business by examining the harm caused by destructive self centered behavior. The need to compete and win sometimes is an unresolved need to play out old family patterns even if the partners are not members of the same family.
The goal of coaching is not to heal old patterns, but rather to contain them and to create new patterns of satisfaction that directly relate to business success. If the situation is so entrenched, therapy may be recommended as part of the solution. However, usually coaching techniques which direct the parties to clarify and satisfy needs in productive ways in order to focus on the business, such as Carville and Matlin focus on their marriage, is the usual path that can be implemented.
Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D. is principal of Next Level Business and Professional Coaching. She coaches Professionals and Business Partners and teaches teleclasses on techniques to break through barriers to the next level. Dr. Lehavi offers a complimentary coaching session so you can experience how coaching can work for you. Contact Dr. Lehavi at Dorene@CoachingforYourNextLevel.com or on the web at Http://www.CoachingforYourNextLevel.com. Subscribe to Mastering Your Next Level monthly e-newsletter at http://www.coachingforyournextlevel.com/newsletter.html
dorene@nextlevelpartnership.com
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