Couples counseling isn’t just for romantic partners… it can work wonders for your business relationships and your bottom line as well!

Is your business partnership starting to feel like a bad marriage?

Have the differences between you and your business partner become less complementary and more problematic?

Are you worried that your business problems are threatening your friendship?

Are strained relationships impacting others in the organization as well as your bottom line?

Is the fun (joy, happiness, motivation…) gone from your professional life?

Business Relationships Can Breakdown the Same Way Marriages Do

Just as with a marriage, the goals, objectives, and attitudes of people can change over time. When they do, or when business partners become dissatisfied, disagreement can turn into disaster. With the exceptions of sex and intimacy, business partnerships share the same interdependencies as married couples… and fail for similar reasons.

Whether you call it “Couples Counseling for Business Partners” or “Partnership Counseling” or “Co-founder Counseling” or “Partnership Coaching”, we’re pretty much using marriage counseling techniques to help repair a damaged business relationship.

Business partners have the same interdependencies as married couples—and sometimes spend even more time together. And, oftentimes, business partners and romantic partners break up for similar reasons. Those who learn how to communicate effectively and maintain their friendships in a stressful environment have the greatest chance for success and happiness.

In the workplace if there are relationship conflicts, relational discord, and communication challenges, couples counseling is an effective way to resolve these issues.  Whether the problem is business partners who are having a hard time resolving disputes and understanding each other’s perspective, whether it is colleagues in the work environment struggling to get along, whether it is the relationship dynamic between a boss and his or her employee, I will help uncover and discover, through insight and practical experience, the resolution to your issues and frustrations.

How Can “Couples Counseling” Help?

Couples counseling can be an effective way for business partners to appreciate their differences, learn to communicate respectfully, collaborate more efficiently, and remain friends in the process. By working to develop the skills to listen closely, give and receive feedback, empathize with each other, and validate one another’s unique contributions, we will bring harmony and pleasure back into the workplace.

While conflict can be quite healthy, even productive, disagreements must be ironed out in a respectful manner. Too often, I see business partners “right fighting” (in other words, fighting simply to be proven right) rather than fighting for what’s right and simply doing the right thing. Couple right fighting with accusatory finger pointing and personal attacks, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Typical Partnership Challenges

When I work with business partners or organizational teams, I get to know everyone as individuals as well as a team. Here are just some of the key areas for improvement I see most often between business partners that we can address before they cripple your partnership or organization:

1. Trusting one another in making decisions. While there is no “best” way for partners to make decisions, every business has to decide how they decide. For some, a “divide and conquer” method works well if they are on the same page. For others, making every decision as a team brings comfort (especially for control-freaks); however, this method can be tedious and result in missed opportunities. Generally speaking, something in-between such as making big decisions together and then, based on each person’s role and skill set, tackling the smaller decisions individually, tends to work well for most.
2. When issues arise, keeping communication from breaking down. Healthy communication is the foundation of all harmonious relationships, both personal and professional. By working with an impartial party to clarify your facts, objectives, thoughts, and feelings, together we can work on your communication skills in order to make those difficult conversations productive, effective, and efficient. Learning to lean into conflict will keep the lines of communication open, healthy, and productive.
3. Appreciating each other’s contributions to the business. I find that this issue is especially prevalent when business partners possess different skill sets, wear different hats within their organization, and/or don’t fully understand what each other does. A lack of clarity and understanding can lead to colleagues not fully valuing what others bring to the table. Align your individual strengths with the needs of your organization to yield the best results and get the most out of your partnership.
4. Clearly defining individual roles and responsibilities. This tends to go hand-in-hand with not appreciating others’ contributions. For example, instead of just determining that one person will be in charge of “sales”, go deeper and define who is responsible for compensation structure, sales territories, and new client acquisition. The greater the clarification, the better off you will be.

“Couples Counseling” Can Help Your Entire Organization… And Pay For Itself!

And it’s not just startups or business partnerships that are benefiting from this idea. Fortune 500 companies have hired couples counselors to work with management teams who can’t seem to get along. Statistics show that the #1 reason we leave a company isn’t for a higher salary or a promotion… it’s so we can essentially “fire” our boss. Counseling can repair these damaged relationships, resulting in reduced turnover, job satisfaction, and a significant boost to your bottom line: it more than pays for itself.

My job is to help rebuild trust, communication, and empathy within your partnership and organization. Get help before it’s too late! Dissolving a business partnership can be harder and more costly than divorcing your spouse.

I will work with you to assess the situation and identify areas for improvement. From there, we will work through solutions tailored to your specific needs and situation to get your partnership, management team, and organization back on track for happiness, productivity, and success.

I invite you to contact me and see what partnership counseling can do you for you AND your organization.