Partners need a sense of shared standards regarding what is desirable, undesirable, good, and bad. These values will guide partners' actions, judgments, and choices. Values, which often carry considerable emotion, may range from valuing family, prosperity, ambition, a work ethic, or a political persuasion. In addition to helping partners make congruent decisions, shared values serve to keep partners united (see the values self-assessment at the end of Chapter 3, Workplace Conflict in the New Normal – The Reasons and the Costs).

Successful partners will possess different (complementary) skills and traits. The broader the partners' range of skills, the clearer the division of their labor (and power) can be. It may be easy to distinguish the marketing person from the technical person in a business, but other necessary variables are often not as easy to see. Michael Gerber's classic book, The E-Myth, explains that a business owner needs to play three roles: entrepreneur (the creative visionary), manager (the administrator who brings planning, order, and predictability), and technician (the craftsperson). Partnerships have a distinct advantage in that two or more invested people are available to contribute to performing the three necessary roles.

Equity occurs when each person in a relationship believes that the rewards they are receiving are proportional to their contributions. Strangers and casual acquaintances maintain equity by keeping track of the benefits they exchange. However, in long-term and more committed relationships, it is not healthy to keep track. Instead, a sense of equity should be established. A perception of inequity (I am giving more then I get) takes a tremendous toll on a partnership.

From the moment we are born until the day we die, we are in the process of growing and changing. Partners and their partnerships are continuously undergoing this process of change. However, we are often not aware of the changes we're experiencing. Sometimes, change is viewed as a threat to the status quo. Successful partners embrace change and growth, knowing that this attitude benefits both their individual and shared professional identities.

Competing and avoiding are not effective conflict-management strategies for business partners to use with one another. Instead, successful partners use proactive and strategic conflict management approaches such as accommodation, compromise, and collaboration to resolve their differences.

Partners need a shared vision or plan for the future. Vision is what determines and expresses where an organization wants to go and how it intends to get there. A shared vision allows partners to focus on their goals and the methods they will use to achieve those goals. When partners hold different visions, they become discouraged, overwhelmed, and disconnected. In order to create and effectively benefit from a shared vision, four tasks are necessary: creating the initial vision, translating that vision into the necessary physical actions, articulating and selling the vision to others, and holding true to the essence of the vision when reality changes the plans (see the visioning self-assessment at the end of Chapter 3, Workplace Conflict in the New Normal – The Reasons and the Costs).

It has been said that a graceful exit is proof of a successful venture. Without an exit strategy in place, partners can be faced with making crucial decisions at a time when they are least levelheaded. An exit strategy is a shared sense of when and how an alliance will end, and should always be included as the endpoint in a business plan. However, while planning for the end may be a critical aspect of owning a business, it is also one of the most neglected. Exits are easy to avoid when the issue is not pressing, and raising the issue might sour the deal or suggest a lack of trust. You should address these four questions when considering an exit plan:

When you enter into a partnership that is strong in these seven components, you have the potential to create synergy and reap some amazing benefits. True synergy comes about when two (or more) people work together to create results that would have been unobtainable independently. In a synergistic partnership, 2+2>4, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

However, let me leave you here with a word of caution. Business ownership, typically, will bring about a change in the relationship you and your partner shared prior to starting your business. This change can be either positive or negative. Additionally, starting out with a strong connection may lead a business' founding team to rely more on unspoken agreements and less on written contracts. Of course, it is better to discuss thorny issues while you and your partners are still within the window of venture enthusiasm and working friendship. However, often, no one wants to shake up the honeymoon, and difficult issues may be sidestepped and only addressed when the team has begun to encounter operational problems. Do not fall into this trap.