Diane Birch Business Coaching Solutions

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  I want to expand the business but my business partner doesn’t want to, what can I do?

Q:
When it comes to expressing views on expansion or creative ideas that may hold some risk, my partner is negative and can’t see past his own worries and concerns, so the ideas never get taken forward and I get more and more frustrated. How can I get him to see that we need to change and grow in order to stay successful?

A:
In this situation the number of times I have heard the old adage ‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink’ is numerous!

My response is always the same; you find a way to make him thirsty!

There are many ways to do this but it depends on the personality profile of the partner and their own wants and desires. People are naturally resistant to change and when they are of a ‘certain’ age they will think that they have seen it or heard it all before. There are many things that you can do to help them along and here are a few:

  Establish a shared vision for the business; where is it going; what for; when and especially why.

  Establish what is important to THEM. Is it money, time, excitements, control? Whatever it is, make sure you sing to their version of success in order for them to accept the change.

  Research, research, research, whether it’s about businesses that didn’t change and went to the wall or businesses that did change and went from success to success. Provide as much information as you can to support your well thought out proposals.

  Talking of which, just because you are a small business doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take on the principles of BIG business. If you were in the corporate arena you would need to justify any changes or developments you wanted to make by providing SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and written well structured proposals, make this a matter of course to help you persuade them it’s a good idea.

  Provide them with a detailed implementation plan so that they can see that the change will have as little impact on them/the business/trade/staff as possible.

  Make sure everything is written down – make ALL your mistakes on paper. It’s by far the cheapest way!

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