A partnership can be a useful business structure that makes it easier to bring capital and diverse expertise into your company. But running your business with one or more partners can get challenging over time as new difficulties arise and priorities change. And if you’re not careful, a nasty partnership dispute can cost you a significant amount of time, financial resources, and stress. One of these disagreements can even threaten the viability of your business, putting it at risk of dissolving.
How do you get out in front of these partnership disputes? Let’s take a closer look.
What you can do to prevent a partnership dispute
You can significantly reduce the risk of being embroiled in a partnership dispute by being proactive. Here are some steps that you can take to try to head this issue off early:
- Compare values and goals with potential partners before the business’s creation to ensure that they align with yours.
- Think through worst case scenarios and talk through how those problems would be handled.
- Develop a decision matrix that you can turn to for assistance in making fair decisions when challenging problems arise.
- Ensure that your partnership agreement is detailed.
- Specify how the business will be handled when one partner decides to leave the business.
- Implement a process whereby grievances can be addressed before they grow into larger disputes.
Get to work now protecting your partnership
There’s a lot of work to be done on the front-end if you want to minimize your risk of being entangled in a partnership dispute. If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry. This isn’t a process that you have to face on your own. So, if you have questions, seek out the guidance you need to feel comfortable moving forward with your partnership.
