My business partner is taking down the business. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

How do you make a business partner accountable for their actions… or lack thereof?

This guy is fairly young but behaving more like my 3-year-old than an adult. He makes promises to clients and never follows through on them. As an example we have been working hard to break into a new industry and we’ve finally been invited to quote on a job.

As we are concentrating on building relationships we spoke to the tendering company, and after thanking them for the opportunity they have given assured them that the quote would be in on time. A month later I find that said employee has not done the quote yet (due next Tuesday at 2pm) and today off “sick” and Friday as a holiday. There is no way that it is going to get done. He could be blowing our only shot at this industry and frankly the business is relying on it at the moment. I have called him countless times, offered to email the documents to him, offered to do anything to help. He won’t even return my calls! This is just one of many examples I could have used…

I’m at a complete loss as to how I can make him understand the importance of his actions. He is a business partner although somehow he singlehandedly appears to be on a mission to take it down!

Linda

Dear Linda,

Hang on. What do you mean you have offered to help? I wouldn’t be offering to help. I would be dragging him into my office by his ear and giving him an earful.

Now most of my life as Aunty B, I tell people to stop catastrophising, put things into perspective and get on with it. But I am afraid you have a very serious issue on your hands. A useless business partner is akin to a philandering husband. And unless you can significantly change his behaviour (which you usually can’t) a divorce is looming as your only option.

Your problem is that this bloke has probably never worked in a professional environment so he lacks discipline, focus, a service mentality, a sense of duty and urgency.

He is also confusing his role as an employee and a business partner. A business partner is usually silent, on the board, chairman or CEO. If he is working in the business, then he is an employee – regardless of whether he is a partner or God. As an employee he has a job description, he reports to someone and he has to answer to clearly defined CPIs. If he performs badly, his boss gives him three warnings with clear advice on how to improve (showing up for work would be a good start) and then sack him.

While you sort Tosser out, promote someone underneath him and give him the responsibilities that Tosser is ignoring. If nothing can be sorted out you may need to think about buying him out. In the long run you will be far better off without him even if the divorce is painful.

Be smart,
Your Aunty B