Any partnership, before becoming a reality, starts as an idea. The idea of a partnership can:
- mature and go through stages of preliminary calculations, estimates, and discussions over a long period of time;
- instantly spark in the mind of the initiator of the partnership.
This idea, or the mental image of what the partnership should be, is only preliminary. Often, when partners move to the project implementation stage, everything goes quite differently than imagined. The image of a partnership is any mental image of what a partnership group should be like, how it should be organized, and what rules it should follow.
The difference between how a person wants to see the partnership (expectations and hopes) and how they see it in reality becomes the basis for dissatisfaction and tension in the group’s relationships. Expectedly, any such tensions lead to attempts to eliminate the existing discrepancy. This can be done in two ways:
- change the preliminary image;
- change the way the partnership functions.
The image of the partnership changes in the process of adaptation, where each partner gives up, at least temporarily, some of their demands. Adaptation usually begins even before the potential partner joins the partnership group and is based on the available observable and evaluative information. The process goes smoother if the partners find that their initial fears are unfounded and expectations are confirmed.
On the other hand, a partner who does not want or is unable to adapt usually acts in two ways:
- refuses to join the partnership;
- tries to change its structure according to their preliminary image.
Their efforts within the partnership become part of the internal group process, in which they take the initiative. It is important to understand that such initiatives can have both constructive and destructive effects on the overall efficiency of the partnership group.
When a new partnership group is organized, the goal of each partner should be to fully eliminate discrepancies between their preliminary image and the planned reality through negotiations. In the negotiation process, individual visions of what is necessary collide, compromises, logical constructs, rules, and principles of behavior for certain scenarios are developed, and commitments are exchanged for predictability. If the participants cannot adapt to each other or to the one who takes the most initiative, the negotiations will be unsuccessful, and the partnership will not emerge.
For success, it is necessary for part of the individual preferences and views of the partners to give way to the interests of the cause. If this concession is only temporary or feigned, the discrepancy must be eliminated later during the development of the partnership group’s relationships, otherwise the partnership will not mature and will not yield the expected result.
Newly created partnership groups should clearly understand that friendly relationships, enthusiasm, and initial trust are not enough. For the group to survive as a self-sustaining, self-replicating structure, all this must be supported by effective organization, giving the relationships working qualities.
Therefore, the measure of group cohesion is not the mere fact of entering into a partnership, but the specific practical result of such a union. At the start, upon entering the partnership, loud words, assurances, promises, and psychological compatibility tests cannot ensure the successful development of the partnership group. Detailed, documented agreed positions of the partners in the form of a partnership agreement can ensure the effective use of always limited resources in all their manifestations: time, knowledge, connections, money. At the initial stage, this is the first and most important joint achievement of the group.
Many newly organized partnership groups face difficulties because they do not pay attention to detailed agreements. And if they survive, it is more due to luck than skill. Such groups can perform certain tasks but are unable to cope with external threats or internal tensions. Those who survive through their own trial and error increase their level of organization and develop interaction rules, revising them as they face new challenges.
It is important to note that even with the most thorough business plan preparation, members of the partnership group almost inevitably encounter difficulties in its implementation because preliminary estimates and expectations never fully match real conditions. The plans themselves, outlined on paper, may be flawless, but they cannot fully anticipate the behavior of partners, which is based on deeper, often unconscious personal motives and biases. A person who may rightly consider themselves a good salesperson and is well-versed in the theory of finance, production, and trade often runs their business according to their personal vision in practice, paying increased attention only to, for example, product creation, and therefore the business does not take off.
Building a business partnership modeled after the relationships characteristic of a friendly party or family ties, where leadership, structure, and agreements are weakly defined, is the most common cause of troubles for newly organized partnership groups.
Summary: A group starts as a mental image, and attempts to align this image with reality without clear detailed partnership agreements can turn into a disaster, especially for the members of the partnership group.
