11 February 2010
Fear and Business Partnerships
Posted by Moss under: Navigating Partnerships .
In an ideal partnership, trust and safety exists. Partners talk straight and confide in each other. Although some partnerships can create personal discomfort especially about accountability and results, partners strive to be hard on the problem not on each other. Common goals and shared values help partners to stay aligned and respectful toward each other.
Over time, life’s events and circumstances can throw partnerships off track: lost customers, poor sales, reduced market share, internal strife, and key people jumping ship can wear a partnership down. Short tempers, blaming, and disappointments result. Partners may become fearful of messing up and failing to meet expectations.
Fear and suspicion replace safety and respect. Partners then avoid or criticize each other, second guess decisions, make assumptions, create faulty conclusions, and become obsessed with the many “What if’s.” What if he doesn’t follow through this time? What if he lets his ego get in the way? What if he yells at me? What if I don’t do it right? Self-fulfilling prophecies can take over: your partner does get angry toward you, in part, because of your own victim and annoying behaviors. If you’ve been avoidant, indecisive, competitive, withholding, etc, you are creating distrust or even fear in your partner.
Bottom Line
- Life’s circumstances can throw partners into mutual frustration, anger, and fear.
- If you keep your feelings to yourself and create bad consequences in your mind, your partnership will weaken.
- Do some self-examination and ask yourself if you’re sabotaging your partnership.
- Be hard on your fear: don’t let it get too strong.
- Fear: False Expectations Appearing Real
