Seven Characteristics of a Great Partnership (2024)

Source: Partner Insights

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by August Aquila.

The following seven characteristics form the foundation of a great partnership. If you are missing any of them or if you merely need to improve in some areas, now is the time to start strengthening your firm's foundation.

1. Trust. Without trust there can be no productive conflict, commitment, or accountability.
2. Common values. I believe that having common values is the very foundation of the successful partnership. This does not mean that partners are clones of one another, but partners need to agree upon the firm's core values.
3. Chemistry. How do you feel about your fellow partners? Would you still make them partners today?
4. Defined expectations. The best partnerships set goals for each of the partners at the beginning of the year. And they don't try to make all the partners do the same things. They look to leverage each partner's strengths.
5. Mutual respect. When partners have defined expectations and understanding of each others' strengths, they develop a mutual respect for each other. Respecting your partner in key areas is indispensable in making a partnership work.
6. Synergy. Great partnerships create more than the sum of the whole. If you are a big-picture person, then you want to be partnered with a detailed person. If you are a strategic leader, then you want a partner who is a good implementer.
7. Great two-way communications. The above elements of a good partnership won't make much difference if there is not good or great two-way communication in the firm. Managing partners and partners need to communicate frequently and effectively to make a partnership work.

For the complete article, read “What Makes a Great Partnership?”

From Partner Insights, Aquila Global Advisors, LLC, April 26, 2011, www.aquilaadvisors.com.