Britain's first coalition government since World War II has put partnerships back in vogue. In business, they've never really been out of fashion.
The idea of partnering up with someone in business often begins when you're considering how to structure it. Between being a sole trader and running a limited company are general, limited or sleeping partnerships - just some of the ways that two or more people can formally start a new company.
Partnerships are endemic to every business at all stages of growth: new or established, sole trader or multinational corporation, service sector or manufacturing. Forward-looking businesses form partnerships from the moment they start trading (in many cases, even before) - with suppliers, contractors, staff, customers and other stakeholders.
At Regus, we take business partners so seriously that we have an entire department devoted to creating unique partnership agreements with other companies. Our partners include worldwide industry leaders with large customer bases who could be interested in our products. We have partners in aviation, finance, travel, property and the media, as well as business support organisations such as the UK's Chambers of Commerce.
Other companies would consider different potential partners - who you choose depends on the business: a clothes manufacturer might partner up with retailers, an IT company with the semiconductor industry.
Whatever the set-up, the key to making partnerships work well is to make sure they benefit both partners. A partnership might, for example, be created to increase demand for your products and services in return for marketing opportunities: you and your partner align your interests for mutual gain.
As Nick Clegg and David Cameron are no doubt discovering, mutual trust is the bedrock for making a successful partnership, along with an understanding of each other and consideration of the other's goals. If done well, the outcome is often a more productive collegiate atmosphere compared to the more traditional top-down, us and them attitude, which can seem confrontational.
When it comes to staff as partners, the most famous British example is arguably the John Lewis Partnership, which operates as a workers' co-operative. Partners have a say in the business and receive an annual bonus. Whether you have set up your business in this way or not, you can still treat your employees as partners in many other ways. When it comes to introducing innovation or change, partnering up with staff can be a winning strategy.
But it'll only work if you begin by trusting them. That means telling them all they need to know about the business that's relevant to the issue and asking them to explore the problem or idea face-to-face and come up with a solution.
It might also mean sharing ideas and gaining participation in the project from other partners, such as suppliers or sub-contractors outside your company. Even if your firm is newly established, there's a strong probability you'll know contacts from previous jobs who you'd trust to join forces and drive innovation. As long as they can see benefits by doing so, they should be willing to join forces.
Like any relationship involving more than one person, business partnerships can be abused. Without a formalised agreement the outcome of various scenarios can be disastrous - such as when one of the partners wants to exit the business or eject someone from it.
We've all heard horror tales of friends who have started a business together only to fall out over how its run. However, partnerships bring business owners numerous benefits: the key is to get the relationships right from the start.
For more information please visit www.regus.co.uk
