There’s an important overarching theme here, and it’s that our partnership and Co-Founder experience will always evolve. 

We can do everything possible to get in sync and align on vision, but doing it once isn’t enough, it’s never a completed task. We always need to put energy into optimising our partnership, as the business and everything around us keeps evolving. But that’s part of the adventure isn’t it!

Now looking at the details….

What conversations have you had about your differences in execution? Firstly, do you both agree that it is slowing you down and causing disagreements, or is that just your perception?

We can feel tension but without discussing it, that experience isn’t shared and can’t be addressed, it’s just exists in our own world and creates our own stress. 

If you have discussed it, have you tried to understand it? It’s tempting to jump straight to, ‘what do we do about this?’ Rather than, ‘why do you think / feel that way?’ and see it as an opportunity to develop your partnership. 

What could you learn about each other now that would save time in the future? If you understand your differences in this situation and how to reach the best solution, you can apply that blueprint to future situations and decisions.

The ‘why’ questions to ask here would be:

• Why do you want to perfect the product before scaling?

• What are you trying to learn / gain from that approach?

• What are your reservations about fast growth?

• What do you see as the best compromise / solution here?

• How can we learn from this going forward?

Then flip these questions around and share your answers. 

As always, ask without judgement and LISTEN. And don’t listen waiting for your turn to speak, listen to learn and connect. 

Also look at Tony Robins’ framework, The 6 Human Needs, which tells us our primary need and driver in life. I’d advise sharing the results as you’ll get insight into why you have different approaches.

THE 6 HUMAN NEEDS

“Knowing which of your 6 human needs is your primary driver and how this affects your ability to connect with others and develop healthy relationships is crucial to your understanding of what fuels you.”

The 6 humans needs are:

1. Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure
2. Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli
3. Significance: feeling unique, important, special or needed
4. Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something
5. Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding
6. Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others

Spoiler alert, mine is uncertainty / variety (unsurprisingly to me).

Read more about it and take the quiz (it takes 2 minutes). Or simply use these 6 as a conversation tool to explore how you resonate with the different needs.