The Power of Partnerships- Communication is Key

As a small business owner, I can be flexible in making business decisions and, even better, choose the people I work with. As a small business owner, you will understand the challenges and benefits of running a small business. One of the benefits is building relationships with other businesses or I should say good people running other businesses where you can identify mutual opportunities to work together and support each other.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at Mudgee with Mark Maguire from Leadership and Performance Partners to a group of 70 plus on communication from Moolarben Coal Operations. Mark Maguire and Ross Grace (I worked with both when I was in the cops) teamed up after they both left the police to form Leadership & Performance Partners . The benefits of long-term relationships, trust and integrity mean that organisations like ours can work together to support each other without the fear of the other trying to undermine or take business away from each other.

I enjoyed attending the football last week with the guys and their clients. Through discussions with one of the guests on the day, I identified a further opportunity for them, not me.?

Why?

Because I was there because they valued me as a partner, and it was their way of thanking me for my support. Why wouldn't I?

Six weeks ago, Ross referred me to Warriors Disability Services (Sally), who had attended Leadership Training with Ross.

The result was that because of the trust, Ross referred Sally to us to assist her with compliance.

They are now clients.

I started this post to talk about communication which was the training topic. I will discuss this further in another post, but the importance of communication also applies to partnerships and relationships.

After our training yesterday, Mark and I had breakfast at the Dancing Goat. If ever you are in Mudgee, you need to go there and try the Vegie Bowl. Bloody beautiful.??

My point here is that after the training, we sat down and discussed the training.

We asked the questions:

• What worked?
• What didn't work?
• What could we do better next time?
• Was he happy with my examples?

Some of you may be wondering why I would ask about my examples.?

Simple, it's not about me.

It's about their business and the experience we provide their clients. I have many examples, but if I'm not talking the same language as their workers or the learners, I don't have any credibility.

It's all about communication, asking questions and listening.

Three weeks ago, I facilitated the same session with John Lynch ACC from John Lynch Coaching and Consulting (another trusted partner to Ross, Mark, and me). Now John has a lot more experience in the mining space than I do. He knows the language better than I do. So again, after the training, we sat down and had the same conversation.?

This post was going to be about the technical importance of communication, the barriers, and the breakdown of the components. I will do this another day.

I want to finish up on the value of communication with your team, customers, contractors and partners.

Running a small or medium business isn't as easy as many people who don't run a business think.

It can be lonely and isolated, mainly if you don't talk with others who understand.

Forming partnerships with other business owners you trust, value and are aligned with is critical.

I am lucky to have several businesses that I have these relationships with. You know who you are.?

Today a big thank you to Mark, Ross and John for your support, trust, and confidence in my abilities to support you and your business and clients.

Last words, communication is key.?