Don't let "equality" bog you down

Nation's Business, Dec, 1990 by Sharon Nelton

Don't Let "Equality" Bog You Down

One advantage of having a business partner, says Kathleen Wiseman, is that two or more people can move an idea forward more quickly. In addition, she says, the different life experiences and skills that partners bring to an enterprise "add richness to a firm."

But Wiseman believes that "a company, in order to flourish, needs one leader."

Partnerships, she says, particularly those owned by women, get "snarled up" by the notion that everyone is equal. "I have seen a number of women's firms where there are three or four partners, and they can't get off the dime because they keep working for consensus," says Wiseman, who owns Working Systems, an organization-development consulting business in Washington, D.C. "They keep thinking everybody is equal, that they all bring equal skills, and they can run things equally. That's not true."

Business owners will find there's a "tension" between needing one leader and managing a partnership, she says. "It's almost as though one partner has to agree to let there be some leadership by another."

"Women tend to want to treat people right, and `right' means equal," she explains. Partners who get "locked into this equality business," she warns, get bogged down by spending too much time trying to build consensus.

Women partners in some businesses maintain that the equality of their relationship--that they all be equal and have an equal say in everything--is more important than the business.

The notion of equality is a very important value in U.S. culture. But how can you keep your company from being mired in equality? Wiseman suggests the following:

* Be clear about who will lead. Recognize that one person will probably emerge as the leader, and ideally it should be the one who can carry the business vision forward. Avoid falling into the trap of letting the most recalcitrant partner lead by default. The one who is most against innovation and who says "I don't want to do this" can stop a company from moving forward, according to Wiseman. Your partnership is likely to function better when there is a leader who knows how to achieve a balance between building consensus around some issues and leading on others.

* Be clear about what each person brings to a partnership and what each wants from it. Then you will see the inequalities and can determine what tradeoffs you want to make. The partner who wants to work less, for example, may settle for less financial reward.

* Recognize, however, that if you and your partners choose, you can still have an equal division of financial interest in the company. "I've seen companies where somebody has taken the major leadership responsibility but insisted that everybody share equally in the profits and in the salaries," says Wiseman.

* Consider switching leadership at different times or over different issues. When one woman in charge of a company took time off to have a baby, for example, someone else in the firm took the leadership responsibility.

Striving too hard for equality can keep partners in what Wiseman calls a "no-action mode." Leadership is the key, she says. "In my opinion, that's not a consensus game."