My business partner is slacking - here's what to do
dollhouse: wedding atelier
Fun fact: Wedding veils trace back to ancient Rome, where brides wore a bright flame-colored veil called the "flammeum", used in wedding rituals symbolizing transition, modesty, and protection during marriage ceremonies.
The issue:
Your business partner, Sloan, is slacking. In other words, you feel like she isn't pulling her weight.
Let's say you and Sloan operate a wedding dress boutique together.
An example:
Sloan likes to try on the wedding dresses at your boutique. She takes pictures in them to post on Instagram and says it's good for marketing. But she spends forever in those dresses, and you two have other things on your endless task list to do.
You don't want to sound like her mom or be the fun police, but you feel there are better ways to spend your work time. And you're ultimately left to pull her weight for her.
Two hidden costs:
- Your energy is unconsciously spent on tracking and reminding.
- You slowly stop trusting your partner, even with things that seem unrelated to productivity.
The reasons:
Here are the reasons why Sloan is slacking (and/or):
- There's something about trying on wedding dresses that creates a bigger "pull" effect, for any reason. Her other tasks feel less engaging or friction-heavy.
- She's used to you picking up the slack for her.
- She's not aware of how her actions are impacting you or the business.
- She doesn't agree that she is indeed slacking.
Your quick fix (honoring autonomy):
Your goal is to figure out how to shift things around so that Sloan genuinely wants to put in the effort. You both want to be on the same page with how you choose to spend your time.
When we make commitments from a place of obligation rather than desire, it's much harder to stick to those commitments. You want a long-term, sustainable solution.
- Do you both agree on the definition of "slacking?"
- Do you both genuinely want to spend your time working towards your goals in a mutually agreed-upon way?
If YES, you can make compromises.
If NO, you have a fundamental incompatibility - you each want to spend your time or energy in different ways.
Vetting for the future:
If you are searching for a business partner in the future, first figure out what they most genuinely enjoy spending their time on and why.
That will ensure that your partner can sustain the excitement or energy to contribute to your business in a way that aligns with you.