For Your Partnership to Succeed, It Needs to Be Balanced

I've written about the importance of starting a business with a co-founder to more effectively share in the responsibilities and decision-making -- and I do continue to believe that it’s extremely important to have a co-founder.
With that said, there are certainly a handful of important points that lie within both the business and the partnership that you must address and, most important, address them before they happen so that you don’t find yourself in a situation where your success, and that of your company, is at risk.
Related: 10 Characteristics of Unstoppable Partnerships
The best partnerships come when you’ve found another person that doesn’t share the same capabilities and/or thought processes. To be specific, someone that’s not like you. So in order to get the benefits of a true partnership, you need to have some opposing ideas and differing but complimentary skill sets and although you both need to know and understand what is going in throughout the company, it’s really important that you’re not sharing every decision.
Part of an effective partnership is knowing that you can trust your counterpart to do what’s best and make the right decisions in their day-to-day responsibilities. Of course you need to work together on the larger decisions that affect the direction of your company, but if you’re both overseeing the same things, it’s going to quickly feel like one person is looking over the other’s shoulder. Also, this is completely inefficient.

How do you communicate?

Startups move fast and, as a result, require fast decisions -- that’s what gives new companies a huge advantage against larger and more rigid established competitors. So you’re not going to be able to talk about every single decision -- as covered in the previous point -- but you do need to understand what’s going on throughout the broader context of the company, which comes with communication.
Related: 7 Strategies to Help You Pick, Then Develop, the Perfect Partner
Make sure that you set up a specific date and time for a weekly meeting, whether at the beginning or end of the week -- or maybe both -- and use the opportunity to discuss the greater decisions that were or need to be made so you can both add in from your differing view points or areas of expertise to come to the best decisions for your company.

You absolutely must set expectations.

This point is really one that needs to be established well before a formal partnership is structured -- although I realize that sometimes it’s just not that simple. You and your partner(s) need to have an understanding, in writing, as to who is responsible for what and what the expectations are for your time and responsibilities, as well as any financial commitments.
It’s really easy to just believe that you’re friends and you’ll work anything out and it may be uncomfortable to sit and hammer out expectations, but when things get really difficult, everyone’s true colors show and you need to be able to refer to a written agreement to hold others accountable.

12 Things Successful People Never Reveal About Themselves at Work

The following list contains the 12 most common things people reveal that send their careers careening in the wrong direction.

1. That They Hate Their Job

The last thing anyone wants to hear at work is someone complaining about how much they hate their job. Doing so labels you as a negative person, who is not a team player. This brings down the morale of the group. Bosses are quick to catch on to naysayers who drag down morale, and they know that there are always enthusiastic replacements waiting just around the corner.

2. That They Think Someone Is Incompetent

There will always be incompetent people in any workplace, and chances are that everyone knows who they are. If you don’t have the power to help them improve or to fire them, then you have nothing to gain by broadcasting their ineptitude. Announcing your colleague’s incompetence comes across as an insecure attempt to make you look better. Your callousness will inevitably come back to haunt you in the form of your coworkers’ negative opinions of you.

3. How Much Money They Make

Your parents may love to hear all about how much you’re pulling in each month, but in the workplace, this only breeds negativity. It’s impossible to allocate salaries with perfect fairness, and revealing yours gives your coworkers a direct measure of comparison. As soon as everyone knows how much you make, everything you do at work is considered against your income. It’s tempting to swap salary figures with a buddy out of curiosity, but the moment you do, you’ll never see each other the same way again.

4. Their Political and Religious Beliefs

People’s political and religious beliefs are too closely tied to their identities to be discussed without incident at work. Disagreeing with someone else’s views can quickly alter their otherwise strong perception of you. Confronting someone’s core values is one of the most insulting things you can do.
Granted, different people treat politics and religion differently, but asserting your values can alienate some people as quickly as it intrigues others. Even bringing up a hot-button world event without asserting a strong opinion can lead to conflict.
People build their lives around their ideals and beliefs, and giving them your two cents is risky. Be willing to listen to others without inputting anything on your end because all it takes is a disapproving look to start a conflict. Political opinions and religious beliefs are so deeply ingrained in people, that challenging their views is more likely to get you judged than to change their mind.

5. What They Do on Facebook

The last thing your boss wants to see when she logs on to her Facebook account is photos of you taking tequila shots in Tijuana. There are just too many ways you can look inappropriate on Facebook and leave a bad impression. It could be what you’re wearing, who you’re with, what you’re doing, or even your friends’ commentary. These are the little things that can cast a shadow of doubt in your boss’s or colleagues’ minds just when they are about to hand you a big assignment or recommend you for a promotion.
It’s too difficult to try to censure yourself on Facebook for your colleagues. Save yourself the trouble, and don’t friend them there. Let LinkedIn be your professional “social” network, and save Facebook for everybody else.
Related: 10 Truths We Forget Too Easily

6. What They Do in the Bedroom

Whether your sex life is out of this world or lacking entirely, this information has no place at work. Such comments might get a chuckle from some people, but it makes most uncomfortable, and even offended. Crossing this line will instantly give you a bad reputation.

7. What They Think Someone Else Does in the Bedroom

A good 111% of the people you work with do not want to know that you bet they’re tigers in the sack. There’s no more surefire way to creep someone out than to let them know that thoughts of their love life have entered your brain. Anything from speculating on a colleague’s sexual orientation to making a relatively indirect comment like, “Oh, to be a newlywed again,” plants a permanent seed in the brains of all who hear it that casts you in a negative light.
Your thoughts are your own. Think whatever you feel is right about people; just keep it to yourself.

8. That They’re After Somebody Else’s Job

Announcing your ambitions at work when they are in direct conflict with other people’s interests comes across as selfish and indifferent to those you work with and the company as a whole. Great employees want the whole team to succeed, not just themselves. Regardless of your actual motives (some of us really do just work for the money), announcing your selfish goal will not help you get there.

9. How Wild They Used To Be in College

Your past can say a lot about you. Just because you did something outlandish or stupid 20 years ago doesn’t mean that people will believe you’ve developed impeccable judgment since then. Some behavior that might qualify as just another day in the typical fraternity (binge drinking, minor theft, drunk driving, abusing people or farm animals, and so on) shows everyone you work with that, when push comes to shove, you have poor judgment and don’t know where to draw the line. Many presidents have been elected in spite of their past indiscretions, but unless you have a team of handlers and PR types protecting and spinning your image, you should keep your unsavory past to yourself.

10. How Intoxicated They Like to Get

You might think talking about how inebriated you were over the weekend has no effect on how you’re viewed at work. After all, if you’re a good worker, then you’re a good worker, right? Unfortunately not. Sharing this will not get people to think you’re fun. Instead, they will see you as unpredictable, immature, and lacking in good judgment. Too many people have negative views of drugs and alcohol for you to reveal how much you love to indulge in them.

11. An Offensive Joke

If there’s one thing we can learn from celebrities, it’s to be careful about what you say and whom you say it to. Offensive jokes make other people feel terrible, and they make you look terrible. They also happen to be much less funny than clever jokes.
A joke crosses the line anytime you try to gauge its appropriateness based on how close you are with someone. If there is anyone who would be offended by your joke, you are better off not telling it. You never know whom people know or what experiences they’ve had in life that can lead your joke to tread on subjects that they take very seriously.

12. That They Are Job Hunting

When I was a kid, I told my baseball coach I was quitting in two weeks. For the next two weeks, I found myself riding the bench. It got even worse after those two weeks when I decided to stay, and I became “the kid who doesn’t even want to be here.” I was crushed, but it was my own fault; I told him my decision before it was certain.
The same thing happens when you tell people that you’re job hunting. Once you reveal that you’re planning to leave, you suddenly become a waste of everyone’s time. There’s also the chance that your hunt will be unsuccessful, so it’s best to wait until you’ve found a job before you tell anyone. Otherwise, you will end up riding the bench.

Desmond Elliot Hangs-out With Samuel Ortom, Benue State Governor (Photos)

Nollywood actor and member of Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliott met with Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, today in the state's capital, Makurdi. They discussed youth mobilisation.

Source:http://www.nationalhelm.com/2015/06/photos-desmond-elliot-meets-with-benue.html

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4 Weeks In Power : Ikpeazu Changing The Face Of Aba Roads

Governor of Abia state Dr Okezie Ikpeazu on inspection of construction and dualization of Old Express Road by Faulks Road, Kamalu Street, Osisoma, Ururuka road, Ukegbu/Umuola/Ehere roads in Ogbo-Hill and Azikiwe Road Aba

Re: 4 Weeks In Power : Ikpeazu Changing

NASS Crisis: How I Escaped Abduction — Saraki

17 days after his election, Senator Bukola Saraki, Saturday, opened up on the controversial poll, saying those in opposition to him planned to abduct him to prevent him from emerging as Senate President.

Saraki disclosed that, on Tuesday, June 9, Senate inauguration day, following information he got of the abduction plot to keep him off the National Assembly, he altered his schedule by arriving the parliament car park at 6am, stayed in his car and then trekked at quarter to 10am into the chamber.

He dismissed the insinuation that for him to win, he entered into a pact with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Senator Ike Ekweremadu to be produced as his deputy, just as he stressed that the absence of All Progressives Congress, APC, senators in the chamber paved the way for the emergence of Ekweremadu.

The Senate President, who noted that the emergence of Ekweremadu will make things difficult for him, said, “Never in our wildest imagination did we envisage that some senators would not be present on the day of the inauguration.”

Speaking with journalists, in Abuja, Saraki insisted that he never got any message to attend a meeting at the International Conference Centre (ICC) with President Muhammadu Buhari on the Senate inauguration day. “First of all, as regards the meeting (at ICC), on the morning of the inauguration, I didn’t finish at a meeting until 4:00am of that day and I had got information that efforts would likely be made to make sure that I didn’t get access into the chamber”, he said.

Leadership Playbook: 3 Ways to Coach, Not Criticize, Employees

Here are three steps to help you turn cricitism into coaching so that employees welcome your feedback:
1. Define the goal.
Feedback works so well in competition because the common goal -- to win -- outweighs the coach's discomfort in giving cricism and the player's discomfort in receiving it. Olympic athletes don't resent getting criticism on how to improve. In fact, they resent not getting the proper insight that might help them win medals.
So what is your business's goal? Unless you have a startup that's trying to change the world, like Apple in its early years, I find personal goals that also benefit the company resonate better with employees than big-picture company goals.
For example, an employee will be more motivated to achieve a personal goal of $1 million in sales than to help the company as a whole make $10 million in sales. All employees have career goals even if they don't tell you about them. The key is to find out what goal each person has that benefits both the individual and the company. Agree to work together to help them achieve it.
2. Set feedback expectations early and often.
Once a goal has been defined, set the expectation that employees will receive informal performance feedback. You can give feedback as often as daily for someone in a new role to monthly for a veteran running her own division of your business. Most employees would benefit from even 30 seconds of feedback delivered most weeks. Tell them how often you will provide feedback and that they should ask you for it if you forget.
3. Start every discussion with the goal.
Start every feedback discussion with the employee's bigger picture: "John, I have some suggestions to help you achieve your goal of $1 million in sales." Notice the keywords in the phrase: "you" and "your." By making the conversation about the employee's goal, your critique lays the groundwork for a welcome conversation instead of a confrontational one. Always frame the discussion as a way to help your employees achieve what's important to them.
Coaching feedback helps competitors win medals and trophies, so there's no reason it can't help you and your employees achieve business success.
What strategies are you using to coach employees to be better performers? Let us know in the comments below.

5 Secrets to Coaching Your Employees to Greatness

To integrate coaching into your talent management strategy, the following five steps should be taken:

1. Educate your leaders

Start at the top and educate your executives on the differences and benefits of coaching versus counseling. Interview them on their perspectives on coaching and assess their willingness to participate and support a coaching initiative. Explain the benefits of coaching and ask them where they see applications for coaching inside their organizations.

2. Identify coaches, participants and executive sponsors

Look for individuals and managers that can become trained to be internal coaches inside your company. These individuals may be inside your talent management and organizational development areas or could exist inside the business itself. Consider having talent management or human resources executives trained and credentialed by the International Coach Federation as professional coaches. Alternatively, you may choose to utilize external coaches. If so, you can submit a request via the International Coach Federation Coach Referral Service website or ask colleagues for recommendations.
Simultaneously, you will want to identify candidates to participate in the coaching program. Participants should be excited to be part of the program and willing to make a commitment. Just as important as identifying the coaches and participants is to make certain that you have executive sponsorship. Determine which executives would like to sponsor the program and be a participant. Request that they support you in your coach and participant identification, marketing efforts, during participant enrollment and throughout the program’s life cycle.
Related: Leadership Playbook: 3 Ways to Coach, Not Criticize,

3. Manage expectations

Be sure to clearly set expectations with your internal coaches, individuals being coached, the executive sponsors and, of course, your managers and colleagues. It is best to run the initial program as a pilot and build upon its success. Make certain everyone is clear on the goals of the program, time commitment and their roles and responsibilities.

4. Train

Enroll your internal coach candidates in a coach-training program that is designed to train individuals that work inside companies as a coach. If you choose to enroll internal employees to become coaches, ensure they’re being coached by a coach with experience coaching internal coaches. In addition, be sure to train the individuals who are to be coached on the role and responsibilities of the participant, while establishing a clear and consistent process for enrolling clients, coaching time and exiting clients.

5. Measure success

Prior to starting the program, determine how you will measure its success. It may be done simply by using a net–promoter score or setting up a simple impact study. (It doesn’t have to be a rigorous measurement such as ROI.) If your program is embraced and utilized (coaching clients show up and participate in the coaching), then that’s a great sign. Interviewing them or surveying them on the benefits they received is also an excellent idea. In addition, be sure to ask the managers of the program’s participants about the changes they may have noticed in their employee’s behaviors after being coached.
In a time where we’re surrounded by change and have so many demands on our personal and professional lives, the need for coaching is at an all-time high. Coaching is a model for engagement, empowerment and accountability. It teaches those being coached to be responsible and to “own” their results. By engaging in coaching, you’re making a decision to replace mediocrity with high-performance.