In my mediation practice, I work with partners and groups – start-up companies, homeowners’ associations, creative collaborators, and other teams and organizations – to resolve disputes, prevent disputes, improve communication, and find ways to work more productively together.  I help people talk about difficult issues, often after those issues have become a big problem.  But you don’t need to wait until you have a conflict to have a conversation!  By discussing some of the most common stumbling blocks ahead of time, you can prepare your partnership, project, or organization to get through them together.

In order to help you do that, I’ve made a list of ten things to talk about before going into business or starting a project together.  In this post, I’ll give you the list, and in the next few posts, I’ll go into each item in more detail.  

1. What are your goals?
2. What are your ideal roles, and how can you get there?
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
4. What each person’s preferred work style, and do you need to adjust in order to meet the demands of your project or work productively together?
5. What is your risk tolerance?
6. What role will third parties play?
7. What is your approach to conflict?
8. What is your plan for success or failure?
9. What do you think and feel about money?
10. What kind of relationship do you want during and after this collaboration?

I will spend the next few posts talking a little bit more about each of these questions.