This was the case of a three-party dispute between two business partners who owned a retail office-space franchise and their head of sales. The two partners differed on how to manage a dispute with their employee regarding process and policy as the organization grew.
In this case, I was contacted by one of two business partners after the dispute had already been simmering for nearly a year. They were under significant pressure to address the problem quickly, as the organization was on the verge of doubling in size – increasing from 5 to 10 retail locations – and they needed to be able to attract new clients and fill space by the time the build-out was complete.
I worked separately with each of the business partners, advising them on effective ways to negotiate both between themselves and their head of sales to address a variety of disputed issues.
Ultimately, the head of sales left on her own accord – amicably. By implementing new resolution methods, and negotiating with interest rather than position-based methods, all parties were able to resolve their disputes productively.
This also allowed the partners to move forward with their expansion plans quickly, hiring hire a new head of sales well suited to a rapidly growing organization. Within a year, one of the partners bought out the other’s controlling shares (also amicably), allowing the selling partner to realize a long desired cash-out while retaining an equity-stake, and allowing the remaining partner to continue to grow the business.