When we go to an ice cream shop, there’s rarely ever just one and only flavor of ice cream. Ice cream may be the only thing served there, but it comes in a seemingly endless array of flavors… and they can be mixed together! The same goes for decision-making.

Like different flavors of ice cream, as co-owners you’ll have different approaches for how you want to achieve your desired outcomes. For a decision made by one partner, the other may wholly disagree with it because of how the decision was made. And yet, if the decision was made in a different way that addressed or balanced preferences, the outcome could be more desirable.

By taking the time to have a conversation with business partners where you learn about each other’s decision-making preferences, everyone will be better prepared to support each other in the goal of creating stronger processes to make important business decisions.

Try this: Identifying needs when making decisions (Freely timed or ~30 minute exercise)

1. Gather with your business partner(s) and assign a notetaker.
2. Take turns answering the question: What do I need from the decision making process? Aim for each person to share 1-3 needs. Keep in mind that needs here are universal– needs that we all share, such as the need for clarity, collaboration, and consistency. The notetaker is responsible for recording down each business partner’s needs from the decision making process.
3. Take as much time as you need for this process, or plan for 30 minutes, dividing up the time by the number of business partners.
4. Keep the resulting “decision making needs” list as a reference for when you’re creating governing procedures for the business in Step 4.