People call for help with:

• Failing businesses because of disputes between directors or partners
• Co-directors or partners who can’t stand working with each other
• Situations when accounts, strategy or future direction can’t be agreed
• Partners or directors who simply cannot speak to each other

Angry partners or distressed directors need to resolve their problems quickly and amicably. Otherwise it could cost them hard-earned money as well as peace of mind.

It only takes two people to have a dispute and come into conflict.

That is as true in business as it is in marriage. In fact, they can be very alike. Why? Well, more than half of all small and medium sized enterprises have only two partners or directors, according to a Government survey carried out in 2016.

And if you’re in business with just one other, it can be as if you were wedded to each other. Your lives become wrapped up in each other’s. Sometimes, it succeeds. In other cases, it fails.

Perhaps you recognise these situations . . .

• At first, you are infatuated by the prospect of the business and how great you are together. You work hard and profit. As time goes by, however, things become more routine and one (or both) wants something more.
• Or, it just doesn’t work from the beginning. Both thought the business was going to deliver different things. A job, a career, an income or a platform to sell something else. But it hasn’t succeeded.

Such situations are frequently described to us by directors and partners when they come to Mediated Dispute Solutions Ltd to seek help in resolving their in-house problems and disputes. Our mediators are highly-experienced in dealing with both corporate and small-business conflicts – as well as partnership problems and family-business mediation. This combination of expertise means the appropriate mediator can be matched by us to the particular circumstances of any dispute between company directors or partners.

Crucially, mediation is private and confidential. We empower everyone to have confidence so the decisions reached with us are those of the directors’ or partners’ alone. It is also fast and practical. The result is a discreet, mutually acceptable solution which can be managed within the business.

Often directors and partners try to sort out problems themselves. One longstanding partnership tried as many as 37 times over an 18-month period to resolve the future of the business. Only then did they consult their solicitor who promptly referred them to mediation. The complications and implications of dividing a successful working business are sometimes greater than the pain of trying to make it work. After a number of short mediation sessions to get to the heart of their concerns, re-evaluate their working relationship and, with the help of their solicitor, modify their partnership agreement, they are working towards the continuity of the business after they retire.

In another case we resolved, the directors met together each month for over two years to try to resolve a particular problem. In mediation, we refocused their view-points and helped them take a second look at their priorities. With our aid, they worked on changing their shareholder agreement to ensure that any future problems did not turn their relationship into a battle-field. Now, they continue to run a profitable business together.

Mediation works so well because the mediator acts as a trusted, independent, neutral go-between. This encourages dialogue between the opposing parties. In turn, that produces a practical working relationship or a solution. The outcome can then be a settlement agreement, a memorandum of understanding, a schedule of actions – or whatever is needed to allow those at odds to communicate, look forward and benefit from their business.

In some cases, however, the result will be an agreed separation of duties or an amicable dissolution of the company or partnership – critically, at the least possible expense. Mediation being confidential naturally limits who needs to know what’s going on. This keeps the problems away from customers, clients and staff. In one case the partners managed selling their successful business and retired.

Many people can’t face each other to deal with this kind of problem. But, they can benefit from facilitated sessions of face-to-face or telephone mediation to guide matters to a successful resolution.

So, if you can’t speak to each other, speak to us instead.

Smart people mediate.

Contact Mediated Dispute Solutions Ltd
T: 020 7993 6869
E: info@mds.london
W: www.mediateddisputesolutions.uk

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