Use Analytical Tools to Focus on the Important Issues

• To keep discussions focused on the important issues with your business, use tools such as SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Legal and Environmental) analysis. The results uncovered from these exercises can help you identify major concerns, which can then be the basis for substantive discussion in future meetings. Prepare written meeting agendas, with issues to be discussed, to keep from drifting aimlessly from one topic to another.
  
  

Share Major Ideas through Written Documents

• Sharing major ideas in writing can help you to effectively introduce suggestions. Ideas presented to your partner in writing can reduce emotion, while getting your point across without being interrupted. Request a written response so that your partner can state his or her point of view. Look for common ground and use that to build on the idea, table it for later discussion or mutually reject the idea and start over.
  
  

Prioritize Topics for More Efficient Meetings

• Stay focused on important issues for your initial discussion and then address lesser issues as time allows. If it is clear, through written correspondence, that you are in agreement on certain issues, quickly wrap up the discussion on those matters and move on. Prioritize topics, starting first with issues that require immediate attention, and then weigh issues by their timeliness. Consider merging discussions on similar topics to search for related solutions. Maintain a file of shelved discussions for future meetings.
  
  

Use an Unbiased Mediator to Solve Disagreements

• Sometimes, despite your best efforts, partners remain divided on an issue. Present your arguments to an impartial third party without creating a confrontational situation. Either state your case in writing or meet, one at a time, with the mediator. Avoid digging in and stubbornly clinging to your position; instead, seek a compromise, and be sure that you are hearing what the other side is saying. Restate your partner's suggestion in writing and have your partner do the same for your point of view.