The first stage of adjustment is "Why do I have to do things this way? I want to do things differently".
At this stage, the new partner does not understand that there is a common goal that everyone can do something to achieve. At this point, he/she wants to focus on a separate area: for example, to develop a marketing unit or oversee only sales.
Almost everyone experiences this kind of attitude. It takes at least three years for a person to realize how "separate" leads to additional problems and how collaborative work on complex projects makes management and business stronger. Because circumstances can be different: a partner may go on vacation, maternity leave, or simply leave the company. There is bound to be someone who will step in to catch up the necessary questions.
The second stage is the transition to a new understanding of one's corporate role.
Often it starts with a conviction: if I make a profit for my business, what does everyone else do? At first, as you compete with other partners and measure your expertise and experience against them, you feel like "I'm cool, and I can do everything myself". This attitude has to transform over time into the principle of "We are cool, and our team is the best".
It's important to trust the other, to be sure that someone else can do the task just as well, or maybe even better than you. All partners go through this — they learn to be supportive: not just to point out problems or mistakes to each other, but to find solutions together. After you learn how to delegate and help, there comes a better time when you stop competing with other partners, you don't think anyone will let you down, but you realize that you are one entity.
When my company was buying regional networks and wanted to create branches, all of our new partners were never able to get to the next stage of the scale of the business. In fact, none of them took root in the company. At intervals of several years, people left the business. Not everyone can change who they are, change the status of "the most important in their small agency of five or six people" to a partner in a large structure. Here you need both to see beyond and to be able to work as an equal part of a team.
Another skew in partner relationships is the desire for friendship. You get along well with your colleagues, and you think it's realistic to "move on to the next stage". On the one hand, closer communication allows you to better understand your colleague, and in general, I support the principle of friendship. However, there must always remain some barrier in the relationship between partners. Otherwise, you might not be able to make difficult decisions for fear of hurting or offending the other person, or talk openly about unpleasant things. Friendship should not diminish the effectiveness of business.