A Partnership Requires “You and Me”

To create partnership in your marriage or your committed relationship, adopt the perspective that for your relationship to work, it must work for both of you. A relationship can only be a partnership when it is collaborative and a “win” for you, for your partner and for your relationship.

A partnership by its very nature requires a context of “you and me.” The context of “you and me” provides a powerful perspective that for the relationship to be successful, it must be a “win-win” proposition for both persons. Each individual’s needs, desires and goals must be satisfactorily met as well as those of the relationship. Each person in the committed relationship must be committed to having the partnership work for both of them, individually as well as collectively.

Two people cannot have a sustainable relationship if one of them feels that what is going on in the relationship is not working. If the relationship is not working for one person, it can’t work for the other person or for their partnership. To sustain a partnership over time, two people must become aware that the perspective “win-lose” does not and cannot work; it is, in fact, an illusion. If one person in the relationship feels that they are “losing” or not getting their needs, desires or dreams fulfilled, then the other person will be losing as well. In the “game of relationship,” two people are either winning (win-win) or losing (lose-lose). Having a partnership work requires both persons being committed to “our relationship will work for both of us.”

Posted in Partnership Marriage