Disputes You are a great negotiator. You have never needed to complain, or field a compliant. You will always give such a good service that you will never have any battles. You have complete trust and confidence in your suppliers. Your employees are totally supportive and compliant. Your customers will always pay on time!

Dealing with disputes is the biggest challenge you will face in our business life. How you deal with it will determine how successful your business is. Indeed, dealing with conflict in a difficult market where many people want everything for nothing may determine the survival of your business. It may also impact your health - see section on work & life balance.

So what are you going to do when your best friend won't pay you or fails to deliver on his promises. The customer who dangles all sorts of business opportunities has just asked you to do lots more for free. An Internet Service Provider has hijacked your domain name and says you can't have it because you owe them money and won't release it until you pay all their subsequent bills. What about the customer who promised to introduce you to all his friends and has now gone back on that promise. What about the employee who has a lot of unexplained absences. Perhaps you are already in a dispute and don't know how to handle it - perhaps you have tried a number of ways to resolve the conflict. What are your options?

Our advice, under the legal section, suggests resorting to the Courts last. Like sores letting problems fester generally makes them worse act quickly but not rashly. Cutting losses and negotiating settlements can be cheaper in the long run, even if you feel totally cheated. We also suggest not making disputes public no matter how much you feel aggrieved - you may end up with defamation or slander case – and certainly with a damaged reputation.

A dispute is easier to manage, for all parties, where relevant issues are in writing so you have an audit trail - if it goes legal one word could make the difference to the success or failure of your side of the story.

Use your mentors to brainstorm the situation, maybe they can identify a mediator for you and the other party. Mediation is particularly powerful if you are trying to resolve a dispute between employees, the independence of the mediator should give everyone confidence in the fairness of the outcome.

Before going to law check your legal expenses insurance and choose a legal advisor very carefully.

It is in everyone’s interests to resolve any dispute as quickly as possible, ideally before it escalates from misunderstanding to disagreement and then conflict, and get back to business as usual. Remember small problems are easier to solve than big ones and some are preventable by good practice and sensible precautions.

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