SFE Services is a Buckinghamshire-based air conditioning, refrigeration and ventilation company. Founded in 2017 and based in Widmer End, High Wycombe, it is owned and managed by husband-and-wife team Grant and Sophie Davenport. The business delivers new installations, retrofits, repairs, maintenance and servicing to commercial clients.
Throughout the last seven years, Grant and Sophie have navigated the businesses together, both as business partners and as a married couple. Sophie has shares her seven learnings from working with her spouse.
- It is crucial to define your ‘roles’ in the company early on in your business journey. This includes designating responsibilities, to ensure day-to-day activities run smoothly and without interference. Following simple rules like sticking to your own tasks can help make working together fun and rewarding. For work relationships to succeed boundaries must be kept.
- Communication is so important in business and goes hand in hand with defining roles. While you both need to be focused on your key responsibilities, discussing milestones and keeping the team in the loop will help both business owners and employees remain satisfied and help the company run seamlessly.
- With communication comes honesty. This is probably the most crucial aspect. It’s hard telling anyone something they don’t want to hear or offering constructive criticism. It is even harder when it is your spouse. You may fear hurting their feelings or straining your personal relationship, but withholding the truth can be far more damaging in the long run. This level of transparency allows both the business and the relationship to thrive.
- In any business, trust is key, but it becomes even more vital when working with your spouse. Just as trust is the backbone of a personal relationship, it’s equally essential in a professional one. The ability to rely on your partner, knowing they will follow through on commitments and manage their responsibilities, is fundamental. If you and your partner cannot have faith in each other to get the job done, the business has failed before it has even begun. Before you start a business together, establish clear expectations and trust that your spouse will uphold their end of the deal.
- Supporting each other and being a listening ear can help your relationship work both at work and at home. Running a company is full of challenges, and not every day will be a good day. When you work with your spouse, the stress of business failures or setbacks can easily bleed into your personal life if not handled carefully. Support one another through tough times at work when things don’t go as planned. It’s easy to carry the burdens of the business into your personal life, but a strong emotional support system in both environments will help maintain harmony.
- Make sure you enjoy what you do. Shared passion and enjoyment make the daily grind more bearable. It’s important to regularly check in with each other and assess whether both of you are still finding joy in your roles. If one person starts feeling discontent work together to find a solution. Most importantly, agree that it’s okay for one person to eventually step back from the business if they are no longer happy.
- Remember work is work and personal is personal. At work, you are business partners and at home, you’re a couple. Be careful not to crossover the two. Blurring the lines can be a common pitfall when working together. Establish clear lines between work and home and do your best to stick to them. At work, view each other as business partners, and treat your interactions with the professionalism and respect that any business relationship demands. When you’re at home, switch gears and focus on nurturing your relationship as a couple, leaving work-related issues in the office. This separation helps to ensure that your business doesn’t consume your home life and that personal issues don’t interfere with the business.
