June 2019 - The Solutionist Group

Family Constitutions – Family Rules of Engagement

Family Constitutions support the workings of Family Councils and regulate relationships and interactions between individuals, the family and the business. They capture and define the values, beliefs and objectives of the family, as a family, and contain rules for the conduct of family members in relation to their dealings with the Family Business. A Family […]

Family Conflict Management – to boldly go where Angels fear to tread

All forms of conflict management, and conflict resolution, are challenging, especially when you’re trying to achieve the holistic resolution of all issues (legal, moral, financial and human), rather than just trying to achieve a basic (financial and legal) settlement. The most challenging of all conflicts are those where some of the central issues relate to […]

7 Golden Rules for Avoiding Family Conflict

Worldwide mythology, the Bible, mountains of literature, movies, social media and traditional news all have a strong recurring theme: family conflict. According to insurance surveys, over 50% of all car accidents involving injuries occur within 7kms of home. It makes sense – every journey starts and ends close to home, so you’re there more than […]

Family Business Best Practice and the Best Practice Process Model

One of the primary goals of any business family is to achieve long term peace and prosperity – for the family and the business. This requires excellence, or the application of “best practice”, in both the family and the business. But, there’s a problem: almost everything that makes a family successful conflicts with business success […]

Family Boards – Strategic Leadership, Governance, Supervision and Risk Management

A Company Board is a legally constituted Board of Directors under the Corporations Act 2001. Its role may be anything from: (a) being there because, at law, you have to have one in a company (compliance requirement), to: (b) being there to support and supervise business operations (governance). A Family Board is a term used […]

Family Alignment – Building Consensus to Enjoy a Shared Future

In some ways, obtaining family alignment is like pulling teeth …. into alignment. It takes time, effort, due process and some (or lots) of pain. But the end result makes everything worthwhile – all the “bits” look better, and work better, over the long term. Family alignment should be a primary goal for any family […]

Dispute Resolution – Deconstruction to avoid Destruction

From many victims’ perspectives, disputes look huge, complicated and unmanageable, with no obvious resolution trajectory. Think: “how can I eat this elephant?” From an outsider’s perspective, the same dispute may look very different. Without the strong emotions, it’s easier to perform a rational analysis that calmly evaluates complexity, urgency and solution entry points. If the […]

Conflict Resolution – Deconstruction to avoid Destruction

From many victims’ perspectives, conflicts look huge, complicated and unmanageable, with no obvious resolution trajectory. Think: “how can I eat this elephant?” From an outsider’s perspective, the same conflict may look very different. Without the strong emotions, it’s easier to perform a rational analysis that calmly evaluates complexity, urgency and solution entry points. If the […]

Conflict Management – Cut the Costs of Conflict

All conflict is damaging and costly, and its costs are not purely monetary. Agile Conflict Management helps to cut conflict costs. There are 3 phases in Agile Conflict Management: Conflict Prevention – requires appropriate use of Strategies, Structures, Systems and Skills: Strategies – having a plan that enables you to identify risks early so they […]

Business Succession Planning – It’s not “if”, it’s “when?”

One of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard about business succession planning came from Giuseppe (not his real name) who declared that he didn’t need to worry about succession planning for his business because he wasn’t planning to retire any time soon. Giuseppe was 79 years old! He had four sons working in his […]