July 2019 - The Solutionist Group

Succession Plan – It’s a Once in a Generation Process, so you better have a Plan

Family business succession should be a process and not an event, because to have any reasonable prospect of success, it needs be planned and executed over a sensible period of time, like any other complex project. 4 Stage Succession Planning Process The following diagram summarises the individual process stages that make up a comprehensive succession […]

Succession Disputes – As if there weren’t enough challenges already

Succession is the process of generational transfer of ownership / leadership / management / employment from one generation to another. Standard wisdom is to make this a process, not an event, preferably over a period of years. Succession usually gains attention when there are reasonably valuable assets involved. And family personalities and relationships are often […]

Strategy Plan – Aligning the Team Around Big Picture Visions for the Future

Strategy refers to big picture objectives and desired directions of travel for a family, business or organisation. “Strategy is for generals, organising an army for battle”. Contrast this with “Tactics” which are for captains, “leading troops into battle”. Strategy is cerebral (thinking), tactics are operational (doing). Strategy Plans provide the framework for the whole planning […]

Meeting Facilitation – An Expert Skill to make Meetings More Productive

A Facilitator is a person who makes something easier for others to understand or do. Facilitators also help to make things happen on behalf of others, in circumstances where they have no interest in the outcome. Facilitators should therefore be apolitical, with no personal interest in the outcomes of the meeting. Meeting facilitation requires the […]

Mediator – The Flexible, Skilled, Facilitative Dispute Resolver

Mediation is a fully facilitated, solution-oriented, constructive negotiation processes, managed by a skilled, neutral Mediator. It’s the most commonly used dispute resolution process in Australia, with many thousands of cases resolved each year. The Mediator’s goal is to guide the parties to a solution they have developed and agreed for themselves – one that addresses […]

Mediation Services – Fast, Efficient, Cost-Effective Dispute Resolution

Mediation is the most commonly used dispute resolution process in Australia, with many thousands of cases resolved each year. The process comes in many forms, so it’s important to understand what you’re getting into before signing up. Our Mediations are solution-oriented, constructive negotiation processes, facilitated by an expert, neutral Mediator. We guide parties to agreed […]

Mediation – Effective Dispute Resolution

Mediation is the most commonly used dispute resolution process in Australia, with many thousands of cases resolved each year. The process comes in many forms, from institutional to private, and from rigid to highly flexible. Individual mediation styles range from passive, to directive, to highly engaged. It’s important to clearly understand what you’re getting into […]

Family Structures – Professionalising Business Families

Best Practice recommends creating family structures that are appropriate to the style, needs and resources of each individual family. The bodies that make up the family structure provide leadership and strategic decision-making on issues that affect the family, as a family. We use separate structures in the family and in the business to raise a […]

Family System Interventions – Delivering Advice and Conflict Resolution

Family System complexities play out, in their own sweet time, like a staged drama: Family systems constantly strive to achieve balance, or at least try to find their own natural level of comfort and stasis. The more enmeshed and engaged family members are in the family system, the more a weakness in one area of […]

Family Systems – A Systems Approach to Understanding How Families Work

A “system” describes any collection of component parts that inter-connect and inter-act. The traditional 3 Circle Model of Family Business describes family business systems, and locates each participant’s place in it, in a formal, legal sense. This neat way of classifying things, which works well for lawyers and accountants, is subject to the following observations: […]