November 2021 - Page 3 of 3 - The Solutionist Group

Cause #10 Behavioural Discord

Families are always “interesting”, due to dynamic interplays between the diverse personalities that make up the group – as manifested by their behaviours towards each other. Every family develops a unique behavioural style, which evolves as its members age and mature. Resilient families learn to tolerate and accommodate disruptive individual styles; others never learn how […]

Cause #9 Relationship Interplays

Family Business can have a “force multiplier” effect on family relationships, especially when interpersonal relationship issues present in the family, often built over many years of family interactions, are projected or absorbed into the business. Commercial environments provide all the nutrients required to turn historical/personal/domestic niggles into full-blown, competitive, adult conflicts. Weak, strong and/or distorted […]

Cause #8 Divorce & Separation

Australia 2019: 113,815 marriages registered; 49,116 divorces granted. We’re marrying later (32 for males, 30 for females), and more couples are living together for several years before marrying. Consequently, marriages are generally lasting longer, and divorce rates are trending downwards from their peak in the 1970s and 1980s (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019). The bottom line […]

Cause #7 For want of a Family Plan …

“For want of a nail the shoe was lost, For want of a shoe the horse was lost, For want of a horse the rider was lost, For want of a rider the message was lost, For want of a message the battle was lost, For defeat in battle the kingdom was lost, And all […]

Cause #7 Equal ain’t Equitable

One of the most common causes of family business conflict arises from (innocently) confusing equality (providing equal benefits), with equity (providing fair treatment). On careful analysis, this almost always indicates avoidance of responsibility to exercise discretion towards family members in widely different circumstances, even where most outsiders, and most family members, would think it perfectly […]

Cause #6 In-Laws, Outlaws & Blended Families

All forms of matrimonial relationship can create conflicts for business families – with increasingly complicated family structures resulting in a bewildering variety of happy, working, blended, extended, dysfunctional and broken family units forming parts of larger family groups. Higher general and business education levels; social pressures demanding greater equality, inclusiveness, and communication transparency; broadening perceptions […]