Jon Kenfield, Author at The Solutionist Group

Family Business Mediation Video No 34: Family Dysfunction By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediation Video No 34: Family Dysfunction. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • Family Dysfunction: A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehaviour, and often child neglect or abuse on the part of individual parents, occur continuously and regularly, leading other […]

Family Business Mediation Video No 33: Family Succession & Continuity By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediation Video No 33: Family Succession & Continuity. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • This is a big one for conflict! Family succession and associated control of family wealth can be even more confronting than taking over control of the business. • […]

Family Business Mediation Video No 32: Business Succession & Continuity. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediation Video No 32: Business Succession & Continuity. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • This is the big one for conflict! Business leadership succession, and a perceived transfer of associated family leadership, can be enormously confronting, especially to leaders and driven entrepreneurs […]

Family Business Mediation Video 31: Decision Making Family & Business, By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediation Video No 31: Decision Making: Family & Business. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • Many business families, even large and sophisticated ones, don’t have any coherent form of problem solving or decision making process. Up to a point, decisions can be […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 30: Implementing Change in Business in the Family.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediator Video No 30: Implementing Change in the Business / in the Family By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • Family businesses are often quite isolated in their own bubble of family, business and industry. • They can be very good at what […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 29: Rules of Engagement: Family to Business.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Video No 29. Rules of Engagement: Family to Business. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist • Family business = private business, legal & practical ability to do whatever. • Founder generation often doesn’t feel the need to formalise policies and procedures because they have complete […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 28: Expectations & Entitlements.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediator Video No 28. Expectations & Entitlements. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • Family membership may create unjustified and unsupportable expectations of rewards or benefits from the business – cars, phones, credit cards for personal expenses etc. These are sometimes caused by […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 27: Employing Family Members.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediator Video No 27: Employing Family Members. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • Family business = private business, legal & practical ability to do whatever. • Prime reason for many family businesses’ existence is to provide employment for family members, (especially those […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 26: Modernising & Professionalising the Business.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediator Video No 26: Modernising & Professionalising the Business. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist. • Clash between old and new, conservative and progressive, positive and negative, proactive and reactive. • Usually an inter-generational, age-based issue. • Incumbents are invested in past and […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 25: Competing Financial Interests – Family Vs Business Needs.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediator Video 25: Competing Financial Interests – Family Vs Business Needs. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist • Classic cause of conflict – competing financial needs and interests. Family needs money to live on; business needs money to ensure sustainable trading. • Family […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 24: Confusing Roles: Owners, Leaders, Managers & Employees.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them. Family Business Mediator Video No 24: Confusing Roles: Owners, Leaders, Managers & Employees. The Dotted Line! By Jon kenfield. Solutionist. • Conflict flows from confusion and attacks. • A fundamental source of confusion is lack of role clarity. • Another revolves around unjustified […]

Natalie Armstrong Interview with Jon Kenfield. Family Business Mediator. Solutionist.

Jon talks with Natalie Armstrong, speaker and author of “The Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice” about the origin and meaning behind the word ‘Solutionist’.

Family Business Mediator Video No 23: Ages & Stages, Conflicting Financial Needs. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & What to Do About Them. Video No 23. Ages & Stages – Conflicting Financial Needs. Major cause of conflict – generated by different needs during different ages & stages, compounded by life’s usual complexities. When young – home & mortgage / family / school fees / collecting “toys” + […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 22: Differences Needs, Wants & Interests Video By Jon Kenfield.

Video 22. Differences: Needs, Wants & Interests | Perspectives & Behaviours | Respect & Rewards. Arguments and conflicts come from lack of: Shared Visions, Plans, Goals & Commitments. Shared Visions Goals, Strategies & Plans are aspirational focal points that start with built consensus & are sustained by continuing effort & performance. Lack of … leaves […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 21: Parents as Bosses: Nature vs Nurture vs Independence.

Nature vs nurture goes back to the Greeks: innate qualities vs learned / conditioned behaviours and abilities. During the growing up years, Nature and Nurture interact within the Family System to shape individual personalities and core family dynamics. The results can cause serious conflict when they move into a business system, where consequences are magnified. […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 20: Family Systems & Skills. Teamwork. By Jon Kenfield.

Video 20. Family Systems & Skills – Teamwork. Families tend to assume that their “familyness” means they naturally work well as a team, but the reality is often far from the belief – which easily leads to conflict when expectations are seriously mismatched and badly unmet. The quality of teamwork has a lot to do […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 19: Family Systems & Skills – Respect & Trust. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 19. Family Systems & Skills – Respect & Trust. Families & family businesses tend to believe that their “familyness” automatically confers high levels of honesty, integrity, respect & trust, where sometimes the very opposite is in play: very low levels mutual trust due […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 18: Family Systems & Skills. Decision Making. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 18. Family Systems & Skills – Decision Making. Issues with decision-making are a major cause of conflict in many business families, both in the family and in the business. Charismatic business leaders can get drunk on power, which may lead to suboptimal business […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 17: Family Systems & Skills – Problem Solving. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 17. Family Systems & Skills – Problem Solving. Some families are naturally collaborative and engaging, others rely on key decision-makers to make some or all decisions. In the first case the family will develop systems and processes for solving problems. In the second […]

Family Business Mediator Video No 16: Family Systems & Skills – Communication. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 16. Family Systems & Skills – Communication. It’s common to blame lack of, or breakdown in, communication for causing conflict. This is total rubbish and causes enormous problems when hope, time and effort are put into fixing symptoms, rather than causes. Individuals may […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 15 Emotional Baggage. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 15. Emotional Baggage. Root cause of many family business conflicts can be traced back/attributed to actual and perceived actions/inactions that created negative emotional impacts that have generated substantial emotional investment over many years to become emotional baggage that individuals carry around with them, […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 14: Parenting Styles & Practices. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 14. Parenting Styles & Practices. Root cause of many family business conflicts can be traced back/attributed to parenting styles (behaviours), and parenting practices (emotional context). Parenting Styles = behaviours: Dictatorial: obedience and punishment, rather than discipline. Authoritative: positive relationships, rules, consequences and discipline. […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 13: Emotional Resilience and “broken wing” syndrome – Business.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 13. Emotional Resilience and “broken wing” syndrome – Business. Emotional Resilience = coping with stress and minimising anxiety. Epidemic. Broken Wing Syndrome = parent(s) protecting weaker children. Contributed to by genetics, home, school & social environments, birth order, parenting skills, domineering parent(s) and […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 12: Emotional Resilience 1 – Broken Wing Syndrome. By Jon Kenfield

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 12. Emotional Resilience and “broken wing” syndrome – Parents & Family. Emotional Resilience = coping with stress and minimising anxiety. Epidemic. Broken Wing Syndrome = parent(s) protecting weaker children. Contributed to by genetics, home, school & social evironments, birth order, parenting skills, domineering […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 11: Emotional Resilience 1 – Broken Wing Syndrome. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 11: Emotional Resilience 1 – Broken Wing Syndrome- Individuals. Emotional Resilience = coping with stress and minimising anxiety. Epidemic. Broken Wing Syndrome = parent(s) protecting weaker children. Contributed to by genetics, home, school & social environments, birth order, parenting skills, domineering parent(s) and/or […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 10: Behavioural Issues. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 10: Behavioural Issues. Behaviours outside the normal /acceptable bell curve create tension and disruption / dysfunction. Family infects business & vice versa. Solution: psych assessments, coaching & mentoring. Defined performance and behavioural expectations.

Family Business Conflict Video No 9: Relationship Interplay’s. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 9: Relationship Interplay’s. Family Business continues relationship pressures present in the family into the business – very different contexts with antagonistic drivers. Family hierarchy: starts age-based, increasingly personality-based. Family Business hierarchy: starts age-based, personality-based, power-based (rather than merit-based) (family/business lifecycle). Solution: Mediation if […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 8: Divorce & Separation. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 8: Divorce & Separation. Relationship failure rates over 50% – no wonder that fear of separation has become a common justification for not transferring equity to successors. Being in a family business places extra strain on marriages – parents continue to have influence […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 7: Equal Isn’t Equitable. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 7: Equal Isn’t Equitable. One of the most common causes of family business conflict comes from confusing equality (same treatment) with equity (fair treatment). At first blush, it’s hard to argue with the view: “Because I love my children equally, I must treat […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 6: In Laws, Outlaws & Extended, Blended Families. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 6: In Laws, Outlaws & Extended, Blended Families. Increasingly complicated family structures. Family policy: inclusion / exclusion? Communication breakdowns. Partners are loyal to their micro-family units. Pillow talk and nagging disrupts agreements developed. Solution: agree family policy for inclusion / exclusion (prepare to […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 5: Fossilised Leaders. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 5: Fossilised Leaders. Living longer, later retirement: personal / financial / alternatives. Increasing numbers of businesses led by older people 70+. Some good, many bad. Fossilised: all faculties, more risk-averse, less agile and able to make important decisions. No desire for change. Successors […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 4: Unmet Expectations & Broken Promises. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 4: Unmet Expectations & Broken Promises. Common cause of one-on-one conflict, family cliques. One day my son/daughter, indentured slave. Repressive power play? Financial necessity? Cultural, Ethnic norm? Horrible consequences: conflict, pain & probate litigation. Solution: Family Plan: transparent commitments.

Family Business Conflict Video No 3: Human Diversity, Ages & Stages. By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 3: Human Diversity, Ages & Stages. Session #2 = Psychometric Identification of Personality. Personal & Family tensions through differences that can be positive or negative. Family in Business Life Cycle. Ages & Stages: Age = more risk averse. Financial security. Younger family members […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 2: The Effects of Personality Differences on Family Businesses.

Common Causes of Family Conflict & How to Deal with Them. Video 2: The Effects of Personality Differences on Family Businesses. Common threads and differences. Genetics, generations, ages & stages. Family hierarchy – genetic cloning. Compatible, complementary or antagonistic? Conflict from childhood = emotional baggage. Solution: Psychometric Identification, psych profile = behavioural preference, clues to: […]

Family Business Conflict Video No 1: Common Causes of Family Business Conflict. By Jon Kenfield.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict – and how to deal with them. Family Business – blessing or curse? Tied in. No escape. Good = unstoppable. Bad = disaster for health, wealth & happiness. Focus (purpose), Structures & Systems required. Attitudes & Skills required. Series will map the terrain, describe the dangers & suggest ways […]

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: […]

Arbitration Services – Businesslike Efficiency and Effectiveness

Arbitration: Parties to a dispute agree to appoint an independent person (ideally an expert in the subject matter of the dispute) to gather information (using documents and/or in person), to make legally binding decisions about any issues in dispute. Ideally, Arbitration Services are specified in a contract, as part of an agreed dispute resolution process. […]

Arbitration – Great Process … but use only as intended

The arbitration process has been in use around the world for hundreds of years. In essence, parties to a dispute agree to appoint an independent person (ideally an expert in the subject matter of the dispute) to gather information from all relevant sources in order to make a legally binding decision on the referred issues, […]

Family Business Plans – The Plan for the Business

“When you don’t know where you’re going, any path will take you there”. Lewis Carroll (ish) Family Plans, and Family Business Plans, are short, medium and long range plans for: (a) the family (10 to 100 years) and (b) the family business (1 to 10 years). They should be developed independently – to emphasise and […]

Family Plan – The Plan for the Family

“When you fail to plan you are planning to fail” Benjamin Franklin. Plan: a set of decisions about things to be done in the future to achieve an identified goal. Family Plan: what the family wants to achieve for its members, and for the family as a whole, over at least the next 25 years. […]

Family Office – Agile Family Offices Build Family Success

Family Offices play an important role in both the daily operations, and in the future sustainability plans, of many individuals and business families. Traditional Family Office For hundreds of years traditional Family Offices have been used by ultra-wealthy family dynasties ($100M+) to help build, manage and preserve their wealth, and to protect the family’s reputation. […]

Family Meetings – A Critical Lubricant and Glue for Family Sustainability

Families that thrive over multiple generations almost invariably ascribe a large part of their success to their ability to have friendly and constructive family meetings. They frequently contrast the work they’ve put into being able to do this with efforts expended by other families that haven’t fared so well. Rather surprisingly, many business families don’t […]

Family Mediation – Constructive Dispute Resolution for Business Families

Family Mediation is the “go to” process for families when Family Law is used to facilitate matrimonial separation. The process can be anything from a highly formalised, institutional process to flexible private proceedings, tailored to the needs and styles of the parties themselves. In contrast, in the family business world family, mediation is much less […]

Family Governance – The Family’s System of Rules for Good Behaviour

Business families, and families with wealth, eventually need to develop and apply some rules by which to operate, so everybody can get a fix and a reality check on their personal and collective expectations and obligations, as core guidelines to help avoid conflict. Governance is a system of processes that combine philosophy, practical intent, ethics, […]

Family Disputes – Shout Out for a Different Style of Dispute Resolution

Families have been embroiled in disputes since the first cavemen’s sons “borrowed” their flints, and their daughters refused to wear hand-me-down skins. There’s nobody quite like a sibling for knowing how to press your buttons, and as for inter-generational tensions …… Family disputes have myriad causes. When limited to family members and family issues, family […]

Family Councils – Sophisticated Leadership for Family Groups

Every sentient organism needs some sort of control centre to direct and manage its functions and to help ensure its survival. The more complex the organism, the more capable (intelligent) the control centre needs to be. A business family is a complex sentient system, which makes it a very complicated organism. As such, it needs […]

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 […]

Arbitrator – Like having Solomon on Steroids for Commercial Disputes

Arbitration is an excellent private dispute resolution option for individuals and businesses in dispute. The parties agree to appoint an independent person – the Arbitrator (who should be an expert in the subject matter of the dispute) to make a binding decision on the issues in dispute. The Arbitrator gathers information, using documents and/or in […]

Alternative Dispute Resolution – The ADR Story

Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) describes any process used to settle or resolve disputes that is not court-based litigation (ie: it’s an “alternative”). Alternative Dispute Resolution has a long history however, ADR was not widely adopted in Australia until the early 1990s – when politicians and judges acknowledged that our court systems had become so slow, […]

Advisory Boards – The “Great Leap Forward” for Business Families

Establishing an Advisory Board (or “Advisory Committee”) is one of the easiest, quickest, cheapest and most effective measures any family business can take to improve the quality of its thinking, planning, problem solving and general decision-making. The concept is simple: an Advisory Board is an identifiable body, established by a family to help it make […]

Business Family Alignment – the Family Plan

Throughout the Western world, less than 5% of all family businesses survive the third generation curse: “from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations”. The 5% that do make it through often proceed for many generations – in clear evidence that they’ve worked out and applied something really important to their family about sustainability […]

Difficult Family Conversations – 10 Key Issues

Security: physical, emotional and financial, sit at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Situations that challenge your sense of personal security are therefore likely to create feelings of insecurity and discomfort, which is why many of us are reluctant to initiate conversations likely to start, or to become, difficult. The expectation that a […]

Successful Successions in Family Business

Business Succession involves the transfer of Ownership, Leadership, Management and (sometimes) Employment, from one generation to another. The succeeding generation can be within the family, or not. The objective is to transition the business from one generation to the next, so it can survive and be renewed. Family Succession is another thing entirely, although the […]

Family Conflict and Mediation – looking for “Uncle Bob”

Conflict (noun) = a form of protracted discord between individuals or groups. Conflict (verb) = to clash emotionally, intellectually, materially or physically. Conflict is a form of energy that can be focussed, or unfocussed, on its inbound and outbound course. Active families constantly generate relationship conflict through their interactions. Active businesses constantly engage in competitive […]

Best Practice in Family Business

“Best practice is a technique or methodology proven by experience and research to lead reliably to an optimal result”. So, if we implement and support Best Practice in our family business we should enjoy success – whatever that means for our business family and for our family’s business. In an “ordinary” business the key measures […]

Difficult Older People & Behaviour Change

We’re seeing increasing numbers of older business owners struggling with the fundamental concept (let alone the required actions!) of family and business succession, and with the challenges of “refiring, not retiring” – as they contemplate living for many years after “finishing” their main work. That work has often been at the centre of their lives, […]

10 Wisdoms for Successful Succession

The succession process has been fraught with issues and complications since biblical times. It’s been the subject matter of stories and dramas for as long as we’ve had the recorded word, and will undoubtedly continue to do so. When a business is also involved, the stakes ramp up enormously because, as well as personal and […]

Do “fossilised” owner/parents threaten the survival of their own family businesses?

An increasing number of family business owners are now past their best decision-making days. With many over 70 years of age they are fossilising on the job, risking the survival of their businesses and families, and the jobs and families of the employees who depend on them. This is not a criticism of what they’ve […]

Parenting Styles and Family Business

“As ye sow, so shall ye reap” Recent conversations with other family business advisers confirm increasing exposure to business families with serious “fossilisation” issues. Naming no names, the problem seems most prevalent in families with seriously aged founder/owners (70 and 80-year-olds) from traditional European backgrounds. However, they don’t own all of this space – it’s […]

Succession – are we missing the point of the economic challenge?

I think we’re missing the point. I’ve just attended, and presented, at yet another seminar on “Succession Planning” where, as usual, almost everyone talked about: maximising the value of the business for sale; tax and asset structures; insurance; financing the deal and buy/sell agreements. Don’t get me wrong – they were all good sessions – […]

Saltwater Crocodile

Family Conflicts: The Apex Factor The challenges presented by dominant parents/entrepreneurs The Australian saltwater crocodile is an apex predator – it sits at the top of its food chain. An adult croc faces few natural threats, other than man, and ferociously uses its considerable bulk to assert dominion over its chosen territory. Many family businesses […]

Risk Management for Business Families

A key characteristic of all enduring business families is their willingness to do whatever is necessary to adequately and appropriately manage all significant risks and threats to their continuity, as a family group. This applies however the group re-invents itself, from generation to generation. Conversely, the most common cause of business family failure is the […]

Practice Succession: passing on a legacy, or just selling-out?

A tale of two practices … In 2011 the first Baby Boomers reach 65 – the traditional retirement age for western males. The Boomer generation’s enormous energy, fed by aspirational consumerism and decades of relative peace and prosperity, spawned an explosion of entrepreneurial businesses and professional practices. Many of the owners and leaders of these […]

Keeping it (your business) in the Family

The Challenge So you’ve built a good, even a great business, and it’s getting towards that time when, for whatever reason, you want to step out, back, or sideways. You need someone else to take over the helm. But, the last thing you want to do is desert everyone who’s supported you over the years, […]

Governance and the Role of Non-Executive Director

Essentially the non-executive director’s role is to provide a creative contribution to the board by providing objective criticism. they: “should bring an independent judgement to bear on issues of strategy, performance and resources including key appointments and standards of conduct.” There is no legal distinction between executive and non- executive directors. As a consequence, non-executive […]

Governance Functions and Boards for Family Businesses

Governance Corporate governance refers to the structures, strategies, principles, policies and processes by which businesses, and the senior executives thereof are led, managed, supervised, measured and controlled. Governance style defines the attitude, culture and integrity of an organisation. It therefore forms a major component of risk management. In many family business environments, executives involved in […]

Family Business Best Practice – A Magic Toolbox?

What is Family Business “Best Practice”? One of the primary goals of any family business adviser is to increase the effectiveness and success of Australian families in business – helping them attain greater peace and prosperity. Such an outcome suggests that a family has achieved a level of excellence, or “best practice”, but here’s the […]

The Family Business “Magic Pudding”

How to achieve peace and prosperity in your family business … in your lifetime! Situation: The Family-in-Business – an energy-laden and explosive mix of passion and potential, capable of doing both wonderful things and woeful things. Challenges: Every Family-in-Business faces some or all of the following challenges: Balance – individual, family and business needs and […]

Criteria for choosing trustworthy advisers for families in business

General Concept Professional advisers should be an investment in peace of mind. Basic compliance work excepted, their value should comfortably exceed the cost of their fees, in respect of their contributions to some or all of: Family success – financial, social and reputational. Family harmony – facilitating communication, problem solving and conflict management processes. Family […]

Brainstorming Process

Brainstorming is the best-known and most widely used technique for stimulating creative group thinking and for generating a broad range of options in response to just about any issue or challenge. The process was developed and the name initially coined by Alex Osborne, an American, in 1939. He defined brainstorming to mean: ‘A listing […]

Bob Jane’s Family Feud

“For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26-28) Bob Jane was an Australian icon – a revered racing driver, entrepreneur businessman and multi-millionaire – a classic self-made success story. But where is he now? After 5 years of litigation he’s […]

Australian Sea Lions

A Family Business is like: an Australian Sea Lion because … … they often fail to define the family’s ground rules. Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca cinerea) facts: Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Mammalia; Order: Carnivora; Suborder: Pinnipedia; Family: Otariidae; Subfamily: Otariinae; Genus: Neophoca; Species: Phew! Sea Lions have external ears; Seals have internal […]

All in the Family: why Succession Planning is Important

Assisting family businesses can involve many complex issues and profound challenges – from resolving sibling rivalry to handling dysfunctional intergenerational expectations. Perhaps no problem is more complex, for both the family and the business, than succession planning. Accountants, acting as trusted advisers, have an important role to play in helping families to resolve issues and […]

12 Simple Secrets of Family-in-Business Success

When we look at family businesses around the world that have proactively maintained and enhanced their collective business interests over many generations, we find that they have usually employed a number of consistent strategies. I call these their “12 simple secrets for success”. Note that these measures apply to families that have worked hard to […]

9 Golden Rules for Preventing Conflict in a Family Business

Conflict = Family Tragedy Newspapers and magazines revel in a constant diet of spectacular family disasters. The wealthier the family, and/or the greater their celebrity status, the better. Neither the riches of Croesus, nor the paid wisdom of their enormously expensive advisers, seem able to stop these families from spiralling towards meltdown. Trashing the family’s […]

7 Reasons why every Business Family needs a Family Office

Leading a successful business is hard; keeping a family happy is harder; doing both at the same time is a challenge fit for heroes, especially when several generations are involved. A modern Family Office is a facility, or collection of resources, that highly pro-active families establish to directly support their members, and to indirectly support […]

The 7 Key Elements of Organisational Success

Organisations that achieve long term, sustainable success invariably have: “a harmonious workplace AND a strong organisation.” Their high trust cultures encourage everyone to help everyone to do a great job – so the organisation’s goals are consistently achieved. Such cultures are the holy grails of every genuine leader and, just like the grail legend, the […]

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