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Cause #17 Family Systems & Skills (2): Problem Solving
Observations When left to fester: issues become problems; problems become tensions, and tensions become conflicts. Inadequate attention to issues, as a result of inadequate problem-solving systems and skills, are a common cause of conflict in family businesses and in the business families that lie behind them. Families may be: (a) inclusively engaged as collaborative problem-solvers; […]
Read MoreCause #16 Family Systems & Skills (1): Communication
Observations Communication is both a key builder, and an ultimate destroyer, of relationships. Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages, between two or more people. Its quantitative, tangible elements (words used) convey information. Its qualitative, non-verbal elements (tone, gestures, choice of word) convey how a person feels about another. In any given situation, […]
Read MoreCause #15 Emotional Baggage (not given as a medical opinion)
Observations “Emotional Baggage” refers to unresolved emotional issues that have a detrimental effect on individuals, groups, or organisations. The baggage metaphor suggests carrying around past disappointments, wrongs, and trauma that hold current relationships hostage to negative expectations – based on experiences of long ago. In Article #14: “Parenting Styles” – I observed that the root cause […]
Read MoreCause #14 Parenting Styles & Practices
Observations (not given as medical opinions) Many of the root causes of current family business conflicts can be sheeted back to the parenting styles and practices – behaviours and emotional contexts – of the family’s home life, from many years ago. Whether or not there’s any validity to the analysis, in dispute resolution practice it’s […]
Read MoreCause #13 Broken Wing Syndrome #3 (Family Business)
Observations Article 11: “Broken Wing Syndrome #1 (Individuals)”, described Emotional Resilience as a person’s ability to cope with, and adapt to, challenging situations. Resilient individuals minimise their anxiety, consciously and unconsciously, to remain personally, socially and vocationally effective. A non-resilient individual is less able to handle challenges and stress, hence their “broken wing”. They require […]
Read MoreCause #12 Broken Wing Syndrome #2 (Parents & Family)
Observations Article #11: “Broken Wing Syndrome #1 (Individuals)”, posited that Emotional Resilience is the personal ability to cope with, and adapt to, challenging situations. Hence resilient individuals, both consciously and unconsciously, tend to minimise their anxiety to remain personally, socially and vocationally effective. Broken Wing Syndrome (“BWS”) refers to non-resilient individuals, and specifically to those […]
Read MoreCause #11 Broken Wing Syndrome #1 (Individuals)
Observations Excessive protection, and inappropriate amounts of support provided by parents to offspring working in a family business, are common causes of conflict within business families. Emotional Resilience is the personal ability to cope with, and adapt to, challenging situations. Resilient people, consciously and unconsciously, minimise their anxiety levels to remain personally, socially and vocationally […]
Read MoreCause #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 […]
Read MoreCause #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 […]
Read MoreCause #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 […]
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