Blog
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 […]
Read MoreFamily 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 […]
Read MoreFamily 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 […]
Read More7 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 […]
Read MoreFamily 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 […]
Read MoreFamily 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 […]
Read MoreFamily 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 […]
Read MoreDispute 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 […]
Read MoreConflict 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 […]
Read MoreConflict 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 […]
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