Spotlight
Family Conflict
One of the biggest challenges family owners face is finding a constructive way to work through disagreements. As family businesses grow, conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional. Conflict tends to follow a typical pattern — one that can escalate quickly. At the same time, too little conflict can be as destructive as too much. Here’s how your family can learn to navigate these two extremes to find a healthy level of conflict.
01.
Finding the Goldilocks Zone of Conflict
For many families, the fear of conflict is so pervasive they go to extraordinary lengths to avoid it. But fake harmony doesn’t solve problems. In fact, too little conflict can lead to the same destructive outcomes as too much.
02.
The Conflict Spiral: How Conflict Escalates
In family businesses, what starts as a simple disagreement can slowly spiral into an all-out war. Here’s how to recognize where you are in the conflict spiral – and find a more constructive approach instead.
03.
Dealing with a Family Crisis
A family crisis can bring out the best, or worst, in people. To avoid descending into a conflict spiral, you’ll have to address a series of challenging issues, with all options on the table. Here’s how to get the business family back on track.
04.
Strategies to Avoid a Family Feud
One of the most effective ways to deal with conflict is to address issues before they arise with discussions and policies — and recognize the signs that your conflict is escalating so it doesn’t get out of control.
Families are often programmed from birth to avoid conflict in the name of preserving family relationships, holidays, etc. Unfortunately, in most cases doing that pushes issues of real important under the rug. Rather than trying to avoid conflict, focus instead on how to manage it. When you do, your family and your business will be far healthier in the long run.
Conflict is natural in family businesses, and often comes from family members having different perspectives. We find that when you foster an environment where individuals can hear and be heard, they generally find common ground and are able to mitigate the type of conflict that can be hurtful or make it hard to come to agreement.
