joe@ally-marketing.com
Should You Sell Your Family Business?
Should You Sell Your Family Business? To sell or not to sell the family business? The right answer is not the same for everyone– it is whatever works for you and your family. The decision of whether or not to sell the family business is often a difficult one. No matter if the business has been nurtured and handed down through several generations or is still in the hands of the founder, deciding whether or not to sell can be tough. We like to remind families that there is nothing wrong with selling if that’s what makes sense to the [...]
Collaborative Law: Resolving Disputes, Without Burning Bridges
Litigation is especially risky in a family business with more than just business interests at stake. A Collaborative Law process can get you the help you need, without the delays, uncertainty, costs, publicity, limited remedies, and relationship damage that a court (or arbitration) proceeding usually entail.
How to Start a Difficult Conversation in Enterprising Families
Putting off that awkward conversation because you hate conflict? Many of us will go out of our way to avoid difficult conversations with loved ones, because we worry about making the situation worse. In reality, ignoring a troublesome situation will almost always make the situation worse. Here are some tips to start tough conversations off on the right foot. The First Step: Setting Up Tough Conversations To set up a difficult conversation, you need to approach the other person in a non-threatening way. Handle this with grace and humor, as you would an invitation. Remember: What affects you negatively is [...]
Harmonize Through Conflict in Family Business
“We don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true with people.” Steve Goodier All enterprising families experience conflict, and how to handle conflict is a top concern for family businesses. Conflict is NORMAL. It is a natural characteristic of the family, evolving when people’s roles change and grow, overlap, clash, or are misunderstood. Staying strong as a family and a family business requires flexibility and constant renegotiation of roles, as well as an acceptance that dealing with conflict is just business as usual. Learning how to effectively manage [...]
Planning a Successful Career Path for Family Employees
Family Member Employment Strategies Family employees can be a double-edged sword for the family business. They often display profound commitment to the enterprise, but if their employment does not work out for one reason or another it can be enormously disruptive to both the business and the family. Having family members enter the family business should not be done casually, because there are high expectations on all sides. The employment relationship is highly charged, because of the history and intermingling of family and business worlds. Businesses that fall short in planning and addressing the trickier aspects of family employment can [...]
Positive Prenup: 5 Topics to Protect Your Partnership
Getting a couple to talk about divorce when they are just embarking on marriage can be a tough sell to someone planning a wedding. For couples entering a partnership with comparable assets, a prenuptial agreement. aka prenup, is rarely contentious. But when there is wealth disparity, prenuptial agreements can be seen as a requirement by one party and as a threat to the other. In this case, creating the prenup can prove critical to the success of the marriage—not just for the future conflicts it prevents, but also for the conversations it starts. Prenups Protect Couples from Conflict The truth [...]
Setting New Year’s Intentions for the Family Business
For many of us—especially those in family business—picture perfect get-togethers are far from reality. Even if holiday times are full of precious moments, they often enhance stress, especially when you are dealing with the built-in conflict of family business. So how do we move through tense moments that may erupt during the holidays and start off right in the New Year? As we approach the new year many of us think about shedding what does not serve us and resolving to draw into our lives what helps us realize our goals. We like to encourage setting intentions, rather than resolutions. [...]
Getting a Grip on Conflict, pt. 2: Managing Systemic Conflict
In Part I: Getting a Grip on Conflict, we looked at why conflict in family enterprise is often so extreme and intractable-- because conflict is inherent in family enterprise, with all of its overlapping systems (ownership, business, family, and governance.) In a family business in particular, it is critical to understand and manage systemic conflict for business success and to protect ongoing relationships. Managing Systemic Conflict How to Manage Conflict in Family Enterprise There are three principal approaches to managing conflict: 1. Bargaining 2. Force and 3. Development. Once the sources of conflict have been identified and broken down into [...]
Getting a Grip on Conflict: pt.1
First step, understanding systemic conflict Why is conflict in family enterprise often so extreme and intractable? It is extreme, because roles in a family business, or access to family wealth, are not as negotiable as these issues would be in a non-family enterprise. This is true in large part because family members tend to take their role in the business very seriously. The disagreement is about more than just a job or money, it’s about what these signify to the stakeholder. Dismissing conflict in a family enterprise as greed is too easy. More often, stakeholders are fighting about very real [...]
Are “Best Practices” the Best Practice for Your Family Business?
Is a Best Practice the Best Solution for Your Family Business? Conflict and uncertainty eventually challenge most family businesses. There is no shortage of books and articles espousing a so-called “best practice” for a family business. While many of these often provide great value for their intended audience, it is important that stakeholders not follow these recommendations blindly. Below are some points to consider when evaluating a best practice for potential implementation. VALIDITY Is the best practice in question supported by unbiased, statistically valid data – and not just anecdotal? It is often difficult and/or time consuming for both stakeholders [...]