Conflict Management

Conflict Management

Are you Prepared for Conflict in Your Family Business?

Your Future Depends on it. Conflicts in family business make headlines in newspapers, prompt exposés in business journals, and are the subject of popular books and movies. The bigger the business, the more sensational the story! Poorly managed conflict can be the most devastating threat to family businesses of any size. The fact is that the potential for conflict is woven into the fabric of family enterprise.  Yet despite this, most stakeholders and advisors do not truly understand the unique nature of this type of conflict and are unprepared to manage these conflicts when they strike. How family business conflict is [...]

The Good News: Family Business, Resilience, and the Pandemic

When External Factors Increase Internal Pressures All businesses, both family- and non-family-owned, are being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.  How they respond provides important insight into what makes family businesses different. Family businesses are unique, with many advantages that stand them in good stead during times of crisis. While there are unique strengths for family-owned firms working in a world changed by COVID-19, family businesses also need to be aware of unique risks they face. While some families will clearly suffer personal and financial losses due to the pandemic, the good news is that for many family businesses the challenges [...]

Why You Might Need A Family Council

When to Consider a Family Council for Your Family Enterprise Families hoping to achieve a lasting legacy and to have the greatest impact through multiple generations can benefit from a family council designed for their unique family’s needs. When properly developed, family councils can help families stay connected, aligned, and informed. They help families crystallize a vision and work toward realizing it, together. By establishing agreements and processes to aid in group decision making, family councils protect families from conflict, guide them through disputes over what’s fair, and help them navigate transitions. Well-designed family councils can also direct [...]

PODCAST: The Difficult Conversations are the Most Important

Manufacturing Matters - Episode 11 Listen to what the experts shared about managing conflict in a family business versus a traditional organizational structure. Are there Best Practices? How do multi-generational businesses function differently from one another? And what is the "Family Factor?" You will definitely have a few 'Ah Ha' moments. Brought to you by Simsbury Bank Martin Geitz: Martin Geitz: Difficult Conversations with UConn Family Business Program June 26, 2019 Welcome everyone to this, our sixth Simsbury Bank, UConn School of Business Family Business Program event. Thank you all very much for coming [...]

PODCAST: Blair Trippe – How Can You Best Manage Conflict in Your Family?

WEALTH OF WISDOM PODCAST - EPISODE 11 Conflict is a normal part of family life. But it can be difficult to talk about and to manage, especially when significant wealth or a family business is involved. Blair Trippe is a counselor who has years of experience working with families in conflict. In this podcast Blair defines the different types of conflict, shares strategies for dealing with different forms of conflict, and talks about measuring the “family factor” needed to help families weather the usual slings and arrows that fortune sends their way. Man: Welcome [...]

The Rewards and Challenges of Working for a Family Business

Doug Baumoel’s Story Based on an interview and article with Cornell University’s Smith Family Business Initiative Working for your family’s business can be a very rewarding experience, especially if it functions well. When it doesn’t, the experience can be extremely challenging– and even destructive. “When it works, it is an opportunity to create a valuable family legacy and for families to stay connected for generations,” says Doug Baumoel, founder and principal of Continuity Family Business Consulting. “A connected, extended family with significant resources can produce extraordinary opportunities for individuals and have a significant impact on society.” Working in a family business, [...]

ON DEMAND WEBINAR: Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business, Shared Wealth and Power

Continuity Partners Doug Baumoel and Blair Trippe recently presented a webinar in partnership with Trust and Estates magazine, and their parent WealthManagement.com. The webinar provides a comprehensive overview of Continuity's unique developmental perspective and methodology for managing conflict in family business. Doug and Blair illustrate some of the dynamics of family systems and stakeholder relationships as well as their groundbreaking Conflict Equation - all included in their recently published book, Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business, Shared Wealth and Power. The webinar also features a Q&A with the audience.

Five Ways to Improve Family Business Communication

We all know communication has a powerful impact on both personal and business relationships. That’s one reason why many people identify poor communication as what needs to be fixed for the family business and relationships to thrive. The complex family business system sets a series of traps for even the skilled communicator. In family business communication, it's easy for things to go awry. But just trying to fix communication is usually not the answer. Thinking that improving communication alone will solve family business conflict is usually an unrealistic oversimplification. Solving family business conflict requires a more comprehensive solution, one that [...]

Understanding Conflict in Families of Wealth

By Blair Trippe Working Through Differences Everyone fights over what matters to them. When unrelated people fight, they can choose to walk away and end relationships. When family members fight, it’s not that easy. It’s more difficult to cut ties, since family relationships often continue even if affinity doesn’t.  Plus, when family members fight, they often are fighting over deeper, more personal concerns than just what issues lie at the core of their disagreement. They are also trying to figure out how they will continue as family in the future. Given that conflict is likely unavoidable, how can you think through [...]

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Managing Family Business Conflict: A Collaborative Approach

Douglas Baumoel

As featured in Chapter 42 of The Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Guide Compiled and edited by Bette J. Roth, Randall W. Wulff, and Charles A. Cooper. Copyright: 2003-2015 Thomson/West Publishers

Why is conflict in a family business often so extreme and intractable? This chapter answers these questions and more. The chapter examines the deep- seated, systemic nature of family business conflict and the complicating factor of the continuing relationships that matter so fundamentally.

A collaborative approach is outlined which integrates traditional approaches to managing conflict (litigation, mediation, arbitration, etc.) with development-based approaches (consulting and coaching) to better manage conflict when continuing relationships matter.

The approach presented is based on The Conflict Equation, a method developed by Continuity Family Business Consulting, which seeks to preserve the continuity of important family relationships throughout the conflict management process.

The Conflict Equation provides a specific methodology that evaluates the key components of systemic conflict – power, opposing goals, incompatible values and historical impasses – and lays out a roadmap for addressing each component through the appropriate conflict management technique in a well-integrated and collaborative manner.

The guide discusses ADR options such as arbitration, mediation, private judging, dispute review boards, and partnering. It provides a description and analysis of each ADR procedure, both generally and as applied to specific practice areas. It helps practitioners decide which form of ADR is best suited for a particular dispute and briefs attorneys on relevant rules, laws, and ADR developments.

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Raising The Baobab

by Tsitsi M Mutendi

Embark on a journey of wealth discovery and legacy cultivation with “Raising the Baobab,” a masterful guide crafted for anyone passionate about building a future that lasts. Authored by Tsitsi Mutendi, a seasoned family business insider and a leading authority in family governance and succession planning, this book transcends the ordinary, offering rich insights for a wide spectrum of readers.

Whether you’re entrenched in the operation of a family business, offering advisory services, or simply possess an avid curiosity about wealth management and legacy, “Raising the Baobab” speaks to you. It’s more than a book; it’s a collective repository of wisdom, featuring contributions from over 40 illustrious experts in the family wealth advisory sphere.

Why is “Raising the Baobab” a must-read for a diverse audience?

– Wealth Wisdom Collective: Benefit from the unparalleled expertise of over 40 globally-recognized authorities, each bringing their unique perspective to the complex tapestry of wealth management.

– Inclusive Wealth Exploration: Dive into the exploration of the five essential capitals of wealth – Human, Intellectual, Social, Spiritual, and Financial – concepts that resonate regardless of your background or role.

– A Legacy Guide for All: This book demystifies the process of legacy building, offering valuable insights into cultivating wealth that encompasses much more than financial assets.

– Accessible Yet Profound: “Raising the Baobab” is crafted to engage readers at all levels of wealth management knowledge, presenting deep concepts in an approachable manner.

– Universal Principles of Wealth: The strategies and philosophies within these pages apply to individuals and families in business, advisors, and the intellectually curious alike, providing timeless principles for enduring success.

“Raising the Baobab” is a beacon for those who seek to secure a prosperous future through interconnected dimensions of wealth. It’s a guide that unites diverse individuals under the common goal of nurturing a legacy that withstands the test of time and transcends monetary value.

This book is your invitation to a community of thinkers, leaders, and innovators who understand that the true measure of wealth is not just in the balance sheet, but in the strength of human connections, the power of knowledge, the reach of social networks, and the depth of spiritual grounding.

No matter who you are or where you come from, “Raising the Baobab” offers the knowledge and strategies to help you lay the foundations for a lasting legacy.

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Wealth of Wisdom: Top Practices for Wealthy Families and Their Advisors

by Tom McCullough, Keith Whitaker

Significant family wealth brings many opportunities and benefits. At the same time, enterprising families face considerable challenges as they attempt to navigate financial and estate planning, succession, developing rising generation talent, and more. It is important for high-net-worth families to find and employ proven methods to help protect and improve their resources and family relationships over time.

In Wealth of Wisdom: Top Practices for Wealthy Families and Their Advisors, veteran family wealth practitioners and advisors Tom McCullough and Keith Whitaker have collected practical and hands-on tools, exercises, and activities for wealthy family members and the practitioners who advise them. Contained in 62 stand-alone chapters, written by leading family wealth advisors, these concrete strategies are designed to help families thoughtfully plan for their future, invest wisely, raise the next generation of family leaders, share decision making, and effectively connect with communities through philanthropy.

In this book, you will find templates, tools, and exercises you can apply immediately in your advisory practice or in your own family to determine legacy, identify core values, understand family complexity, and explore individual histories with money. This book offers a single, definitive source of actionable solutions from over 70 leaders in the field of family wealth advising.

Wealth of Wisdom: Top Practices for Wealthy Families and Their Advisors is an indispensable guide for wealthy families and the family offices, advisors, consultants, lawyers and accountants who work with them to help them achieve their goals.

Protect and grow family wealth and relationships with concrete strategies for high-net-worth families and their advisors

Wealth of Wisdom: Top Practices for Wealthy Families and Their Advisors is a practical and hands-on toolkit containing exercises, techniques, templates, and strategies that can be immediately applied by wealthy families and their advisors to help protect and grow their financial resources and family relationships. The included tools encourage readers to think through and determine their highest priorities, plan thoughtfully for the future, invest their assets wisely, raise the next generation of family leaders, and more.

Exercises like the Family Self-Assessment Tool and the Family Money History Questionnaire reveal foundational and important truths about the structure and behavior of wealthy families, while techniques like the Core Values Exercise demonstrate where family priorities lie and how to make decisions as readers move into the future.

An indispensable guide for family office professionals and other practitioners who advise wealthy families as part of their practice—as well as members of high-net-worth families themselves—Wealth of Wisdom: Top Practices for Wealthy Families and Their Advisors is a one-stop, authoritative resource collected by two of the leading advisors and practitioners in family wealth today.

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Mom Always Liked You Best – A Guide to Resolving Family Feuds, Inheritance Battles and Eldercare Crises

Co-Authored with Continuity colleagues Blair Trippe, Rikk Larsen and Arline Kardasis

Mom Always Liked You Best – A Guide to Resolving Family Feuds, Inheritance Battles and Eldercare Crises is a practical guide for the millions of Americans currently struggling with adult family conflict. It is designed to give you the information and tools you need right now to achieve those mutual agreements that seem so elusive.

The authors have helped many such families who are in conflict around elder transitions and associated issues. They are “thought leaders” in the field of elder mediation and also bring decades of experience in the areas of education, finance, healthcare, social work, and estate settlement, as well as their own family experiences. By reading this step-by-step guide and practicing the techniques that they lay out for you, you will learn skills used by professionals. You will learn tools to help you stop having those circular arguments that go on interminably and get you nowhere.

Easy-to-read and filled with engaging examples, this guide can help you think like a mediator in order to become a better decision-maker, a more mindful negotiator, and a more effective communicator. It can help you to lead your own family members toward consensus around some of the most important decisions you will ever face together.

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Family Business Abundance: How to Scale Your Company and Succeed Together Across Multiple Generations

by Bradley Fisher

For some, family business is the best way to become wealthy, to cultivate human capacity, and to make an impact on the world. It can be incredibly satisfying, and at times, even fun to work with the ones whom you love the most. Rewarding, satisfying, and sometimes even fun. But not easy.

In Family Business Abundance you’ll be introduced to successful multigenerational families, and a comprehensive management system you can employ to strengthen your family and business. The system consists of three mindsets and three building blocks. It will serve as a guide for current leaders, for the people with you today, and for future leaders, yet unborn, who will carry on your mission with purpose and gratitude in their hearts.

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Wealth of Wisdom: The Top 50 Questions Wealthy Families Ask

by Tom McCullough, Keith Whitaker

A critical resource for families managing significant wealth. Wealth of Wisdom offers essential guidance and tools to help high-net-worth families successfully manage significant wealth. By compiling the 50 most common questions surrounding protection and growth, this book provides a compendium of knowledge from experts around the globe and across disciplines, including contributions from Continuity’s own experts, Doug Baumoel and Blair Trippe.

Deep insight and thoughtful answers put an end to uncertainty, and help lay to rest the issues you have been wrestling with for years; by divulging central lessons and explaining practical actions you can take today, this book gives you the critical information you need to make more informed decisions about your financial legacy. Vital charts, graphics, questionnaires, worksheets and other tools help you get organised, develop a strategy and take real control of your family’s wealth, while case studies show how other families have handled the very dilemmas you may be facing today.

Managing significant wealth is a complex affair, and navigating the financial world at that level involves making decisions that can have major ramifications ― these are not decisions to make lightly. This book equips you to take positive action, be proactive and make the tough decisions to protect and grow your family’s wealth.

  • Ensure your personal and financial success and legacy
  • Access insight and data from leading experts
  • Adopt the most useful tools and strategies for wealth management
  • Learn how other families have successfully navigated common dilemmas

When your family’s wealth is at stake, knowledge is critical ― and uncertainty can be dangerous. Drawn from interactions with hundreds of wealthy individuals and families, Wealth of Wisdom provides a definitive resource of practical solutions from the world’s best financial minds.

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Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business, Shared Wealth and Power

by Doug Baumoel and Blair Trippe

Deconstructing Conflict looks at family business conflict, or conflict over shared wealth, as one example of a broader category of conflict: identity-based, systemic conflict among stakeholders who share important continuing relationships.

This acclaimed work draws upon nearly fifteen years of experience in which Baumoel and Trippe have helped scores of enterprising families navigate the challenges of owning and managing together as family.

Based upon their groundbreaking methodology known as “The Conflict Equation,” the book presents five foundational concepts to help readers deconstruct conflict into its component parts. It will help you understand the reasons that underlie all conflict, what triggers active conflict, and why conflict can be so extreme and intractable in family business systems.

This book will arm family business stakeholders and their advisors with the most cutting-edge thinking for achieving generational success in family enterprise.

With a Foreword by Tim Phillips – CEO and Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict.

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Hear what Doug and Blair have to say about Deconstructing Conflict… in their own words.

Continuity Founding Partner Doug Baumoel discusses The Conflict Equation and why a mathematical tool is so effective in managing behavioral issues.

Continuity Managing Partner Blair Trippe outlines how enterprising families will benefit from reading and understanding the material in Deconstructing Conflict.

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