Forgiveness
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 [...]
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 [...]
Releasing Blame: The Case for Forgiveness
“He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass.” – Confucius Getting Past Long-Held Grudges Takes Time It’s very common for members of family owned businesses to become bogged down in past conflicts, creating what we call “historical impasse”. These are disputes that remain problematic and continue to impact present-day relationships. When this happens, families often get stuck in unproductive behavior patterns. They’re still holding onto hurtful issues that happened a decade, or even a generation ago. If a family is to get beyond these hurts, they need to explore a process of education about forgiveness. [...]
Family Ties and Relationship Challenges
Family business conflict is typically caused by opposing goals, incompatible values and/or an historical impasse. Often, families will avoid discussing these because there are deep commitments on both sides that might make it hard to come to consensus. When this happens, the business can suffer from inaction. Historical Impasse can often act as the cement that keeps such situations “stuck”.