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Family Business Mediator Video No 30: Implementing Change in Business in the Family.

Common Causes of Family Business Conflict & What to Do About Them.

Family Business Mediator Video No 30: Implementing Change in the Business / in the Family

By Jon Kenfield. Solutionist.

• Family businesses are often quite isolated in their own bubble of family, business and industry.

• They can be very good at what they do at a point in time. But, if they fail to fully engage with the outside world, and markets, they get left behind.

• Avoidance of objective performance measurement criteria, due to:

o Failure to self-reflect on personal performance or

o Not being held to account by other family owners for results.
encourages lazy business practices.

• Challenges to current / established business practices can be taken personally (as accusations of failure) and get blocked – causing quality employees, and family members, to lose faith in leaders.

• Change causes fear. Humans prefer current pain to prospective change (lack of certainty).

• Young people are less set in their ways and have more capacity to recover from disasters. It’s easier for them to venture into the unknown and take risks.

• Speed of change creates friction between fast:slow. Typically older = slow, younger = fast.

• Personality differences and personal values also play a big part: goal focus vs process focus / people vs profits etc.

• Motivation is not the same as Activation or Implementation (execution).

• Beware the person who sees (and describes?) themselves as “Road Blocks”!!!

• Solution: negotiate acceptance of change by building consensus through a careful information gathering and planning process to generate organic demand, and manage pent up demand.

• Move blockers into non-operational sponsoring and governance roles where they’re informed and respected, but cannot block implementation.

 

Written by Jon Kenfield

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