Our Approach
Our advisers aim to deliver: happier families + stronger businesses.
In the real world both objectives can only be achieved by taking a balanced, holistic, problem-solving approach into every engagement. This usually requires active collaboration with complementary professionals.
The FBIA approach requires every family’s individual, collective, AND commercial needs to be accurately identified and scoped (as far as possible) before any recommendations are made. This helps to avoid engagement blind spots and poorly considered responses.
The Family Business Difference
Family + Businesses = more complexity than “ordinary” business + more challenges than “ordinary” family.
“Family Business” throws 2 fundamentally incompatible systems together: Family and Business. Then inject a 3rd (potentially explosive) element into the mix: Individuals, to create real complexity.
The contradictory mix of family and commercial elements can lead to confused plans, poor communication, family tension, workplace cliques, and conflicted decision-making processes that confuse and confound both the family and the business.
3 Elements Model
Our 3 Elements Model is core to our main objective: to establish long term, sustainable peace and prosperity in families in business. FBI trains advisers to align and re-balance the three major dynamic elements present in all Family Businesses: Individuals + Family + Business.
The 3 Elements Model differs significantly from the traditional 3 Circle Model of Family Business, by replacing the latter’s “Ownership” circle with an “Individuals” element. This fundamentally changes the primary focus at the start of each assignment: rather than diving straight into legal and financial issues, FBI Advisers start by identifying and addressing the human issues causing angst for individuals and the family.
This may require expert assistance from specially trained facilitators, mediators, coaches and/or psychologists.
Once the family is better aligned it becomes much easier to proceed with the technical / commercial issues that need to be addressed. It also increases the likelihood that the outcomes of any technical work performed will be widely accepted by the family.
Solutionism
Solutionism is a problem-solving, solution-oriented approach designed to respond to almost all family business needs. It provides a structured, best practice framework within which collaborating advisers apply their professional wisdom and skills to benefit business families.
The FBIA Adviser Difference
The most critical objectives of most business families are rarely best-served by strictly enforcing legal rights, maximising tax savings, minimising financial costs and losses, or by facilitating win-lose outcomes.
Our advisers are trained to take a family-sensitive and non-destructive approach that focuses on shared needs and interests, collaboration, facilitation, long-term problem solving and obtaining win-win, or at least best possible outcomes, for all key individuals, and for the whole family. They understand the sensitive interplays between issues, needs and interests that arise in many family businesses, and respond accordingly.
FBIA’s Best Practice Model offers a proven and flexible approach to help families address their issues constructively – producing superior solutions that lead to optimal outcomes.
