In the family business mediation world , there are great challenges and a diversity of opinions. We are able to resolve complex family business disputes and provide family members parties with a clear path forward. This direction is especially true in ongoing serious family business conflicts. Using our family business mediation conflict services to help a family business grow and the family members clear the hurdles for better personal and professional relationships in the future is very challenging for our family business mediators, yet very exhilarating and rewarding fro everyone involved. Family business mediation resolves conflicts
It is sometimes said that “everything can be resolved with negotiation”. In the case of family business conflict areas such as management, control, shares, inheritances, our experience suggests that the saying is almost true, but often it takes a professional neutral mediator. Family business mediation has a very high success rate in resolving planing succession, inheritance battles – over 90%. In the hands of a trained professional mediator, family business disputes most often settle. This begs the question – why is mediation is so well-suited to disputes? A few reasons come to mind.
Family Business Mediation Strategies
- The business emotional aspect is personal, professional, and emotional: There is always an emotion involved in conflicts and disputes. But this is magnified and in the case of family business disputes. Each party has a both personal and working history and business relationship, often times for years if not decades, the emotional nature of the dispute can make it challenging for parties to discuss the matter with each other.
However, when you involve an experienced mediator, the dynamics of the situation changes dramatically. Mediators understand how to systematically proceed. They listen to details, grasp the stories and the redirect the hurt feelings. Feelings have an interesting way of increasing in clarity and aligning more with logic as one talks about it with a neutral As parties talk about their feelings, they often become more willing to let go.
Mediators use empathy and imagination to try and resolve the negative feelings that can make these negotiations difficult. Mediators bring all parties at ease with their emotions and feelings towards to the other party. The family business mediators’ ability to apply their experience and imagination to the issue ensures that the emotional issues are first understood and animosity set aside before the negotiation proceeds to the next phase of the Best Ideas Win. - Getting Rid of Assumptions: Often, parties have discussed some of their feelings with each other, perhaps not in the best settings, or not in the most productive manner. There are often deep misunderstandings based on unconfirmed assumptions. For example, a sibling may nurture this feeling that they were not treated fairly because one person has more decision making control to even one parent may favored another sibling more. Each party reads into the motivations behind decisions and often makes their own distorted conclusions which over time they then take for facts. Restarting the conversation a safe space ensures that such assumptions are set aside and the conversation is around facts and allows the focus to be on the future .
- The Family Business Mediation Management Plan: Finally, family business conflicts are often rooted in control, management and money. Someone may want to have different management, or an actual succession plan. Frustration often results in of the family wants the business to run one way or another and it is not clearly defined. For example there might be not a clear business direction, combined with diverse skill sets, inter-personal issues or other families; all of which that may have an outsized impacts.
Understanding that there often is more than one right answer and discussing all of the facts from different perspectives can be the starting points of resolution.Developing a realistic family business plan allows families to create a mutually agreed plan even in the most difficult circumstances. These pieces can fall together more easily in front of a mediator because families tend to be a lot more reasonable in a professional third-party’s presence.
Family business mediation means that the family is at least willing to try to set a new path. They want to explore resolution options and are willing to discuss real changes. With the assistance of an expert mediator and Alternative Law’s guarantee, we can all work together towards a best ideas win resolution.
The process can be tricky and requires the mediator to carefully address business, family and emotional issues from different perspectives. Family business mediation resolves conflicts. But it’s far better than ongoing destructive conflicts where emotions preconceived notions, or past actions can overwhelm the best plans or intentions. This can lead to more win/loss situations. With the assistance of our mediators, most families effectively resolve serious family business conflicts and a better future becomes a reality.
