Mediation in family companies
Family companies which have family conflicts. What do we often observe in family mediation? In what can family mediation help us?
Mediation in family companies
Family companies which have family conflicts interfering with their normal functioning can benefit from mediation in family companies.
The changing structures of society often have their reflection in the family structures. Every company has an internal culture, whether it be hierarchical or more democratic and participative. The culture of the company does not always coincide with the family culture, and this causes some clashes between both cultures.
Also, if all or most of the managing positions in company belong to members of the same family, the human relationships in the working place can be gravely affected by psychological issues within the family.
In the mediation of family companies we often observe:
- That family conflicts among siblings, partners, parents etc., are often dragged into the family company, causing many problems and divisions in the management vision or even difficulties which may collapse the whole company.
- In other occasions, conflicts and disagreements within the managing board, are taken into the family’s home. The family relationships get frozen, and the conflict and tension interfere in the emotional life and the relation between sibilings and parents.
- However, in most cases, we see that generational changes in the leadership of the family company, can entail grave communication problems and cross-generational conflicts.
In what can family mediation help us?
- Impasses over the direction, decisions, daily operations and strategic goals of the company
- Power struggles
- Differing management styles
- Communication problems
- Anger, resentment, and blame
- When a member of the family is alcoholic, uses drugs or had an inadequate behaviour
- Negative effect of the vision, the personality or the managing style of the company’s founder.
- Problems with one’s parents in law
- Problems with the ex, or with second spouses
- Unsolved issues from the past, including childhood.
- Difficulties over reaching an agreement over an inheritance
- Difficulties in establishing trusting relationships
- Creating a unified and coherent vision about the future of the company
- Deciding whether to sell the business or not
- Preventing the collapse of the business due to failure to reach an agreement between the members.
In Consulterapia, we first do a systemic analysis of the company, to then be able to help the family company solve the conflicts which have had them blocked for so long, and so reach agreements that are favourable to all parts.