50 Common Causes of Family Business Conflict ... and how to deal with them

Audio No 38: Sibling Rivalry.

• Often caused by family circumstances and parenting styles, exacerbated by distractions of family business.

• Perceived or actual parental favouritism.

• Differences in temperament and personality.

• Jealousy over parental love.

• Parental modelling of conflict styles - normalising / reinforcing aggression and lack of conflict resolution skills
- parents ignore conflict and teasing.

• Viewing the sibling as a competitor rather than a collaborator.

• Protection of weaker family members - bird with broken wing.

• Preferring and advancing one child over the other in business.

Solution

• Psychometric testing - science of personality differences.

• Establish objective and commercial objectivity in the business - performance, merit and contribution, rather than bloodline.

• Separate business support (performance-based) from family support (personal needs based).

• Have family members supervised and mentored by non-family staff / directors etc.

I'm interested in your comments below.

#succession #business #conflict