All in the family?

Issue

Members of a family worked together in a business, but were unable to come to agreement on how best to achieve their goals. Each member of the team had their own agenda so their discussions were frequently emotional and personal. 

Solution

Our team hosted a structured facilitated meeting with ground rules and a process that removed the emotion from the discussion. Using consensus-building techiques, all participants were able to voice their opinion and identify the issues. Once the issues and opportunities were spelled out in a non-threatening way, the family members were better able to set specific goals and begin taking action to help move the business forward. They started approaching the business like a team rather than adversaries. 

Result

Once they started working together on shared goals, their business results began to slowly improve. Over time, they were able to improve their position from losses to a healthy bottom line. Thanks to their new perspective, family relationships improved and business disagreements were less frequent. 

Lesson

Sometimes an outside facilitator can help calm the emotions related to difficult business decisions.