Family Business Consultation & Counseling

Family business can be as good as it gets or the complete opposite. Family business, whether spouse, sibling, multi-generational, or extended family embody unique opportunities and challenges. Role clarity and confusion is probably the most common challenging dynamic; specifically, the difficulty of separating personal and business roles. Personal family roles are generally more fluid than business roles. Some relationship patterns and behavioral norms “in the family” are not acceptable, and in some cases downright harmful at work. “Underlings” in a family business often say or do things to their boss or even to the owner of the company they would never say or do if the boss was not also their sibling or parent or child. Perceived, or real favoritism, often mimicking family dynamics, is another common problem in family businesses.

Untangling the layers of family member interactions and history requires an approach to helping that is grounded in both productive business practices and family dynamics.