In addition to poor communication being the top cause for family business failures, without effective communication skills to discuss the most difficult conversations, it’s impossible to address the other causes for failure as well.
What are the reasons so many of these family businesses fail and the families fall apart? Every situation is unique and there are many different factors, often even overlapping factors, that lead to these unfortunate outcomes however they generally fall into 5 main areas.
When you were young you may have heard about, and maybe even studied, the Ten Commandments. You may have heard the stories from the Bible about Moses bringing down the stone tablets from Mount Sinai. As an adult, you may think they’re pretty basic and easy to follow. Maybe you consider them more as suggestions or think they’re not really applicable in today’s world. Nothing could be further from the truth!
The common response to a problem is to blame others or the environment. While other people and the environment likely contributed to the problem, blaming them solely is highly unlikely to lead to a solution. Instead, if you can stop digging you may be able to solve the problem with courageous humility.