Family Business Conflicts: Avoiding Confrontation Risks Long-Term Damage
Mazor, a partner at Lansberg Gersick Advisors, a global consulting firm specializing in multi-generational family businesses, highlights the dangers of avoiding conflict in family enterprises. She explains that while family gatherings may appear harmonious, underlying tensions related to the family business often remain unspoken to preserve peace, creating a ticking time bomb.
Conflicts in family businesses frequently go unaddressed due to fear of damaging relationships, leading many families to choose superficial peace over honest dialogue. However, this silence intensifies resentment and mistrust, eventually resulting in severe disputes such as inheritance battles or irreparable rifts. Mazor draws on Buddhist psychology to describe "the close enemy," where seemingly positive emotions like love or compassion can mask controlling or avoidant behaviors that suffocate genuine communication.
She references Professor Friedrich Glasl's conflict escalation model, which outlines nine stages from constructive tension to destructive lose-lose scenarios. Avoidance accelerates this escalation by pushing conflicts underground, making resolution harder and more painful, especially in family businesses where emotional stakes are high.
To break this cycle, Mazor advises building a foundation of open communication and shared family values, establishing formal family governance structures, and creating regular forums for discussing the business and expectations. Setting clear interpersonal interaction rules and nurturing daily positive relationships serve as emotional reserves to draw upon during crises.
She emphasizes the need for courageous conversations about difficult topics, leadership that balances compassion with boundaries, and seeking external professional guidance when necessary to protect family relationships and human capital. Mazor concludes that successful family businesses are not those without conflict but those that learn to manage it constructively to foster resilience and continuity.
