Learning to Work Together As Equals

 

When I began working with other families several years ago, my initial idea was that there would be a lot of intergenerational work, where I would be called on to play a role between the generations of a family.  While that was and still is the case sometimes, there seems to be a lot more "horizontal" work coming up for me lately, where family members from the same generation are working together in a business, and they too have challenges.

 

It is not always easy to learn how to work together, especially when you are "equals" in terms of ownership and you are part of the same generation of the family, yet you each have different roles in the operations.

 

Through a combination of coaching and facilitation, there's a need to learn the "ways of being" together that can function with the "ways of doing" that are required to keep the business profitable. Just don't expect all the pieces to fall together overnight. Putting together your Modus Vivendi with your Modus Operandi takes work, but it can be done.