About

Family issues ALWAYS affect a family enterprise and it is pointless trying to treat a family and their enterprise as entirely separate entities.

What on the face of it appear to be business problems are often the consequence of a failure to address what are in fact family issues and the former cannot be resolved without first understanding and then tackling the latter!

To be honest, the only thing that's keeping you alive is the thought of your cousins taking over the running of your business

Why do family businesses need help?

Over time, with the involvement of succeeding generations, family businesses have a natural tendency to become more complex and more challenging to manage and govern. For example, when a number of siblings are involved at a senior level in a second generation family business, the decision making process that will work for them is likely to be radically different to that used by the previous owner manager. However , in many cases where both generations remain involved in the business, the changes needed to the way in which decisions are made is never even discussed let alone introduced , resulting in ever increasing levels of confusion, misunderstanding and frustration.  Even when the family are aware of the problems, the perceived emotional risks associated with tackling them often outweigh the potential benefits to be gained and so nothing is done.

Where can business families get help?

Although a family’s  lawyer or accountant may be well placed to alert the family  to the issues that need to be addressed, in most cases, and particularly when relationships are under pressure, they are not best placed or equipped to provide the practical help and support that the family need. This is because they will almost certainly

  • Lack the range of skills required for family business consulting
  • Not have any real  depth of understanding of  the pressures on a business brought about by the involvement of family 
  • Be unable to act as an independent advisor to all the family because of potential conflicts of interest (lawyers unable to advise more than one family member) or simply being seen as “Dad’s accountant”.

On the other hand, a family business consultant is not subject to the same rules on conflicts of interest and can therefore work with the whole family.  In addition a family business consultant is unlikely to have had previous involvement with the family or be seeking a long term relationship with the family, so  can offer truly independent and impartial  assistance.

Family Business Consulting

Although perhaps better understood in other parts of the world such as the USA where it has been around for longer, awareness of  Family Business Consulting as a specialist service to families in business has been growing steadily since it was pioneered by FBS in the 1990s.

Assisting families requires skills and experience that can only be acquired through

  • Years of study and the development of a range of practical skills such as Listening, Facilitation, Consensus Reaching, Mediation etc
  • Working with families and taking them through the issues that, although arising from circumstances common to families in general, impact in ways that are unique to each family.

FBS – Brief History

FBS was established in the UK in 1996 by two of the world’s leading practitioners in the field of family business consulting, Ken McCracken and Barbara Murray.  The consulting framework and process that they developed is unique to  FBS and ensures that our services are delivered consistently and cost effectively and in a way that feels “safe” for families.

In a relatively short space of time, FBS has grown rapidly to become the leading specialist family business consultancy in the UK.

FBS is recognised internationally as a leader in the field . Consequently FBS consultants regularly publish articles on family business issues and are much sought after as speakers at conferences and trade association meetings.

What Next?

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Our Client Feedback

  • Family Business Solutions was asked to advise on constituting the family interests in a much-loved landed business. The prospect of greater financial success, and the passing of interest through the generations, required a more formal structure. It was a long, detailed and sometimes tense process -but FBS guided us through it with great skill, patience and discretion. Without that guidance, it would not have happened. And now the family governance is on a completely different level.

    Artordinsh Estate company Ltd and Raven family

  • Our planning for the future had become stuck in lots of technical detail and it felt that we were not making enough progress. The way FBS went about their work guided the family firmly but sensitively through the process of making key decisions; the big picture ones that then make it easier to deal with the detail. Their process for doing this kind of work is markedly different from the way other advisers operate and we can vouch for the advantages of getting both generations involved in the process.

    Morris Hamburger Searchlight Electric Ltd

  • I have known FBS since their inception and have watched them develop and hone their expertise for over a decade. Aside from their outstanding consulting services, they have an amazing depth of knowledge and experience that they share generously with the family business world through training and publishing.

    FBS is a world-class resource.

    Martin Stepek, Chief Executive, Scottish Family Business Association

  • FBS worked with both generations of our family and the board of directors to help us develop a Family Constitution. This now helps guide us in many areas of importance to the family and the business. There’s a lot of work involved in creating a constitution and it was essential for us to have the right information and advice to ensure that ours would last for a long time.

    The work FBS did with the next generation of our family was hugely helpful.

    Jim Walker – Walkers Shortbread Ltd

  • Family Businesses are complex and emotional organisations. It is amazing how many professional advisors try and separate the business from the family and fail to comprehend the many layers of power and control involved. It is refreshing and comforting to know that there is a truly world class expert available in the FBS team who can understand and deal with the complexities of family businesses and also calmly and logically work out solutions . Their knowledge of family business is outstanding and enlightening and their approach is very professional, amiable and ultimately achieves outcomes. They are able to keep the process on track and that is important. I have a great deal to thank the FBS team for and will be back to see them when it is time for the succession planning in the future.

    Jane Wylie-Roberts
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