Approximately 60 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product is generated by family business. In Canada and the United States, 70 percent of all new jobs are created by family businesses. These statistics show how valuable the family business is to our country’s economic health and how crucial it is to ensure its’ survival.

Family Business Mediation addresses the interplay between family life and business life.  Some would say they are incompatible, but the family business mediator recognizes and works with the complexities in maintaining the two vital and necessary “systems” in order for the business and the relationships within it to not only survive, but thrive.

Family Business Mediation helps the family business to:

• Address areas of conflict that are  impeding the smooth operations of the business;
• Open up important discussions in a neutral, safe and confidential way;
• Have a professionally-trained mediator “chair” the meeting(s) and help foster an exchange of views, concerns and needs;
• Provide an opportunity to all parties to “have their say” and contribute to the overall understanding of the dispute at hand;
• Deal with unresolved issues that are impacting the growth of the business and/or the family;
• Help people reconcile their differences;
• Improve communication and develop strategies for decision-making; and
• Arrive at consensus and a plan of action.

Family Business Mediation is also a perfect forum for the Planning Process. In an ideal world, the best planning happens when the Founding Generation can pass on their invaluable business experience and contribute to:

• Communication about Strategies for Succession (e.g. timing, roles for key family members and key employees, communicating the plan, contingency plans in case of emergencies)
• The Review and Updating of the Family Estate Plan
• Developing a Transition Management Plan
• Preparing the next generation for Leadership in the business
• Preparing themselves for the formal transfer of the business and for their future

In conducting family business mediation, marathon mediators work alongside other professionals –often the lawyers and accountants – who are also providing their expertise to help the family plan, preserve and pass on a successful and sound business enterprise.