We have a decision to make in the extended family, and we (most of us) are way too “nice” to bring up issues and handle them.
Please recommend a quick course in how to get the inhibited people to bring up their concerns, and the controlling types to hear the concerns, and both to deal with them sensibly.
Surely this kind of process has been studied, and is provided somewhere.
Signed, Ever Optimistic
Bunch of stuff, all of it very general.
http://sfhelp.org/02/evc-tips.htm
http://www.pbs.org/campus/001_Course/001-04.html?referSectID=001&courseID=40
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/family/nf383.htm
Excellent sources for the family-relationship part of it! I also seek sources that emphasize business more.
What it is, we have a property that is not being well managed now, and two cousins have each put in to manage it.
Both candidates have their drawbacks. I want to be businesslike and at least get the job defined (which it is not, at this point; but the candidates think they are clear enough already). I’m open to improvement in the way things are going.
I think I want to talk to each couple separately, to the current manager, and also each couple in conjunction with the current manager (also a cousin), who is be “helped” and who did not ask for this. Those talks are going to be a little tricky, as my social skills are modest. The quarterly family meeting is coming up in a couple of Saturdays.
Communications amongst everyone concerned is essential. My goals are to have everyone happy with each other, and to have certain deficiencies in the property fixed.