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The question most often on the mind of our Family Owned Business clients is: “Given the unique complexity of my situation…the subtle politics involved…can these folks help me?”
We don’t know. We need to know more about your situation. You can be sure though, that we most often are extremely helpful to our clients. Any firm that tells you that organizational improvement…in any kind of business, not just family firms…is a guaranteed thing, is blowing smoke.
For organizational improvement to occur, there must be commitment. There must be a willingness to try something new. There must be a willingness to be honest and complete with your coaches about what is going on. Occasionally we meet a family firm that wants to grow, but is unwilling to change. In that case we can’t help.
But…
Organizational culture change only needs a small foothold to move forward. You’re here because you’ve carved one out of the mountainside. Part of our skill is to partner with you to widen this foothold of “desire for improvement” such that a critical mass of the organization can climb with you to the next level, creating momentum that brings the rest of the organization along.
Operations Are Too Complex For The Old Model
Rapid social, technological and economic changes are forcing all businesses to review their operations. This can present particular challenges for family business owners and managers. Family businesses can be resistant to change due to traditional and emotional issues. The managers must balance family issues along with management and owners issues which can all impede change. Using a tried and true innovation process (the same one that solved the need for a better government structure in South Africa) we’ll guide you through a process to craft elegant win/win solutions to carry you forward.
Quote: I am Because We are. (South African Proverb)
Communications Issues Are Holding Us Back
The complaints: My opinion is not respected. They hired me to lead but undermine my powerbase. The family ignores advice. We can never agree. Decisions are made when I’m not around. We’re held hostage by the need to employ an incompetent family member.
Do family and non-family owners and managers have equal opportunity to express their views? Do they feel that their different agendas are understood and followed? The answers to these questions may reveal some communication issues within your business. Fostering a positive and harmonious environment is critical for long term success and growth. It can be difficult in any company, but the personal issues in a family business increase the challenge. We’ll help you find and sustain patterns of creative, constructive conversation that make what might have been a conflict turn into a fun, exciting opportunity to grow the firm.
Employment of Family Members Is Creating Challenges
A family business is less likely to be successful if it employs family members exclusively. Hiring external employees at all levels can be a valuable source of new ideas and expertise. Employing family or non-family personnel present several challenges including compensation, promotion and hiring policies and procedures. You may alienate family or non-family personnel who feel that they have been passed over unfairly. None of this need be the case. We’ll guide you through a process for healthy integration of family and non-family folks into the business.
Transferring the Business to the Next Generation Is Difficult
Sadly, many family businesses do not succeed after being transferred to the next generation simply because there is no adequate planning for succession. Two-thirds of family businesses do not survive into the second generation. Only 12% will survive into the third generation. Considering how your business will continue when you end your involvement means making some hard decisions. Is your son or daughter the best person to take over the family business and lead it into the future? They might be the best candidate, but do they really want the role? Should you bring someone new in, or sell the business? What will you do after you retire? Our craft is to help you understand the questions to be asked and be confident of the answers to them. From there, we work with you to build an optimal structure to meet everyone’s needs.
The Business Needs New Blood
Your business must grow or die. Businesses that are successful in their category invite competition by the very nature of their success. Stubbornness and maintaining of the status quo are a problem all organizations struggle with but which are even stickier issues in family held firms. The fight usually centers on an assertion that “new blood” is needed in some form. Before any solution is implemented, there needs to be a buy in to the problem the solution is intended to fix. “New Blood” is a solution. Let’s take an innovative look at the problem, and then solve it. We specialize in bringing an innovation culture to organizations. And while in innovative cultures new blood is less needed, it is welcomed when it arrives.
There Is A Problem Family Member
Family business leaders often have a belief that it’s easy to deal with problem employees in non-family types of business. It’s not. There are unique positives and negatives in family business that can be leveraged, and if understood, can be dealt with. There must however be a will to move forward. This is another place where our innovative problem solving approach, coupled often times with the skills of our partners from the family therapy world, can make a huge difference in the quality of outcome. If your will is strong, there is a way. And often it’s a win/win solution that no one has conceived so far.
We Need New Products or Services
Most founders of a family business were in the right place at the right time with a product or service which brought success to the family business. However, all products and services have a limited life cycle and without innovation and changes, profits will decline. What worked in the last generation may not succeed in the next. Our innovation and creativity training can help your organization bridge the gap between the old and the new, from declining profits and revenues to soaring profits and revenues.
Is It Time To Sell?
This is always a difficult decision to make especially for the founding generation or a successor generation, which feels obligated to keep the family business going. We can help you analyze the pros and cons, the tax implications, financing, cash flow projections and family wealth management implications of a sell or not to sell decision. We have experts in business valuations, to help determine what it is worth, mergers and acquisitions if expansion is necessary, sales, legal and tax issues to help you answer that difficult question.
We Never Stop Working – We need a Balance in our Lives
The family, business pressures, interpersonal interactions and stress often challenge the quality of life of most family business owners. It is very easy to be absorbed by the needs of the family and/or the business and often difficult to achieve a proper balance. We can help families identify their core values and goals. From these they can make their personal, financial and time management decisions to match these values and reach these goals.
We’re Ready To Expand
Many family businesses are built on the kitchen table, with no real business plan. Significant expansion needs another level of planning intensity. We’ll guide you through it in a way that seeks to uncover previously missed opportunities while at the same time assessing and minimizing risk.
Call us at 1-800-254-5567 for a no-charge, no-obligation conference where we can discuss your business and family planning needs. We will help you determine where you can profit from our assistance. |
