Tag Archives: communication

02/16/20

This Is What I Want

While teaching my class on Family Business Management at Baruch College in New York City, I’ve had the opportunity to draw a parallel to the well-known axiom related to real estate—location, location, location. When applied to family businesses, it’s communication, communication, communication.

Critical for any business as well as any relationship, in family businesses the mandate for communication is needed to address the challenges of business operations, ownership, family dynamics, family-business goals and shared values.

Lines of communication are often thought of with regard to these collective concerns. But there’s an aspect of communication in a family business that’s not commonly addressed, and yet, if neglected, can precipitate internal discord and even cause the business to ultimately fail.

In a recent interview with Tharawat Magazine, consultant and author Chris Yonker touches upon the necessity for individual family members to feel free to communicate, and pursue, their own interests and individual values:

“Yonker’s outlook pushes for the assignment of roles within the organisation or otherwise based on interest rather than obligation or expectation; to Chris, success is the alignment of purpose and place.”[1]

Pressure upon next-generation family members to join the business can be obvious, or subtle. They can be driven by a sense of duty; a feeling of indebtedness to the family history; parental expectations. Often they feel deeply inhibited with regard to saying what role they are genuinely interested in; what kind of future they want for themselves. According to Yonkers: “Those in line to take over must have the opportunity to speak up if their interests lie elsewhere and, in doing so, bring clarity to the question: who is most fit to lead?”[2]

The wrong person in the wrong job can create many kinds of problems, particularly when they are placed in a leadership position. They may be ineffective, causing confusion, conflicts on the job and among family members, and even loss of valuable employees and necessary talent.

It does no good and potentially great harm for the business or the family to force a young “heir apparent” into a role they are not interested in, or unfit to fill. Given the complexity of the issue and of family dynamics in general, uncovering these types of concerns may necessitate calling in a skilled family-business consultant.

[1] McCabe, M. (2019, October 15) The Path to a Harmonious Business. Tharawat Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.tharawat-magazine.com/sustain/yonker-harmony-family-business/#gs.cbp8bi

[2] Ibid.

09/22/18

Toward An Entrepreneurial Mindset—Seven Skills

Family businesses are described as having three complex, interrelated subsystems. The family comprises one subsystem; the ownership and the business itself comprise the other two. Over the past couple of decades particular attention has been given, and necessarily so, to understanding and addressing the needs of the family subsystem. But a shift of focus is now required. Marketplace and consumer expectations are changing overnight. Consequently the way we do business has changed. For family businesses to remain successful, greater attention must now be focused upon the business subsystem, and of particular value today is the cultivation of an entrepreneurial mindset.

A mindset consists of our attitudes about something. Today, the entrepreneurial mindset is considered more important than experience, knowledge and family history for the success of a business venture.

Seven critical skills contribute to an entrepreneurial mindset:

1. Plasticity: The ability and willingness to change actions and plans to overcome present and future challenges.

2. Communication and Collaboration: The ability to clearly express ideas to an intended audience, including persuading others to work towards a common goal.

3. Creativity and Innovation: The ability to think of ideas and create solutions to problems in the absence of clearly defined structures.

4.Innovation and Problem Solving: The capacity to apply higher-level, process-oriented thinking, consider an issue from a range of perspectives and use that reasoning to make decisions.

5. Future Orientation: An optimistic disposition with a concentration on obtaining the skills and knowledge required to transition into a career.

6. Opportunity Recognition: Seeing and experiencing problems as opportunities to create solutions.

7. Comfort with Risk: The capacity to act upon a decision despite uncertainty and challenges.

The mindset of a given business leader toward applying these skills reflects one of two fixed perspectives: a fear perspective defined by thinking, “when I fail I am no good,” or a growth perspective, defined by “when I fail I learn.”

08/3/17

Relationships In The Red

Family businesses fail more often due to relationship challenges than for strictly business reasons.

For some of my blogs and newsletters over the past month or so, I have been mining the wisdom found in Maps for Men, A Guide for Fathers and Sons and Family Businesses by Pyles and Pyles. In it this father and son team has shared an incredibly meaningful understanding of and guide for families in business.

Here is one of their observations about relationships that I find important when thinking about these challenges:

“Relationships are the emotional bank in a family business. Communication is the main currency of the bank, where deposits and withdrawals are constantly being made. Like any bank, when the withdrawals outnumber the deposits, the relationship is in the red. High stakes situations require trust and leadership skills in order to turn anger and hurtful situations into meaningful and constructive dialogue and decisions. Those leaders who have the most influence create a parallel process of solid relationships and effective results.”[1]

As social beings we are dependent upon good relationships and open communication. Failure to cultivate these within both the family system and the business system is a major threat to multi-generational success.

[1] Pyles and Pyles, Maps for Men. A Guide for Fathers and Sons and Family Businesses (WestBow Press, 2016), 162

 

05/26/17

Facebook Leadership—Triad For Success

“In a relationship as critical as the one at the top, how do you create open lines of communication, respect differences and grow the business together?[1]“

In his article Sheryl Sandberg Shares the Key to Creating Chemistry at the Top, Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff asks this question. He is probing into the secret of the successful collaboration between Facebook’s “oddest couple” leadership team—Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg. The answers he elicited hit the nail on the head for me when considering what’s needed for growing a successful family enterprise: “carve out time to communicate; prioritize the relationship; find a partner who shares your values.”

The ultimate management challenge for a family business is to open communications.

Without functioning lines of communication a palpable underground of misunderstandings, resentments, personality conflicts, will ripple through the family and the business impacting their workings and the bottom line.

Family meetings and staff meetings held on a regular basis provide groundwork for clearing problems before they build up. Between senior executives, the importance of maintaining constant communication cannot be stressed enough. Lack of strong partnership at the top can seriously hinder an organization’s ability to live its values and fulfill its mission.

Prioritizing relationships is another challenge for family businesses.

 This key point is easily overlooked because of the familiarity born into the family. When everyone grew up with everyone else it’s hard to see beyond personalities and personal histories. But for good or for ill, quality of relationships impacts the prosperity of both business and family.

Shared values lie at the very foundation of family enterprises.

The nature of the business and its mission may change with a changing external marketplace; values are the bedrock that underlies longevity. Again from Spencer Rascoff: “If you don’t have a shared language of values in an organization, it won’t work.”

The success of Facebook cannot be denied. Implementing its executives’ triad of ingredients for success—communication, relationship and values—can help family businesses achieve their own success, now and into the future.

[1] All quotes in this article from: Sheryl Sandberg Shares the Key to Creating Chemistry at the Top, accessible online at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/facebooks-sheryl-sandberg-shares-key-creating-top-spencer-rascoff