My hot tub? Maybe so, but that’s not our topic this week. But where should there always be room?
The topics I talk about here are often related to families in business or, as we say in English, “business families”.
There is an important distinction between these two groups, that is, the “family” and the “business”. Is there always room in the family, in the business, or both?
For me the answer is fairly obvious, but I recognize that for many people, it isn’t always easy to untangle these two groups. For some families, if you’re part of the family, it’s a given that you’ll work in the company.
For others, it’s less certain. Often there isn’t enough room for everyone in the business, which can lead to jealousy, but in other circumstances, there can be feelings of obligation toward the family.
There’s nothing new here, but I want to get readers who face these situations in their families and their businesses thinking.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with the mother of a family that runs a company with hundreds of employees.
For that kind of family, the question of finding a place for her four children in the business is certainly less difficult than it will be for a family that owns a simple corner store.
One of the first steps is to find out whether each family member wants to work in the family business. Note too that the answer could differ depending on the person’s age, as well as their personal circumstances.
You’ll also have to ask whether the business has room to take on this employee. As is often the case, ambiguities can come up here. In what role? At what salary? Are we “creating a job” for them?
Is there a list of prerequisites before even being considered for a job in the family business? Or do prerequisites apply only to those hoping to hold a management role? Or to become a shareholder?
It’s fairly easy to get people to understand that the places in a business can be limited, and so it’s quite possible that some family members won’t be able to become employees of the family company.
But if it’s possible that there isn’t plenty of room in the company, where is there always room?
There’s plenty of room in the family.
This seems obvious to most people. However, what happens all too often is that the order of priorities between the company and the family is completely backwards.
The emphasis is too often on the “what” and the “how much” of growing the business. It’s all well and good to build something that gives us pride, wealth and a comfortable lifestyle.
From what I’ve seen, all too often, the part that gets forgotten is the family.
In the family, we talk less about “what and how much”, and more about “why”, “how”, and “for whom”.
My book, Shift your Family Business, has as its subtitle “Stop working in your family business and start working on your business family instead.”
At a certain point, the “leadership” of the business and of the family has to recognize that the company is an ASSET that belongs to the family, but that their real legacy will pass through the members of their family, no matter what happens with the business over time.
I’d like to underline an important point here. I’m not talking about black-and-white situations. I’m not recommending abandoning one to throw yourself into the other.
But given that it’s often the family that takes the hit, and that working in the business is more “motivating, fun, and easy”, and that it’s more natural and part of our reflexes, we sometimes have to force ourselves to look at the importance of the family and make it a priority.
There has to be plenty of room in the family, for each and every one, no matter what their contribution to the business.
