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Distinctions Between Knowing What and Knowing How
Writing about a niche subject like family business and wealth transition challenges on a weekly basis is bound to see me repeat some ideas, especially since I’ve been doing it every week for well over a decade.
Such is the case this week, and I almost ended up revisiting something I addressed in 2021 with way too much overlap, but caught myself in time to readjust this post.
As sometimes happens, witnessing someone share an idea in a new way just in time for me to incorporate it here was quite serendipitous.
So whereas I had initially thought about contrasting only skills and knowledge, adding in the concept of attitude will give my thoughts a fresher edge.
So let’s get going.
Knowledge Isn’t Enough
The main thrust of this piece was to be my highlighting that in order to work with families as a facilitator in the governance space, knowledge, i.e. “what to do”, is not enough.
Because this work is more about process than content, and more about relationships than structures, having the communication skills to guide a discussion is an absolute necessity.
The idea of writing about skills came to me recently when I saw a TV commercial encouraging young people to join the “skills trades”, in order to begin to tackle some of Canada’s economic headwinds like our housing shortage.
We can’t just “know” that we need more housing, we need people with the skills to build it.
And in order to get people to want to get those skills, we need to begin to change their attitudes towards those trades.
The Desire to Obtain Required Skills
Back to the matter at hand, working with families who want to transition their business or wealth to the next generation, knowing what they should do is only the first, small, issue.
Having the skills to engage with them so that they can have the important conversations amongst themselves on how best to do that, given their particular circumstances, is probably even more important.
Too often, very knowledgeable professionals have done a great job of helping these families put together the structures to hold and grow their wealth, with very little thought as to how the actual family members will need to interact with each other to make everything work.
I’m happy to relate that more and more of these experts are beginning to recognize the need to go deeper with these family clients, and are looking to level up their skills to engage with their client families in this way.
The attitude towards such skills is evolving in a good way.
Does Attitude Precede Skills?
Back in 2021 in Skills Vs. Knowledge in Family Enterprises, we looked at the idea that interpersonal skills are an important asset for advisors to work on if they hope to help families.
While many advisors worry about getting too personal with their clients, if you want to remain “sticky” with the families you serve, it becomes key to embrace the attitude that you need to show them that you care.
During a PPI thought leader call recently, David York, whose ideas I’ve shared here a number of times over the years, addressed this point.
He noted that while some advisors shy away from personal topics out of a fear for not wanting to become their client’s therapist, that’s not the best way to look at it.
“You don’t have to be their therapist to ask questions, to show that you care about them, to be their friend”, is how he put it.
Again, this begins with an attitudinal shift.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Like with so many skills, the more you practice, the better you get.
But it all starts with adopting the right attitude towards this work.
You don’t need to get to the point where you feel like someone’s therapist to ask them about their family members.
The knowledge that makes professionals able to serve business owners is what gets them to the table.
But developing the skills to have deeper conversations with their family clients is what makes them indispensable.
Adopting the mindset of being a caring friend is probably the simplest way to think about it and get started.
And then keep practising and it will come more naturally with time.
Skills can be learned and improvement can come rather quickly too.
