Crafting a vision for your family business is exciting and enticing. It draws all the people participating in a business together and provides a shared common goal to move forward. In a family business, it must also engage the family.
Active Knowledge Questions:
Do you have a vision for your business? Is the vision known by your family and by all those working within and with your business?
Visions are the glue that bind and the energy that propel your business forward. You should see your vision as the ‘quest’ for your business. It is your call for others to join you on this quest.
Purpose and vision go hand in hand but fulfil different roles:
- While purpose will tell you why you are here, vision will tell you where you must go.
- Purpose gives you a reason for being; vision gives a reason for moving.
- Purpose connects you with customer need; vision connects with the future of that customer need.
- Purpose is your anchor or cornerstone; vision is your beacon or lighthouse.
One without the other weakens your business.
‘A business’s outlook to the future, its vision must be attractive and enticing and, more importantly, it must be something all of its members can be proud of.’ – John Forsyth, founder of Dymocks Bookstores.
In a family business, you must ensure that the vision for your business also engages and connects with your family. The life of the business and the family are so intertwined that the business is, in many cases, an expression of the family. This is critical if your business is to endure and win the support of the family.
The family business should not simply be seen as a way to earn a living for the family or to get wealthy. It can and should be where the family is engaged by, and enjoy, the work they do and are part of a business that contributes to the community. Your family business is an employer of a community and meets its needs.
There is a richness that your family can derive from its work within a community. Through this, humility and gratitude can be seeded as core traits in members of your family. These are the core traits that allow individuals to be successful in their own lives.
A compelling vision for each business and for the businesses within your family. As a family business leader, this is a key goal.
Here’s a final quote to reflect on by Gerry Harvey, founder of Harvey Norman: ‘Businesses will always come and go.’
Next week’s leadership theme: ‘Culture is the glue of your business.’
An entirely new level of performance.
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
