‘My family business is going to transition to the next generation but I’m not sure that one of my children is on board with this transition. I think they want to do their own thing.’
Parents typically like to think of their family staying together and being close even when they are no longer around. And where there is a family business, it is natural to extend this closeness to everyone working in the business. Evidence certainly supports that well managed and growing family businesses provide a glue for the family to connect and stay together.
But the reality is not everyone in the family may see their future path as working in the family business. And this does not necessarily mean they are not involved in the family business. There are many ways and levels in which individual family members can support a family business and be involved. For example, non-working family members may well be able to offer valuable experience serving on the Board.
So there is a tension to be managed in family business transition across generations. The family needs to identify family members who are capable and see the business as offering them a future vocation. Family businesses do need capable family members working in them at various levels to sustain the family influence and connection. But the family also needs to be willing to release family members who may seek an alternate path.
The balance of this tension always lies with the current family leadership team. The family business must have a strong family history that is recounted across generations. An inviting and positive history in which family members can feel proud. A growing business that attracts the best talent from within and outside the family. And one which offers a range of career paths for the various talents and capabilities that will emerge across the various generations of the family.
And along the other path, a real opportunity and encouragement for every family member to find where their true strengths, talents and passions lie, and to pursue these to their greatest capacity.
An entrepreneurial family will seed members with a diversity of talents and this mix of talents will seed the future success of the family and its various businesses. Encourage every member to achieve their best and this will underpin the closeness and longevity of the family.
Active Knowledge Question:
- Is every member of your family investing their fullest potential in a vocation perfect for them?
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
