Preparing the Next Generation for the Family Business
The kids are back to school, the sun is lower in the sky, the warmth of summer is winding down and the crisp air of autumn will is upon us. For some itâ€™s the holiday season and for others the holidays will soon approach. Itâ€™s time for reflection on what works and what doesnâ€™t. So here are some thoughts to consider.
Top 5 Mistakes in Preparing the Next Generation for the Family Business
Often, with the best of intent, parents err in bringing the next gen into the business without adequate preparation. Eager to please their children (and themselves), based on either need or desire, parents provide the kids with a job in the familyâ€™s enterprise all too soon.
Learn more about the importance of raising the next generation without a sense of entitlement, the need for clarity on roles and responsibilities when the time is right, the importance of periodic performance appraisals, structures for enhanced communication, and an appropriate governance structure.
When the kids are young and conversations get tense, parents often call for a â€œtime-out.â€
This can be an effective parenting technique with youngsters. Likewise, when the kids are adults working in the familyâ€™s enterprise itâ€™s often an effective technique on their part when relationships are overly stressed and communication fails.
Recently, weâ€™ve seen an increase in instances when the next gen family members have had their fill of the familyâ€™s enterprise. In some cases, the younger generation family members are victims of â€œThe Top 5 Mistakesâ€ (see article above). In others, the personalities and styles of parents and their adult children are simply incompatible and despite all attempts to peel back their differences and achieve resolution, itâ€™s time for a much needed break.
A â€œtime-outâ€ isnâ€™t a failure. Itâ€™s an admission that something simply isnâ€™t working and, at the moment, canâ€™t be â€œfixed.â€ A successful time-out gives family members a chance to reflect on goals and objectives for their relationship and for the familyâ€™s enterprise. Sometimes this is or a few days, sometimes for a few months. And, often, after an appropriate period of time, family members come back together stronger than ever.
Leading author and sales management coach, Suzanne Paling, and family business consultant, David Karofsky, are teaming together to facilitate a forum for sales leaders in family enterprises.
While all sales executives have a broad array of shared challenges, sales leaders (both family members and non-family members) working in a family enterprise have their own unique set of challenges. These can range from strategic alignment to leadership, authority, autonomy, accessibility, influence, and more.
This forum is designed exclusively for sales leaders with at least one direct report. In this confidential, non-competitive, professionally facilitated setting, sales leaders will address these challenges with their peers. Learning from the experiences of others, forum members will build trust and enduring relationships to drive superior personal and business results.
If you are a sales leader in a family enterprise, please join us on Thursday, October 22nd from 5-7 pm at Framingham Country Club for a cocktail reception to learn more.
Click here to learn more about The Peer Alliance or simply give David a call at 508-875-7751.
The Family Business Time Continuum