Going into business with your family involves much more than just creating a business and much more than just maintaining a family. This type of endeavor requires a skilled balancing act between a separation of family and business. You must nurture the ability to leave business at work and always work on keeping your family strong. Many family business owners refer to this as the family plan, or the effort the members of a successful family business put into maintaining the family unit and the business as separate but equal entities. Many times, families will crumble even as the business thrives, which is just as unhealthy as allowing the business to fold because of family dynamics.
The Family Meeting
Too often, family business owners put far too much emphasis on the business, believing they are working to provide for their family now and in the future. However, this allows for a breakdown in communication, which can result in divorce and estrangement, even when the business thrives. The breakdown in communication can multiply exponentially and create unfathomable issues that lead to resentment and pure hatred at times. This is why prioritizing the family meeting is essential for family owned businesses. Many families have family meetings and almost all business have staff meetings. The concept of like-minded people meeting together to work towards common goals is an age-old concept that can be easily brought into the world of family business.
Build Your Family’s Emotional Equity
Life happens. Business happens. Often, decisions in life and business are made that are not popular, but are best for the people involved on most levels. When this occurs in business, you can typically go home and separate yourself from your business. You have a chance to digest and think about the effects of those decisions. As a result, your business can grow, and you can maintain a level of contentment both in and out of work.
However, when you are involved in a family business, you cannot often step away and separate yourself from work. Without a family plan, you lose your family’s emotional equity as a result of not having the ability to compartmentalize your work and home life successfully. As a result, the business may build equity and thrive, but the family will fall apart. This defeats the point of maintaining a family business. The idea of a family business is to strengthen your family both emotionally and financially. Otherwise, it is best just to have a business and keep your family separate. However, if you are willing to work on your family as well as your business, properly managing a family business can help your family appreciate each other and maintain wealth as well.
The key is understanding that family and family business must be in sync with one another to be successful. Resentment, loss of family ties, and a general breakdown of communication will hurt the family, of course. But it can also harm the business as well, complicating the succession plan and inner workings of the business. For help developing your family plan and building your family’s emotional equity at the same time as your business equity, contact the family business experts at Hubler for Business Families at (612) 375-0640.
However, when you are involved in a family business, you cannot often step away and separate yourself from work. Without a family plan, you lose your family’s emotional equity as a result of not having the ability to compartmentalize your work and home life successfully. As a result, the business may build equity and thrive, but the family will fall apart. This defeats the point of maintaining a family business. The idea of a family business is to strengthen your family both emotionally and financially. Otherwise, it is best just to have a business and keep your family separate. However, if you are willing to work on your family as well as your business, properly managing a family business can help your family appreciate each other and maintain wealth as well.
The key is understanding that family and family business must be in sync with one another to be successful. Resentment, loss of family ties, and a general breakdown of communication will hurt the family, of course. But it can also harm the business as well, complicating the succession plan and inner workings of the business. For help developing your family plan and building your family’s emotional equity at the same time as your business equity, contact the family business experts at Hubler for Business Families at (612) 375-0640.
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