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The good news is that you can put things in place to ensure that your family-owned business survives in the long term. What follows is a discussion of those things.
Treat it as a Business
A lot of family businesses—especially smaller ones –take an informal, laid-back approach to things because the people running them think it’s more of a familial affair than it is a business. This is a mistake that could prevent you from forming and preserving proper organizational structure, hold you back from managing operations efficiently, and ultimately lead to stunted growth. You need to work on your business as any serious entrepreneur would deal with their venture, your relationships notwithstanding.Keep Work and Family Issues Separate
Work and family issues mustn’t seep into each other. Disagreements and conflicts not related to work could hamper needed collaboration on the job if proper boundaries aren’t set and adhered to. Business decisions driven by sentiment and favouritism (instead of considerations around efficiency and merit) are capable of hindering growth and true progress. To avoid these outcomes, you have to keep work and family matters separate.Clearly Define Roles
Due to the strong connections that exist between families, there’s a high chance that sentiment and feelings of entitlement will cause family members in a business to overstep their marks and interfere with roles that aren’t theirs. This sort of thing can spark conflict within your organization. Spelling out each person’s job description from the get-go will make it less likely that they stray from it.Sign up for the Connect Nigeria daily newsletter
Emphasize Skills Over Familial Relations
Your family business has a fair chance of persisting if it’s staffed by competent people. When hiring new employees from your family or considering promoting them, the first thing you should weigh is their qualifications. For your business’s longevity, only recruit relatives who are skilled enough for the positions you intend to fill. Hiring based on sympathy is a recipe for underperformance and failure.Establish Communication Lines and Forums
It’s perfectly normal that stakeholders in a business have differing opinions on various things. What isn’t healthy is letting those differences grow into disputes that threaten the smooth running of the business. Regular communication allows for disagreements to be aired and addressed amicably and effectively. Periodic (say, weekly) meetings and clear systems for transmitting concerns and suggestions are must-haves for any family-owned venture that’s serious about keeping members of its team on the same page.Have a Formal Succession Plan
A succession plan lays out the process of handing over the leadership of a business from one generation to the next. Ideally, it will cover matters such as candidates for positions, timing of the transition, and associated financial considerations. This plan gives your organization a clear path to the future. Without it, your business could descend into leadership squabbles. And those conflicts might spell doom for your enterprise.Register to attend the CN Business Mixer
Final Words
Well-run family businesses have a lot going for them. Staff driven by a mutual connection to one cause—the prosperity of their family –can move mountains so their dream is achieved. However, for all their advantages, family businesses are prone to specific pitfalls, which could lead to their demise. You can follow the steps discussed in this article to ensure that your family-owned venture thrives well past your time running it.Did you find this article useful? Contact us: editor@connectnigeria.com
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