Metaphors and analogies can be very powerful ways to explain concepts to people and to make certain points that are difficult to get across in other ways. I have a tendency to try to come up with a parallel story whenever I am trying to wrap my head around something new, if only to help me understand how things are connected together.

So this week’s blog is nothing new for me, but it may seem like a stretch to some. I came up with this one during a recent meeting with my business coach, Melissa, when she asked me how I felt now that my book is finally out.

Like any good coach, she asks great questions and listens without judgment to what I say, and when I get on a roll, she stays out of the way and lets me run with it.

I told her I felt like I just brought home a new puppy. What I meant was that I was thrilled that the day finally arrived, and this new addition was going to make my life so much more fun and interesting. But it also meant that everything was now different, and the work was only beginning.

About this time last year, I decided that I wanted to get a puppy in time for my 50th birthday, which is now only a week away. I spent the next couple of months trying to figure out what breed made sense for me. The parallel story is that I decided to write a book, and I knew it was going to be about family business, but I had not figured out the theme or the point of view yet.

A few months later, I had settled on the breed, and figured out the title, SHIFT your Family Business (Stop working IN your family business, Start working ON your business family). So at this point I had chosen both the breed and the breeder.

In January, I headed for the cottage for a little over a week, and returned with the outline, the first two chapters written, and all of the content for the rest of the book on a couple of hundred index cards. The doggy momma (tempted to use the B-word) was now pregnant, and I had a due date.

The pregnancy went well but felt long at times. There were some review steps with the publisher that I really did not understand, and I finally okayed the final print version about 6 weeks ago. The puppy was born, but I needed to wait until it was weaned from its mother before I could bring it home.

Two weeks ago, while on vacation in Europe, I got an email that told me that the puppy/book was now available. I immediately ordered the Kindle version, just to make sure that it actually worked and looked like I thought it should. (It did).

I then ordered a few copies, just to make sure that they would be delivered and that the book actually existed. They arrived a couple of days after we got back. Wow, cool, I got to hold my book in my own hands, what a feeling.

People congratulated me on the accomplishment, which was also cool.

But now the work truly begins. This puppy needs to be trained, it needs to get into the big dog shows, it needs to make a lot of new friends, it needs to have people like it and say nice things about it and it needs a lot of people to tell other people about it.

The fun and the work are just beginning. I just hope it doesn’t pee on the carpet too often.

Steve Legler “gets” business families.
 
He understands the issues that families face, as well as how each family member sees things from their own viewpoint.
 
He specializes in helping business families navigate the difficult areas where the family and the business overlap, by listening to each person’s concerns and ideas.  He then helps the family work together to bridge gaps by building common goals, based on their shared values and vision.
 
His background in family business, his experience running his own family office, along with his education and training in coaching, facilitation, and mediation, make him uniquely suited to the role of advising business families and families of wealth.
 
He is the author of Shift your Family Business (2014), he received his MBA from the Richard  Ivey School of Business (UWO, 1991), is a CFA Charterholder (CFA Institute, 2002), a Family Enterprise Advisor (IFEA 2014), and has received the ACFBA and CFWA accreditations (Family Firm Institute 2014-2015).
 
He prides himself on his ability to help families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want. To learn how, start by signing up for his monthly newsletter and weekly blogs here.

We left off last week’s blog talking about some of the family members who are not employed in the family business, but whose lives are nonetheless affected by the business, as part of the general theme about how the family governs a family business.

Today we will use the airplane analogy to talk about how they can influence the business, as well as the responsibilities that come along with the benefits. We mentioned a few of the different generic players who might be involved:

– Alan/Alice (G2 child who is not employed),
– Betty/Ben (G2 in-law), and
– Chris (G3 potential future employee).

The day-to-day business is run by the employees, and the employees are usually managed by the senior executive(s) of the company. If there is a board of directors, the board appoints these executives.

Somewhere in that framework, there will be some sort of strategic plan that guides the company from month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, and year-to-year. So what about the family? Let’s go to the airplane analogy.

The company is the airplane. It would seem crazy to simply allow Alan/Alice to decide that they wanted to fly the plane one day, by simple virtue of the fact that they are the child of the founder.

Similarly, if Betty/Ben were to insist that their family wanted to use the plane for a month for a long-dreamed-about trip around the world, this idea would be rejected.

And if Chris is thinking “It sure would be cool if I could borrow Grandpa’s plane to bring my buddies to Cancun for spring break”, this is probably not something that should be seriously considered.

But airplanes can be used in many different businesses. FedEx uses them to deliver packages, Doctors Without Borders uses them to fly to underserved countries to provide much needed medical services, and organized crime uses planes to move illegal drugs around from country to country.

What business is the family in? What business does the family want to be in? What business is the family good at? What business can the family be proud to be in? All of these questions are family questions.

When Grandpa started the company, these were not questions that were pondered. If, however, the family business is going to last more than a generation or two, these questions become crucial.

In order for the family to be involved in the answers to these questions, there needs to be some form of governance structure. How are decisions made? Who gets to have a say? How do we communicate? These are all really important questions that are part of transitioning from Grandpa’s start-up to the legacy, multi-generation company.

This is hard work, and when you think about it, not every company will have what it takes, and not every family will have what it takes, to make it happen.

While Alan/Alice, Betty/Ben, and Chris will rightly feel like part of the family and therefore part of the business, the benefits of ownership, if they are to enjoy them, come along with responsibilities as well.

The most common form of governance for the family is a sort of “Family Council”, which will represent the family’s interests regarding such questions as “what do we want to use our airplane for?” After all, it might have their name on it.

But for their say to be taken seriously, they must work together, in a formal way, to have their voice heard. And while initially Grandpa may have a hard time accepting that others want a say, the family’s best hope of being taken seriously is to work together, within a structure, as the family’s voice.

Steve Legler “gets” business families.
 
He understands the issues that families face, as well as how each family member sees things from their own viewpoint.
 
He specializes in helping business families navigate the difficult areas where the family and the business overlap, by listening to each person’s concerns and ideas.  He then helps the family work together to bridge gaps by building common goals, based on their shared values and vision.
 
His background in family business, his experience running his own family office, along with his education and training in coaching, facilitation, and mediation, make him uniquely suited to the role of advising business families and families of wealth.
 
He is the author of Shift your Family Business (2014), he received his MBA from the Richard  Ivey School of Business (UWO, 1991), is a CFA Charterholder (CFA Institute, 2002), a Family Enterprise Advisor (IFEA 2014), and has received the ACFBA and CFWA accreditations (Family Firm Institute 2014-2015).
 
He prides himself on his ability to help families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want. To learn how, start by signing up for his monthly newsletter and weekly blogs here.

One of the most challenging aspects in dealing with business families, is getting everyone in the family to understand their role with respect to the family business. Some of the most successful families are the ones who have taken the time to properly explain the areas of overlap between the business and the family.

Members of the family who are employed by the company have most of their roles defined for them, as do all other employees. There are other roles that go beyond those of non-family employees as well, and these are some of the tricky areas.

In addition, there are usually many other members of the family who are not employees, but whose lives are very much interwined with the success of the business. These people often feel like outsiders, and sometimes feel torn by their feelings toward the business, due to certain ambiguities inherent in their situation.

Let me put a couple of generic examples in play here to help illustrate these points. Let’s take a second-generation company where the founder has a number of children, some of whom are employed in the business, and others who are not. Also, some of these G2 members are married and are starting families of their own.

(I will use the more typical male founder in my example, but this typical family is gender-neutral for our purposes).

Founder/Dad/Grandpa did not have to worry about these questions when he started out, and probably does not relish dealing with any questions that “dilute” his total control over the governing of his “baby” by anyone other than himself. With time, he will often come to realize that he must relinquish control of some aspects of the business, often to his children and other trusted employees. This, in and of itself, is already a huge step that many are unable to easily accomplish.

Now let us take it a step further, to where I really want to go with this example. If the family business is to REALLY succeed into future generations, the circle of people who are affected by it will continue to grow outward. Let us think just about 3 generic members of this family for illustrative reasons.

– Alan/Alice (G2 child who is not employed),
– Betty/Ben (G2 in-law), and
– Chris (G3 potential future employee).

All of these people’s lives are very much affected by the business. In the community, these people are viewed as part of the family and are considered by most outsiders are “part of the family” in every way. They are seen to be owners of the wealth of the business (even if they are not, or are only tangentially so).

Their public behavior in the community can also affect the reputation of the family and therefore the business as well, and not always in a positive fashion.

Their expectations of how they can, will, and should benefit from the business, now and in the future, are certainly something that they spend some time wondering about, and for good reason.

It can be very difficult to get founder Dad/Grandpa to ever even think about these issues without stirring up some negative feelings about these questions, feelings about how these people should just be grateful for what they will eventually get.

But the sooner these questions are addressed, the better. Next week, we will look at the analogy of the airplane as the family business. We will look at how the family gets to be involved in what the airplane will be used for, and also in who gets to actually fly the airplane, and under what circumstances.

We will also look at some of the benefits of ownership, which also come along with their own responsibilities.

Steve Legler “gets” business families.
 
He understands the issues that families face, as well as how each family member sees things from their own viewpoint.
 
He specializes in helping business families navigate the difficult areas where the family and the business overlap, by listening to each person’s concerns and ideas.  He then helps the family work together to bridge gaps by building common goals, based on their shared values and vision.
 
His background in family business, his experience running his own family office, along with his education and training in coaching, facilitation, and mediation, make him uniquely suited to the role of advising business families and families of wealth.
 
He is the author of Shift your Family Business (2014), he received his MBA from the Richard  Ivey School of Business (UWO, 1991), is a CFA Charterholder (CFA Institute, 2002), a Family Enterprise Advisor (IFEA 2014), and has received the ACFBA and CFWA accreditations (Family Firm Institute 2014-2015).
 
He prides himself on his ability to help families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want. To learn how, start by signing up for his monthly newsletter and weekly blogs here.

When I am asked in social situations what I do for a living, I reply with “I am a family business advisor”. The most common response to this is a quizzical look, as if to say “Is that a thing?”

And I must confess that for me, a few short years ago, it was not a “thing” in any sense of the word. As I get more involved with organisations of like-minded people, however, I am more convinced than ever in both the need for advisors like us, and the demand that we are creating for our services.

A recent story in the Globe & Mail, Ten reasons why family businesses fail, brought the subject back to the front burner for me. The story mentions, as reason #2, “Lack of trusted advisers.” It goes on to laud IFEA, the Institute of Family Enterprise Advisors, which I naturally endorse as well, being both a member and a graduate of their education program.

I would beg to differ a bit on the wording “Lack of Trusted Advisers”, however. I believe that in most cases, the family business leaders have many advisors in whom they place their trust. So there is no lack of advisors, in my opinion.

Does that mean that there is a lack of trust, then? Yes and No. I trust my mother with many things, but I would not ask her for legal advice. I also trust my lawyer, but I would not ask him for his advice on how to make those potato pancakes that I remember from my childhood. The point being, you trust different people for different things.

So what about the trusted family business advisors, then? This brings us back once again to IFEA, and also FFI (The Family Firm Institute), as two of the leading associations that bring together family business and family wealth advisors.

Both IFEA and FFI offer education and certification programs to people who advise family businesses. They also offer these people a community to share what they have learned, as well as a network of scholars who have been advancing the young field of family business advising at an ever-increasing pace.

What I was referring to above when disputing the choice of words in “lack of trusted advisers” was more about the semantics of “not trusting their advisers on the most important matters”. I always like to point out that family businesses have plenty of advisers for their business concerns, but far fewer resources to help them with their family concerns.

Combine this with the statement that more family businesses fail because of “family reasons” than “business reasons”, and you start to understand why I believe that there is a huge potential to develop advisors who understand the overlap between family and business.

Once family business leaders understand that there are advisors like us out there, they trust us with matters in these key areas. What are some of those areas? Glad you asked.

I usually break them down into three major areas: Facilitation, Coaching, and Mediation.

Facilitation is about how a group works together, and making things easier (plus “facile” in French) by acting as a go-between and interpersonal communication expert.

Coaching, for me, is mostly about bringing individuals to their true potential, helping them over obstacles, bringing out their best selves.

Mediation is necessary when there is a conflict that seems unsolveable between parties, unless and until they get outside help, from a qualified mediator. Too many families wait until they reach this stage before bringing in outside help.

Every family business advisor that I know would prefer to come in sooner, before mediation is needed. But if that is when and where the need is felt, we will gladly provide that assistance as well.

Steve Legler “gets” business families.
 
He understands the issues that families face, as well as how each family member sees things from their own viewpoint.
 
He specializes in helping business families navigate the difficult areas where the family and the business overlap, by listening to each person’s concerns and ideas.  He then helps the family work together to bridge gaps by building common goals, based on their shared values and vision.
 
His background in family business, his experience running his own family office, along with his education and training in coaching, facilitation, and mediation, make him uniquely suited to the role of advising business families and families of wealth.
 
He is the author of Shift your Family Business (2014), he received his MBA from the Richard  Ivey School of Business (UWO, 1991), is a CFA Charterholder (CFA Institute, 2002), a Family Enterprise Advisor (IFEA 2014), and has received the ACFBA and CFWA accreditations (Family Firm Institute 2014-2015).
 
He prides himself on his ability to help families create the harmony they need to support the legacy they want. To learn how, start by signing up for his monthly newsletter and weekly blogs here.