FEI’s next session begins in 2006. It costs about $4,000 a year. For information, visit www.nrca.net. To learn about FBCG, visit www.efamilybusiness.com.
Ongoing assessment. Family businesses committed to feedback better assess problems and determine solutions.
Purpose. Family members participating merely by default poison a business. Those who purposefully join are committed to success.
Creative conflict. Constructive conflict resolution fuels growth and increases family ability to create winning family/business solutions.
Challenging assignments. Challenges balanced with recognition and educational opportunities create optimal learning environments for future leaders. Family members who crave learning create opportunity for themselves and the business.
Top Reasons Family Businesses Fail
Emotional resistance. Everyone has an emotional investment in matriarchs or patriarchs staying. Key executives don’t want change and the kids feel they can’t fill their parents’ shoes.
Failure to establish systems to determine successor readiness.To the parent, seldom does a child seem ready to lead. Meanwhile, dealing with succession brings them face-to-face with mortality.
Failure of the departing CEO to determine what’s next, upon retirement. Parental fear of damaging the family can also stand in the way of moving forward.
Lack of planning. Seventy-five percent of family businesses haven’t detailed their future on paper. Preparation includes a strategic plan; a family constitution clarifying values and why this family owns this business; estate planning; and, continuity planning. Without planning, expect a chaotic or failed transition.
Failure to equip the next generation with a level of professionalism and sound business systems. Set the future generation up to succeed and the chances of that happening are much greater.
Source: The Family Business Center, Stetson University, Deland, Fla., www.stetson.edu/familybusiness.