If you own or work in a family-run small business, there’s always an extra incentive to make sure that the business thrives for many years. Running a business with family can present its own unique challenges, so it’s important to understand boundaries, respect the family dynamic, and ultimately do what’s best for the business at all times. If you’re struggling with the nuances of a multi-generational business, here are a few key strategies that can help you leverage your family dynamic for ongoing success!

1. Create an Effective Blended Business Structure

One of the most enduring challenges of owning a family business is effectively separating at-home family life from the needs of the business itself. Many family businesses suffer from improper boundaries, nepotism, and poor management, but the key is neither full family integration or complete separation. Instead, a clear, blended family business structure is best.

Develop a Succession Plan

The most important thing to do when you own a family business is to clearly formalize your business structure and develop a strict hierarchy and succession plan. We all know anything is possible, including the unexpected, so having a firm plan in place for your business’ future is essential. Collaboratively creating a clear plan of succession that is formalized and written out among the family will help you avoid infighting and conflict in the event that the succession needs to be implemented when a business leader steps down or passes away.

Make Roles and Responsibilities Clear

Creating a strong hierarchy of roles and responsibilities is key in any business, but especially family ones, where the possibility of nepotism is rampant. Badly built hierarchies can not only lead to nepotism, where people are given special favors due to family ties, but also to general confusion about who is in charge. Just as a clear and orderly supply chain helps a business understand its inventory and communicate effectively, delineating exact roles and avoiding favoritism in your business will ensure longevity and smooth operations.

2. Be Transparent!

Family businesses can often suffer from a lack of transparency and a more casual atmosphere. There are some things we feel might not need to be explained to family, and other things that we might not want to discuss with them at all. However, in a business setting, this can cause frustration for everyone involved, including your customers and non-family employees.

Focus on Employee Engagement

One of the best ways to stay transparent and communicative is by ensuring that all of your employees are fully engaged in your business. Everyone who works for you should know how the business operates and is doing financially. After all, it’s hard to be motivated to improve your workplace’s finances if you never have any clue what they are. Leverage your employees by engaging them in the growth of your business, because that will foster connection and make them more effective marketers.

Monitor Ethics and Long-Term Reputation

As with nepotism, monitoring your business ethics is vital when running a family business. Family members and employees alike need to know that you are focused on responsibility and ethics. This will also help improve the long-term reputation of your brand, which will appeal much more strongly to customers if your values are founded on transparency and accountability. Customers love family-run businesses, and they love them even more when they display a commitment to values and ethics that larger, more impersonal companies may lack.

3. Create a Productive Workspace

It can often be easy for owners and family employees to see a family-run business as a casual kickback, a sort of do-nothing job where “work” is not really work. While family businesses should be a place for enjoyment and bonding, it’s also important to be productive for the sake of business growth. This can be tough to achieve with a family dynamic in play, but there are a few ways to do it without making the job feel like a grind.

Bridge the Age Gap

Multi-generational businesses can run into a bit of a wall when it comes to the interplay of different generational ideas. In such businesses, you may see younger, Gen Z or Millennial employees clashing or differing with those from older generations. Harnessing the generational divide, however, can actually be a great tool for your business! You can make the most out of family age gaps by giving everyone a job or responsibility that matches their skills and interests. For example, if you employ younger family members with technical know-how and social media connections, put them in charge of your online marketing campaigns on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and others, while letting the older generations handle tasks more suited to their years of experience.

Diversify Your Workforce

Overall, diversifying your workforce in both age and other aspects can help you expand your business’ horizons extensively. Companies with broad perspectives and a wide variety of employees come off much better in the marketplace, meaning that you’ll have a strong advantage when it comes to gaining an audience.

4. Set Clear Boundaries

Family businesses can come with significant challenges in terms of setting up boundaries. It’s important to make sure everyone understands the work-home balance so that family issues do not become business concerns.

Prioritize Accountability

No matter what, you must always strive for accountability and ownership. Don’t micromanage your family members, but be sure that they know they are responsible for their own work and won’t get a free pass to slack off just because they are family. Leadership is key both at work and at home! 

Build a Strong Environment

Everyone wants to feel secure and comfortable at work, and a strong environment will help you make that possible. Encourage communication in your family business; make sure that everyone knows questions are permitted and allowed. Foster collaboration, openness, and a willingness to accept new ideas so that everyone is involved in marketing and building up the business.

Family Businesses Are a Strength, When Done Right!

Building a business is challenging with or without family involvement, so you shouldn’t look at a family business as being more challenging by nature. While the challenges are unique, they’re not impossible. Many of the same techniques used by non-family business owners, from clear structure to transparency to boundary-setting, are just as effective in a family business. It’s a fine tightrope act, but so is every business venture, and with the right choices, you can easily succeed!

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Author Bio

Author: Mark Maricich

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