In last week’s blog we talked about the importance of having an annual family huddle to mitigate the challenges of family business. This week, let me identify the common areas of exercise we perform in our annual family business huddles.
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Vision
Without a cohesive vision a family business and family are doomed to family business conflict and adult sibling rivalry. Creating a unified vision sets the foundation for everything else.
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Values
Values act as guideposts for decision-making. Successful families sit down and talk about the values that are most important to them and what those values look like in action. As a family gets bigger and broader, finding common values becomes increasingly more difficult and more important to hammer out.
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Strengths
We believe in a strengths-based approach to success in business. When the family can help its team members find their inherent strengths they can then get the right players in the right position for long-term success. Everyone has strengths – good facilitation and coaching can help families identify and articulate each player’s strengths.
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Communication styles
People have inherent different communication styles. There are many time-tested assessments that can help a family identify each member’s inherent communication style. Introverts, extroverts, big picture, and detail orientation – a great team has a good blend of all of them. A common source of family business conflict is when the team ignores each other’s inherent style as they’re building business relationships.
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Conflict styles
Like communication styles ,most people have an inherent way they like to deal with conflict. Sharks, teddy bears, turtles, owls – you get the picture. When a family can identify their inherent conflict styles they will be well on their way to having greater skills for working in a family business.
