As time goes on and the business starts to grow, it becomes increasingly easy to fall into the trap of focusing more on the ‘business’ rather than the ‘family’ side of things. With this balance skewed and every ounce of energy focused away from the glue that first brought the business together, you have all the ingredients for potential disaster.

 

So, how do we avoid making this mistake?

 

Every family can garner benefits from the creation of a family charter, but this is an even more essential exercise for families who run a business together. So, what exactly is a family charter?

This is an exercise of questioning and jointly figuring out the core values, shared goals and vision of the people considered to be an integral part of the family. A family charter can help map out what it is exactly that has made the family business thrive so far and what each member or unit hopes to achieve in the future, while also putting focus on and dedicating energy to goals related to the family relationships themselves. This, together with a succession plan for the business and the future generations of the family, is a sure recipe for success.

 

Every successful family business has one thing in common – consistent focus on the wellbeing of the family and the relationships and bonds that continue to thrive from one generation to the next. Successful family businesses both large and small, old and new, know that if they want to build a legacy, they need to ensure that there will be a strong system to inherit it and carry the flame forward.

 

First and foremost, a business cannot move ahead or thrive if there is a lack of harmony in decision-making. Like any other business model, the family business will come with its own issues, conflicts and disputes, and it is far easier to settle this when the relationship is strong and the bond has been nurtured over time.

 

This is not an exaggeration. Unfortunately, there have been several instances where families have had to sell or break up a business because they could not agree on the way forward or because their constant bickering caused the enterprise to fail.

 

One frightening cautionary tale is the story of four brothers who lost a 4 billion dollar real estate family business because they could not get themselves to agree on important business decisions.  Their father’s dream collapsed because they had focused more on the business and less on the core values that had made it thrive in the first place.

 

On the flip-side of things, there are several beautiful success stories to garner inspiration from. One only needs to look at the remarkable 12^th and 13^th generation family businesses that have been going strong for three or four centuries. These families normally hold regular meetings and fora where they address what needs to be done and how to maintain cohesion when the family has grown and branched out so extensively.

 

Even at this point of the discussion, one might ask, but why bother? When your family has grown so much that there are now cousins so far removed you are barely related, why would you need to insist on collective harmony?

 

Well, you just have to look at the story of the four brothers and so many others like it. Decision-making and conflict resolution are an important part of any successful business, and when family gets involved, things are bound to get a little more heated. It is said that you do not choose your family, but if you want to get into business with them and if you want that business to thrive, you do need to make an active choice, every single day, to maintain that family outlook and to hold the core values and goals of that family unit, however big it may be, as the ultimate vision for your business decisions.

 

Families are complex and messy, and this is what makes them such a beautiful dynamic. If you look at your family as a toolbox with everything you might need for your business to succeed, you will realize that you have people who are naturally business-minded, people who were born to sell, people who were artists, and people who might not even be remotely interested in participating in the joint enterprise.

 

The first exercise is figuring out who wants to be involved and who should be, and the second is collectively agreeing on the distribution of roles. A shared vision and the willingness to agree is all a family needs to be able to move past conflict and disagreement and understand that family harmony equals a successful business.

 

Honest communication, clarity and openness are essential to building trust, and it is important to understand that while there is a bond that binds the different individuals in your family unit, everybody has their own personal circumstances, and nobody likes to feel overlooked.

 

In short, every building needs a strong and solid foundation. Remember that when you are setting out to build, transform or pass on your enterprise. After all, you really can’t have a family business without a family.