How Families Work Together

99 Pages·2011·4.776 MB·English

by  Mary F. Whiteside, Craig E. Aronoff, John L. Ward (auth.)

How Families
Work Together
FAMILY
A
BUSINESS
PUBLICATIO
Family Business Publications are the combined efforts of the Family Business
Consulting Group and Palgrave Macmillan. These books provide useful infor-
mation on a broad range of topics that concern the family business enterprise,
including succession planning, communication, strategy and growth, fam-
ily leadership, and more. The books are written by experts with combined
experiences of over a century in the field of family enterprise and who have
consulted with thousands of enterprising families the world over, giving the
reader practical, effective, and time-tested insights to everyone involved in a
family business.
f:~, founded in 1994, is the leading business consultancy exclusively devoted
to helping family enterprises prosper across generations.
FAMILY BUSINESS LEADERSHIP SERIES
This series of books comprises concise guides and thoughtful compendiums
to the most pressing issues that anyone involved in a family firm may face.
Each volume covers a different topic area and provides the answers to some of
the most common and challenging questions.
Titles include:
Developing Family Business Policies: Your Guide to the Future
Effective Leadership in the Family Business
Family Business Compensation
Family Business Governance: Maximizing Family and Business Potential
Family Business Ownership: How to Be an Effective Shareholder
Family Business Succession: The Final Test of Greatness
Family Business Values: How to Assure a Legacy of Continuity and Success
The Family Constitution: Agreements to Secure and Perpetuate Your Family and Your
Business
Family Education for Business-Owning Families: Strengthening Bonds by Learning
Together
Family Meetings: How to Build a Stronger Family and a Stronger Business
Financing Transitions: Managing Capital and Liquidity in the Family Business
From Siblings to Cousins: Prospering in the Third Generation and Beyond
How Families Work Together
How to Choose and Use Advisors: Getting the Best Professional Family Business Advice
Working for a Family Business: A Non-Family Employee's Guide to Success
Letting Go: Preparing Yourself to Relinquish Control of the Family Business
Make Change Your Family Business Tradition
Making Sibling Teams Work: The Next Generation
More than Family: Non-Family Executives in the Family Business
Nurturing the Talent to Nurture the Legacy: Career Development in the Family Business
Preparing Successors for Leadership: Another Kind of Hero
Preparing Your Family Business for Strategic Change
All of the books were written by members of the Family Business Consulting
Group and are based on both our experiences with thousands of client fami-
lies as well as our empirical research at leading research universities the world
over.
How Families
Work Together
Mary F. Whiteside
With Craig E. Aronoff
and John L. Ward
palgrave
macmillan
* HOW FAMILIES WORK TOGETHER
Copyright © Family Business Consulting Group, 1993,2011.
All rights reserved.
First published by the Family Business Consulting Group Publications,
1993.
This edition first published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States-a division of St. Martin's Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-11102-8 ISBN 978-0-230-11610-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230116108
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Whiteside, Mary F.
How families work together / by MaryWhiteside, with Craig E.
Aronoff and John L. Ward.
p. cm.-{Family business leadership series)
Includes index.
1. Family-owned business enterprises-Management. 2. Family
corporations-Management. I. Aronoff, Craig E. 11. Ward, John L.,
1945-111. Title.
HD62.25.W452011
658' .045-dc22 2010030926
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First Palgrave Macmillan edition: January 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
TAB L E SAN D EX H I BIT S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
How Family Shapes the Future of Your Business
2 Business vs. Family: Bridging the Boundary. . .... 5
3 The Payoff: Understanding Family Patterns as
a Collective Resource . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4 The "Normal" Family: A Dynamic and
Powerful Unit . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 How the Family Works as a System . .19
6 Unlocking the Barriers to the Past . .55
7 How Transitions Raise Family Issues. .71
8 A Few Simple Rules for Smooth Family Functioning. . 75
9 Some Signals that a Family May Be in Trouble. . . . . 79
vi CONTENTS
10 The Role of the Family Professional . . 81
11 Summary .......... . .85
SUGGESTED READING LIST .... .87
INDEX ..... . .89
THE AUTHORS .93
Tables and Exhibits
Table I
The Ties that Bind: Interrelationships between
the Family Business and the Business Family ...... 8
Table 2
Turning Family Triangles to Helpful Tools. . . . . . . .26
Table 3
Steps toward Emotional Maturity . . . . . . . . . . . 3 t
Table 4
Recognizing Your Family's Relationship Style. . . . . . .37
Table 5
Sowing the Seeds of Sibling Rivalry . . . . . . . . . . 43
Table 6
Changing Negative Behavior Patterns. . . . . . . . . . 43
Table 7
Glossary of Family Systems Terms . . . . . . . . . . .48
Table 8
Some Tips for Effective Communication. . . . . . . . . 78
viii TABLES AND EXHIBITS
Exhibit 1
How Employees' Family History Affects the Business. . .. 7
Exhibit 2
Boundaries in Enmeshed and Disengaged Families. . . . . 36
Exhibit 3
Key to Symbols Used in a Genogram. . . . . . . . . . 50
Exhibit 4
The Smith Family Genogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Exhibit 5
One Family's Code of Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Chapter 1
How Family Shapes the
Future of Your Business
Nothing is as precious-or as complicated-as family.
After years of work together in the family printing business, mem-
bers of the Smith family, a close and loving clan, are about to learn that
principle anew as they gather for their first family meeting.
The candles have just cooled on a surprise 59th-birthday cake for John
Smith, founder of Smith Printing, when he makes his announcement: After
37 years as head of the business, John will retire in a year. He has long
dreamed that his children, Rob and Kathy, would take over the business.
And he is looking forward to a vacation from the day-to-day pressures of
managing the company.
Yet as John sits at the head of the company conference room talking
about his heartfelt plans for his children and his company, an uneasy feel-
ing creeps into the pit of his stomach. He had hoped that his children would
respond enthusiastically. But although his daughter, Kathy-a 33-year-
old Duke M.B.A. who has sparked fast growth as Smith Printing's vice
president of marketing-is excited and bursting with questions, the session
is in grave danger of stalling on the silence of son Rob.
As Smith Printing's finance VP, Rob bypassed a chance nine years earlier
to set up his own accounting practice so he could create the finanCial-reporting