1. Businesses focused on family members taking over don\u2019t attract\u00a0ambitious and talented workers for high-level positions.<\/strong><\/p>\nThis is because\u00a0the workers are aware that they will never climb as high as they want to\u00a0in that organisation. Family members are seen as a glass ceiling.<\/p>\n
This can severely hamper your ability to hire in good talent. Many\u00a0employees will judge the attractiveness of a position on their potential\u00a0to advance. If it looks like they may get stuck in a mid-level management\u00a0position because a son, daughter or cousin will inherit the business, they\u00a0may turn down the job.<\/p>\n
2. Family members who are in line to take over the business are generally\u00a0not as well prepared as they should be.<\/strong><\/p>\nThey often will not receive\u00a0honest feedback or tough environments to learn about how their actions\u00a0affect people. More often they are lazy or dispassionate about the role,\u00a0preferring other vocations or simply never bothering to discover their\u00a0talents and passions because they have always had the family business\u00a0waiting.<\/p>\n
Some business owners have attempted to manoeuvre around this by\u00a0setting a up a management plan for family members waiting to take\u00a0over the business. Even if family members do seem to have the skills\u00a0necessary to run the business, they benefit greatly from working in\u00a0other organisations first and getting experience outside of the world they\u00a0grew up in.\u00a0Relevant outside experience also provides more weight and credibility to their appointment.<\/p>\n
This trend has seen a number of strong companies dwindle away to nothing\u00a0over the decades after a transition went bad. As generations become more\u00a0independent and more likely to follow their own dreams and passions, many\u00a0family business owners are finding it difficult to convince their younger offspring\u00a0to take over the family reigns. Some of the top family business owners aren\u2019t\u00a0standing for it anymore.<\/p>\n
The Solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n“At this stage it is safer to get professionals to run the company than pass the\u00a0business to the next generation.” explains Francis Wong of Capitol Optical.<\/p>\n
His\u00a0father began the business and he took over at the age of 33, turning a struggling\u00a0company into a thriving optical chain. He won\u2019t be handing the business to\u00a0his son however. He is choosing instead to train up a group of talented senior\u00a0level managers, one of whom he believes will be capable of taking over the\u00a0management of the business one day.<\/p>\n
The transition from a family business or a start-up to a corporate organisation\u00a0is never simple.<\/p>\n
Apple relied on Steve Jobs\u2019 leadership and personal branding\u00a0very heavily, all the way to the end. Entrepreneurs are famous for clinging too\u00a0tightly to a fast growing organisation, strangling and stunting its growth. Some\u00a0organisations, it could be argued, never really manage it at all.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on your legacy\u00a0once you retire is giving you sleepless nights. You are in good company.\u00a0Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any leader.<\/p>\n
Here are some\u00a0tips from those who do it right to make it easier.<\/p>\n
Set a goal for your succession<\/strong><\/h2>\nIt\u2019s unlikely you want to work until you literally can\u2019t anymore. Without\u00a0a succession plan, this is the position you will be in. Decide at what age or\u00a0what stage of the business you would like to step back and let the next\u00a0generation of leaders \u2013 not necessary family members \u2013 take over your\u00a0business. This is your timeline for implementing a successor.<\/p>\n
Ideally it\u00a0should be over a decade away. If you have less time than that, the sooner\u00a0you can get started, the better.<\/p>\n
Owners need to take a step back at some point<\/strong><\/h2>\nAccept that at some point you need to step back and allow other people\u00a0to take over.<\/p>\n
While it may feel more comfortable doing this with a family\u00a0member, capable staff members passionate about the business and\u00a0aligned with the right incentives can do more for the legacy of a business\u00a0than an inappropriate family member.<\/p>\n
Make it clear that family has nothing to do with hiring decisions<\/strong><\/h2>\nDevelop non-family policies now.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s okay to have family working for you\u00a0but it must be clear that they work according to the same standards as\u00a0every body else in the business.<\/p>\n
Hire according to skill and competency level and not<\/em>\u00a0family connection. Above all make it clear\u00a0that you expect your other managers to do the same.<\/p>\nSeparate your family life from your personal life<\/strong><\/h2>\nFrom my own experience, the most successful family businesses have\u00a0very clear boundaries between work life and family life.<\/p>\n
When they\u00a0are at work, they behave professionally and operate within corporate\u00a0boundaries. A blurring of these lines can mean that employees can often feel\u00a0caught up in family ‘domestics’. If you do employ a family member, set clear\u00a0boundaries and stick by them.<\/p>\n
If you have a family business and are nearing the stage where you are\u00a0considering transitions, put it to the top of your To Do list to make a proper plan for it.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. You are in good company. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
How The Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How The Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zippia For Employers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zippia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-26T16:17:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T18:03:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/vineyard.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"310\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"219\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Slezak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@paul_slezak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ZippiaInc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Slezak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/\",\"name\":\"How The Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-26T16:17:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-15T18:03:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/c478f8c08326837c1f7ab69f7e6a5569\"},\"description\":\"Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How the Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/\",\"name\":\"Zippia For Employers\",\"description\":\"How to find the best employees.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/c478f8c08326837c1f7ab69f7e6a5569\",\"name\":\"Paul Slezak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5dadfdf3e6ce17183206e7ca7d1e36f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5dadfdf3e6ce17183206e7ca7d1e36f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Slezak\"},\"description\":\"With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique \\\"entertraining\\\" and \\\"edutaining\\\" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/paulslezak\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paul_slezak\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/author\/paul-slezak\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How The Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent","description":"Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How The Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent","og_description":"Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/","og_site_name":"Zippia For Employers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zippia\/","article_published_time":"2013-09-26T16:17:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-15T18:03:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":310,"height":219,"url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/vineyard.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Paul Slezak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@paul_slezak","twitter_site":"@ZippiaInc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Slezak","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/","name":"How The Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-09-26T16:17:17+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-15T18:03:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/c478f8c08326837c1f7ab69f7e6a5569"},"description":"Don\u2019t be stressed if the thought of raising a capable team to carry on the legacy of your family business once you retire is keeping you up at night. Succession planning is one of the most difficult tasks for any family business owner.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/how-the-best-family-owned-businesses-manage-talent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How the Best Family Owned Businesses Manage Talent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/","name":"Zippia For Employers","description":"How to find the best employees.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/c478f8c08326837c1f7ab69f7e6a5569","name":"Paul Slezak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5dadfdf3e6ce17183206e7ca7d1e36f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5dadfdf3e6ce17183206e7ca7d1e36f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paul Slezak"},"description":"With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique \"entertraining\" and \"edutaining\" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/paulslezak\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/paul_slezak"],"url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/author\/paul-slezak\/"}]}},"articleguide":"","showTableContent":"","showFeaturedImage":"","pageCategoryL2":"","authorsExperts":"","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/vineyard.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}