Caught in the Middle

As the owner of your business, do you sign the paycheck of one or more relatives? If so, do you have key individuals in leadership roles who are not family members? Do you believe they are comfortable being totally honest with you or that working with your children or spouse creates difficulties for them? If you answered “yes” and “no,” respectively, then perhaps you are not appreciating some of the challenges non-family members face when working in a family business.

No matter how friendly and cohesive your senior management team may appear, it would be a mistake to underestimate the differing perspective of a valued employee who is “outside” the family. It is essential that you are aware of the issues that are relevant to this group of people in your company. In fact, miscalculating the significance of a key non-family employee's concerns could have a negative impact of the success and sustainability of your company.

Conversely, if you are in a leadership role in a company where many of the main players are related to one another, are you cognizant of the issues you are reluctant to discuss with family members?