Keeping up with the ‘Cowdashians’
Working with family offers blessings and challenges. Sometimes when you're working with family, things can get a little bit dramatic at times. Kind of like the Kardashian family.
Recently Dr. Rob Skacel, a business psychologist who founded True Edge Performance Solutions, talked about the joys and challenges unique to families who work together and how to lay a foundation for strong business performance at a National Milk Producers Federation Young Cooperator webinar.
Webinar participants commented that working alongside family can be smothering at times, while others chimed in and said that the communication is just different.
“We say things to our family members that we would never say to coworkers that we are not related to,” one dairy farmer participant said.
Skacel says that the more people you have in the mix of a family business, the more complicated it gets. This especially holds true once the next generation begins co-ownership and when their kids get involved. The potential for challenges increase simply because more human being are in the mix.
“Sometimes there are unresolved conflicts, lack of trust, difficult family relationships, family demands on the business and more,” he shares. “All of these things can contribute to family and business problems.”
Pain Now or Pain Later
Skacel often tells family businesses that he works with that they get to choose their pain.
“Do you want the pain now or do you want the pain later,” he asks. “Most of the time, if you choose the pain early, it’s less painful than choosing it later.
Having the difficult and uncomfortable discussion upfront about money, performance expectations, training and needs is necessary to escape having bigger problems unravel later.
“Are you going to talk about that stuff up front?” Skacel asks, “Or are you going to avoid those things as long as you can, until you have to address them?”
The business psychologist shares that anticipating the potential challenges and conflicts and setting time to talk them out ahead of time can deliver better outcomes as a family unit, as well as from a business performance area.
The Most Valuable Business Model
Skacel says it is good to ask different family members involved in the family business what the biggest asset is of owning and operating the business as a family.
- Is it an asset with financial value and a vehicle for generating wealth for families?
- Is it an avenue for family members to have jobs to work together?
- Is it a legacy for the family to hand down from one generation to the next?
Skacel says this is a necessary question to ask and answer, especially when the farm is at a turning point and owners might have different philosophies on what the next chapter should be.
The answers might all differ among family members, but having the needed conversation can help drive the family business to the next level.
“It’s good training to have for family members who are coming up into ownership and involvement in the business and just a good discussion point,” Skacel says. “You may be surprised at what you hear.”
While working together as a family can be dramatic from time to time, to keep it from getting like the Kardashian family, carve time out to lay a foundation for strong business performance today.