Entitlement issues are rampant in family owned dealerships. It is a stealthy and dangerous disease that can have a widespread and prolific impact on our business culture, as well as at home. How do we keep it from becoming an epidemic in our business and family lives? First, you must understand exactly what entitlement means. [...]
Developing a successor is paramount to sustainable business success. It requires empowering your successor to step up to the challenge, while holding them accountable to strategic goals. For a period of time there are multiple hands on the baton. If this delicate transition is not done properly there can be a demotivating tug of war [...]
Great article by Jeff Faulkner in Dealer Magazine. How to protect your business, and even see it thrive, during the inevitable next economic downturn. Spoiler: succession planning is key! Read the complete article on the Dealer Magazine website Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter to stay informed on how to overcome related succession planning issues.
Your management team and family member employees should form the backbone of your business. Ideally, they know and live your values; they are in alignment with your goals; and they are your boots on the ground interacting with customers, employees, and vendors. At their best they optimize resources to achieve a high level of performance, [...]
Another initiative that, in my educated opinion, has the ability to set your company apart from the competition is streamlining your processes. Nobody, but nobody, likes to be told how to do their job. This is why this issue sets organizations that excel at it apart. Standard operating processes lay the foundation upon which an [...]
The issue of fairness is at the heart of problems we encounter daily working with business owners and their families on their estate and succession planning. “That’s not fair! My brother expects me to do all the work while he gets equal pay”; “My parents expect me to run the business for the sake of [...]
Siblings in business who are experiencing rivalry issues have simply not recognized that they are now adults. They have carried the petty issues of their childhood with them into the business. When you become an adult you have to put away childish things. Sibling rivalries in family business are often rooted in a competition to [...]
In developing family policies, I used to think it was the documented policies that made the difference in preventing future conflicts. But, I have come to believe that it is not the policies themselves that promote family harmony. Rather, it is the process of developing the policies that really makes the difference. Family businesses have [...]
In order to build long-term sustainable value in your business, you must understand that the business is all about the people. People generally want work with a purpose, to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves, and that their work matters. As a business owner, you need to understand that you [...]
Business Structuring is a critical component of succession planning that can have a huge impact on family harmony. Throughout the course of this article, I’m going to describe three different family business situations that I’m currently involved with where Business Structuring is causing havoc. Situation 1: Active and Inactive Shareholders The first story is [...]
