Statistics suggest that more than 60% of British businesses involve working with one or more family members. Duport is no exception. Peter is Duport’s director, shareholder and final decision maker, simply put, he watches the money. I am Rebecca, responsible for running the office and development but most importantly the dutiful daughter. Thomas (IT development) is Peter’s son and he ensures we receive lots of website visitors and ensures that they turn into business. Together we concoct more sales and marketing initiatives than the population of China and some even succeed. Look out for blog posts from all of us.
In addition, Peter’s wife, Lizzie and brother, Chris, are shareholder/directors who are frequently used as sanity checkers. On and off we have also employed nieces, nephews, step siblings, ex wives, anybody who is stupid enough to mention they have a few hours spare time. This is much to the annoyance of my young brother and sister (15 and 12 respectively) who find themselves sorting our stationery in their school holidays.
For us it really works. Not just because we passionately care about Duport and its superb team of dedicated employees but because it is so very important to us that this company succeeds. For us, in the family, there’s no such thing as set working hours, overtime, holidays and maternity leave, there are no HR and Health & Safety regulations. I must add this is our choice. We are not driven by bonus, targets or salary just those simple words “well done”. We are the dream employees, in principle anyway!
However, there is a price to pay when working with family and caring so much comes at significant cost. The roller coaster of emotions is amplified and as hard as you try to rationalise things, everything is personal. Most importantly you must be certain that your personalities and relationships and skills are strong enough to survive the endless challenges.
Here’s my top tips for working with family:
- Effective communication is essential; listen to each other and no interrupting. We are getting better at this and have found more success in meetings when we remember this.
- Respect each other as you would any business associate. Over familiarity is great for cutting to the chase but can be equally unproductive.
- Get input from every member of the team and celebrate your successes together. It’s essential that every employee of the company is just as valued as the family members.
- Understand the mix of personalities and make this work to your advantage. Tom and I can be a bit gung ho, whereas Peter likes details and analysis. In isolation these approaches have problems (we have proven this!) but together we seem to strike the right balance.
- Share your worries and ask for help.
- Leave office chat for the working day. It is inevitable that you will talk outside of work but this will alienate partners who are not involved.
- Do other things together not just business stuff because family is more important. Ironically we have had some of our best big ideas during social occasions.
How do you ensure that your family business relationships stay intact?