Unless your family has an endless supply of bright,
hard-working, well-rounded relatives, you'll have to go outside
the familial circle to find good managers to help run your
expanding business. This isn't always easy for family
businesses, however, because outsiders are often skeptical about
how much decision-making responsibility they'll have and what
the job growth potential is in a family-run enterprise. Finding out
what draws potential employees to a family company and keeps them
there could be an important part of your overall business
success.
Entrepreneur interviewed a number of nonfamily managers
who work for a family business now or have worked for one in the
past. Each one's experience was different, of course, but
here's a compendium of what they said is most important for
workers not attached to the family tree.
"Give us something we can believe in."
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Many managers who were baptized in the sea of accounting that
engulfs most public companies are looking for something to
celebrate other than the bottom line. While they understand how
important profits are, they want to identify with a business that
has been built on strong core values, one with both vision and a
commitment to its mission. They also want to work for a company
that openly appreciates its work force.
Part of what drew Brad McKee, director of corporate development
for the Batra Group, an Ontario Internet and information
technologies developer run by the Batra family, to the company was
the family's dedication to their mission. "Paul and Susan
[whose father, S.C. Batra, is company president ] work harder than
anybody else. I've come to realize that it's more than
profits on the line--it's the reputation and tradition the
family has established," McKee says. To him, being part of a
team that upholds the same values he has is more important that
becoming company president.
"Help us overcome our fears that nepotism will always
rule."
Talented outsiders recruited to help a family run and grow a
business need to know the family has company policies that govern
the operation. They also need to know the authority and level of
involvement of each family member.
David Bassiri recalls a time when he was the sales and marketing
director for a family-owned printing company. Although he enjoyed
working there, Bassiri left the company because he was offered what
he felt was a better opportunity as general manager for Cougar
Mountain Software in Boise, Idaho. (Today Bassiri is that
company's president.) "The two brothers who owned the
[printing] business had ironed out a policy on hiring family
members before I got there: Managers would be asked to interview
family members for positions they might be qualified for, but they
didn't have to hire them."
The incident that almost broke the well-established policy
occurred when Bassiri chose not to buy from one of the
brothers' children, who had previously been a supplier for the
printing firm. "The quality, price and service he provided
were not up to par," Bassiri recalls. "The brother whose
son ran the company got angry with me, but I didn't back off.
What I did say was that if he wanted me to buy from this child
because he was family, I would. But if he wanted me to make a
business decision, I was going to give the business to another
supplier."
The dispute didn't escalate due to another family business
policy: Each brother made final business decisions regarding the
other's children. "The uncle agreed with me," says
Bassiri, "and worked with the nephew to help him improve his
product and service."
"Treat us like distant relatives."
Almost all managers appreciate the warm family values that often
permeate family businesses. They also like the access and close
personal relationship they enjoy with the heads of the business.
Still, as important as this part of the business is to them, most
realize they aren't actually part of the family.
Meryl Ginsberg, now director of communications for the
California School of Professional Psychology, admits she got too
involved with a family when she was director of marketing for a
husband-and-wife event-planning business. "It was probably my
fault that I began feeling more like family than an employee,
Ginsberg admits. "These people were friends before they were
my employers. I was single at the time and hungry for family."
Although Ginsberg went skiing and camping with the owners'
family and her input was often sought regarding business decisions,
Ginsberg's involvement in shaping company policies remained
limited and she wasn't given a piece of ownership. Although she
was upset by the exclusions at the time, in retrospect, Ginsberg is
more understanding. "If we had clearly defined
boundaries," she says, "I might still be there
[today]."
"Keep us out of your family disputes."
Every family occasionally has disagreements among its members,
and every business has differences of opinion among its leaders.
When the two overlap, disputes can not only grow fierce but become
destructive. Family in-fighting demoralizes nonfamily employees who
may be forced to take sides or face conflicting instructions from
the different factions.
Rhonda and Glenn Shaw, president and general manager,
respectively, of Trinity Valley Erectors, an Emory, Texas, provider
of passenger boarding bridges and baggage carriers for airports,
shared their operating style with Judy Luckett when she was hired
as the company's bookkeeper. "They warned me that
sometimes when they don't agree it could get loud. I assured
them that as long as they didn't yell at me or drag me into
their disagreements, it was okay," Luckett says. "They
never have."
"Let us show you what we can do, and then reward
us."
Compensation paid to nonfamily managers has to be commensurate
with the going rate for a similar position in a public company. But
family firms do have the edge in speedy acknowledgment of a job
well-done.
One thing Brad McKee asked for in his pre-employment interview
with Paul Batra was "the opportunity to prove myself within a
specified period of time, and having done so, [for them] to let me
know--both with compensation and with words." In the two years
he's been with the company, McKee says he always notices and
appreciates the owners fast acknowledgments of employees'
contributions.
Patricia Schiff Estess writes family business histories and
is the author of two books: Managing Alternative Work
Arrangements (Crisp Publishing) and Money Advice for Your
Successful Remarriage (Betterway Press).
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