Family Meetings 101: A guide for your multigenerational business
“A well-executed family meeting can be the beating heart of your enterprise, pumping life into every appendage of your business.””
The Family Business Coach’s Guide to Family Meetings
Many families struggle to know where to start when it comes to formalizing what may have started as conversations over the dinner table. A good family meeting thrives on excellent communication and mutual respect. A lot of families feel overwhelmed at the idea and let this critical component of your success fall by the wayside.
In The Family Business Coach’s Guide to Family Meetings, we’ll answer the questions you should be asking. Let us be your guide because you don’t know what you don’t know.
Do I need to hold family meetings?
The short answer: Yes!
The long answer: Family meetings are essential to the longevity of your firm’s financial health and prosperity. Excellent communication practices during these family meetings will preserve your family bonds and relationships for years to come.
A well-executed family meeting can be the beating heart of your enterprise, pumping life into every appendage of your business by providing a scheduled, structured, respectful environment to communicate about all aspects of your multigenerational business.
What is a family meeting?
The scope and purpose of a family meeting likely depends on the family holding it. Ultimately, a family meeting is an intentional opportunity to communicate issues and unify as a business. Family meetings require a lot of preparation so all parties can participate.
What is the purpose of a family meeting?
A family meeting is an optimal setting to gather multigenerational family members together to formally discuss business matters. Some items to address in a family meeting may include:
Aligning values across generations
Discussion around ownership, the business, and how they relate to the family
Opportunities for education such as financial literacy, communication skills, etc.
A forum to exchange opinions or concerns
Hold regular family meetings
Regular family meetings will help your family develop new talents and skills for working with each other. While ‘regular’ is a subjective concept, it’s easy for problems to snowball.
Many families are already so busy that putting off a family meeting seems like a natural consequence of the operation. Don’t be deceived. This is when family meetings can grow to preposterous proportions and problems that started small now seem like behemoths. Decide in advance how regularly to meet, add it to the calendar, and do not miss it.
Though your initial meetings may feel uncomfortable or downright unbearable, the more you work, the easier it will become and in time, you’ll wonder how you ever functioned cohesively without a regular family meeting.
Create an agenda
A successful family meeting needs a clear objective that all present were made aware of prior to meeting. A family meeting is not the place for surprising information or a “gotcha” moment.
While one family member may lead the discussion, all parties should give input to items that need discussion. Allocate the appropriate amount of time to discuss all agenda items. Make hearing all voices a primary goal in each meeting.
How do you communicate in a family meeting?
Creating an atmosphere of trust and respect is paramount when conducting family meetings. This environment allows trust to grow and open communication skills to blossom. Be patient. Healthy communication skills develop over time and with practice.
Establish a code of conduct
One best practice for family meetings is to work together to create a code of conduct that all parties commit to following. Work together to respectfully hold each other accountable.
Your code of conduct will be unique to your family circumstances but should be rooted in the principles of mutual respect and may include some of the following tenets: punctuality; listening instead of interrupting; fighting the problem, not a person; etc.
Trust a family business coach
Because emotions can run high when family mixes with business, a third-party mediator– an experienced family business coach– can facilitate these meetings and streamline healthy and effective communication.
A family business coach can serve as a mediator or referee when conversations escalate to the brink of conflict. While conflict is a healthy and essential part of finding solutions, if it does more harm than good, it’s time to reevaluate and bring in an expert.
A skilled family business coach can help your family streamline communication in a myriad of ways specifically tailored to your family. Here are just a few:
Slow the conversation down. If needed, give it time and space to breathe.
Encourage active participation in the discussion. All parties are invited to share thoughts and opinions while receiving the respect and attention of those present.
Challenge each other with respect by challenging an idea, not an individual.
Give grace. Listen with empathy and understanding. Check your ego at the door.
Hold each other accountable. Work together as a team to make each other better.
Nurture your relationships and your legacy
Regular family meetings will protect and strengthen your family for generations to come. Don’t wait to improve your communication and take your success to the next level. If you’ve struggled to hold productive family meetings in the past, contact The Family Business Coach today for a free assessment.
