How a successor earns authority in a family business

Authority in a family business is rarely given. It is noticed. A new employee is judged on what they do. A family member is judged on that and on everything staff remember: who they were as a teenager, whom the founder favours, whether they will still be here in five years. Some staff are glad to see a successor. Some are wary, because the successor's arrival changes their own position. Neither reaction is unreasonable, and neither is personal.

The temptation is to settle the matter quickly, with a title, an instruction or the founder's backing. These work for a week. What lasts is slower: the accumulated evidence that you work hard, listen, understand the business and keep your word.

Begin by learning. In your first months, do real jobs at different levels of the business. Spend time at the counter, in the stores, on the shop floor, on collections, with the accounts. Ask questions of the people who do the work, and listen to the answers. Resist the urge to announce changes, because every early announcement tells staff that you have already decided what is wrong. Arrive on time and stay until the work is done. If you do not know something, say so once, simply, and find out. Most staff are waiting to see whether you are serious, and these months are the evidence.

Treat long-serving staff as an asset. The person who has been there for twenty-five years may know where everything is, which customers need handling carefully and why a certain practice exists. Some of them hold relationships with customers and suppliers that the business depends on. Ask for their advice before you propose a change, and do not ask them to choose between you and the founder. If you disagree, say so in private and with respect, not in front of their juniors. Recognise what they have done, publicly. Losing such a person through carelessness is a cost that does not show up until later.

Work out your relationship with the founder, explicitly. Agree which decisions are yours, which you bring to them and which stay with them. Ask for their support in particular moments, such as an introduction to a customer, rather than as a blanket shield. Avoid contradicting each other in front of staff, and tell them about bad news early. Remember that their way of doing things has reasons, even when you cannot yet see them. If you find it hard to say any of this, ask a trusted elder or adviser to sit in. If you are the founder reading this, the same applies from your side: a successor who has to ask permission for everything will not be taken seriously by anyone, and staff will keep going around them.

Be careful with relatives. Cousins, uncles, siblings and in-laws in the business may have been there longer than you or may be your age with different expectations. Be clear about who reports to whom, even among relatives. Keep business disagreements away from the dinner table, and raise a problem with a relative directly before involving a parent.

Expect the assumptions that come with being the boss's child. Some staff will assume you are protected, and a few may flatter you. Others will assume you are unqualified and wait for a mistake. The answer to both is the same. Decline special treatment that others notice, take feedback as anybody else would, and let results, not your relationship, speak. When you make a mistake, say so quickly and say what you will do about it. People forgive mistakes far more readily than concealment.

Do not overlook customers and suppliers. They have their own opinion of you and may still ask for the founder. Ask for a proper introduction, then follow up yourself. Keep small promises, because they are how trust is built when you are still unknown.

When you do make your first changes, choose carefully. Pick a small change with a visible result, preferably one that makes life easier for the staff and not only for the owners. Involve the people who will have to carry it out. Say clearly when something does not work. A modest change that works earns more than a large one that is resisted. Changing a business that your parents built is a larger subject, and respecting what is already working is a part of it.

Finally, be patient, but not passive. Authority comes over months and years, and it comes sooner to people who are visibly useful. If after a reasonable time you still lack any real authority, that is something to discuss with the founder, openly, and perhaps with a trusted outside adviser. It is better said calmly than carried silently.