Family Business & the Next Generation
Hiring a manager is easy. Giving them room to manage is the hard part.
A family business grows to a point where the owners cannot do everything, and somebody from outside has to run a function. Such hires can fail when the family and the manager expected different things. This session looks at what to hand over, how to choose, and how both sides make it work.
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A manager can only manage what the family is willing to let go of.
Some families bring in a manager and then keep all the decisions that matter. The manager is hired to run, finds they cannot, and leaves. The family concludes that outsiders cannot be trusted, and the manager concludes the family was never serious. Both are describing the same mismatch.
At the same time, a manager who is given full authority with no reporting, no records and no review can create a different problem. The point is not to trust blindly or to control closely, but to be clear on what the role is and how the work will be checked.
This session is even-handed. It treats the family's caution and the manager's need for authority as both reasonable. It is not human-resources consulting, family counselling or legal advice; employment contracts and related law should be checked with a lawyer.
What to work out
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven stages, from deciding you need help to making it last.
Do We Need One, and for What?Starting with the work, not the title.5
- Which function is overstretched: sales, operations, finance, people
- Which decisions the family does not need to make itself
- Whether a senior hire or a stronger team underneath would help more
- What the business can afford, now and later
- Whether a family member could do the job, and whether they should
What to Hand OverAuthority, not just tasks.5
- Decisions the manager can make alone
- Decisions they should consult on
- Decisions that stay with the family
- Budgets, hiring and approvals within their area
- The information they will need to do the job
If the list of what stays with the family is longer than the list of what is handed over, it is worth asking what the role really is.
Hiring for a Family BusinessA different environment from a large company.5
A candidate who is told the whole picture and still accepts is much more likely to stay than one who finds out in the second month.
- Looking for people who have worked with owners before
- Being honest at interview about family involvement and how decisions are made
- Checking references and what the person did in previous jobs
- Meeting the people they will work with before an offer
- Explaining the family's expectations on hours, loyalty and changes
Pay, Terms and OwnershipBeing straightforward.5
- Pay that reflects the role and the market
- Whether any performance-linked pay applies, and how it is calculated
- A written appointment letter or contract, with scope, notice and confidentiality
- What the manager can and cannot expect about ownership
- A lawyer's review of anything that gives rights over the business
Sharing ownership or promising it later is a legal and tax matter. Do not do it informally.
Introducing ThemThe first month sets the tone.5
- Telling staff plainly what the manager will do and who reports to them
- Backing the manager in public, and questioning them in private
- Explaining the change to relatives who may feel bypassed
- Introducing them to key customers and suppliers
- Not contradicting their decisions in front of their team
Working With a ManagerThe ongoing relationship.5
- A regular, short review of numbers and decisions
- Honest feedback from both sides
- Clarity on how disagreements with the family are resolved
- Giving credit when it is deserved
- Not treating every mistake as proof of the decision to hire
When It Is Not WorkingRecognising it early.5
Ending a manager's role has legal consequences as well as personal ones. Take advice on the contract before acting.
- The manager keeps coming back for approvals
- Family members keep going around the manager
- Staff treat the manager as temporary
- Either side starts to keep information back
- What a fair parting looks like, and how to handle it
Questions the session works through
- Is the business big enough to need one?
- How do I stop myself from taking the decisions back?
- What if staff trust the family and not the manager?
- What if the manager is better at the job than my relative?
- How do we avoid losing them in two years?
What participants leave with
- A list of what could be handed over in their own business
- A first draft of the role, its authority and its limits
- A list of questions to ask a candidate and to answer honestly
- A plan for introducing a manager to staff and family
- A list of terms to put in writing
How the session runs
People from family businesses, including at least one who has worked as a non-family manager where possible, describe how it went, what each side expected and what they would change. An exercise follows in which each participant lists what they would hand over and what they would keep, and then open questions. Nobody in the room is recruiting or selling an executive-search or consulting service. Evenings or weekends, in person or online.
What your students leave with
- A way to tell whether the business needs a manager, and for what
- A clearer sense of what authority to give, and what to keep
- A way to hire for fit with a family business, not only for skills
- A way to introduce a manager to staff and relatives
- A list of what to agree in writing, including pay, scope and review
- Awareness of why such hires sometimes fail, from both sides
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
A manager needs both authority and a clear role.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.