Many of my clients run a family business, with family members holding different roles within the company. Reading up on the subject, I found some interesting facts, not about the family unit, but about the staff that they employ and the way they work together.

Did you know that two thirds of the UK businesses are family run? That’s 4.7 million businesses! I became even more interested in the family business dynamic when I discovered that they are, in general, more successful than non-family businesses.

Before going further I want to clarify how I differentiate between family and teams, because after all some work teams can begin to feel and act like families, but they aren’t because of a fundamental difference.

Family are people who have a common enduring connection, usually through blood, marriage or adoption.

Teams are people who work together towards a common goal.

Here are my top 5 reasons to explain that difference in success outcomes:

1. Purpose: Why are we doing this?
   1. Within a company, the long term aims tend to be to build a company that can be sold or run without the business owner. The business owner builds a system and then trains his staff to run the system. The person who benefits most from this would normally be the founder and they are usually looking to achieve this within a fairly short timescale- usually within 3-5 years.
   2. Within a family, the business is often built as a legacy for the next generation, and may have been handed down by the previous one. The business is considered a both duty and privilege and there will be plans to pass it down to the children of the family. There is a sense of pride, continuity and commitment as a legacy is built for the future generations. It is not a short term perspective, rather a generational one.
2. Boundaries
   1. Most employees find it fairly easy to relate business matters to their workplace and personal matters to their home, because the people and topics are different.
   2. Within a family business, it is important that clear boundaries are put in place so that the boardroom table is where business is discussed, strategized and taken forward and the dining table is where family matters are discussed and personal matters resolved. Business and family roles must remain clear and communication is key. I remember smiling when I heard the Marketing Manager on the phone, “Hello, Mum, am I speaking to you as my manager or my mother right now?”
3. Staff Development
   1. When we consider the talents of our employees, we can place them in a role in which they can excel and create development plans so they can train for future positions within the company. This can remove the possible panic when a key member of staff decides to leave the company, with little time to organise and train a replacement.
   2. In a family business, the talent is scouted long before people are in the business; children can be groomed from an early age for their assigned roles and will have culture experience and awareness of the company long before they take up a position in it. This early planning can become a culture in a family business and members can see their path through the company from the experience of their parents and grandparents. I heard a consultant tell me of a knock on his hotel room door, when he opened it the grandchildren wanted to speak with him because they were concerned about how their future business was being ran by their parents.
4. Staff Turnover
   1. In a company, people leave for all sorts of reasons, and staff turnover remains one of the biggest challenges for a growing business. When people do not see a clear or inviting future where they are, it is easy for them to be enticed by another employer and the promise of some greener grass.
   2. In a family business, the heirs have been brought up in the culture of the business throughout their childhood and have a vested interest in the success of the business, with strong family values and a future focus. When they bring on staff, the culture extends throughout the workplace and they too get that feeling of belonging which encourages their commitment to the future of the company.
5. Systemisation
   1. The secret to building a successful business is creating a system that provides a valuable product or service for clients and then training the staff to work the system.
   2. With a family business there is always an awareness of long term plans to hand to the next generation, and to keep it in the family.

So how do we create a family culture round the business? By making the purpose of the business extraordinary and making sure every person working in the business knows they contribute to achieving that purpose, regardless of what their job actually is.

The best story I heard is one about NASA. I’m told that back when NASA was pouring all their resources into the effort to win the space race, from the CEO right down to the toilet cleaner, they all answered the question, “Why do you come to work” – with the same reply,

“To put men on the moon”

That’s the best purpose driven culture story I’ve heard and what a difference going to work not to clean toilets, instead to be a part of something much bigger, “to put men on the moon”.

Build a business that’s like a family, where you’re are all working towards the same thing. Don’t underestimate the power and significance of belonging, of working in a great business towards a great purpose. Such a thing makes us want to contribute, to give the best we have to commit and be part of something so much greater than just ourselves.