How does one grow an already settled family business?

Dec 8
17:11

2019

James Vargas

James Vargas

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

Joining the family business is like entering into a professionally emotional workspace where every business decision is connected to core values and principles. Learn how to deal with such a situation and perform well to grow your family business by making the right efforts.

mediaimage

Business is a very professional word but when it is attached to the word family,How does one grow an already settled family business? Articles it automatically gets connected to many emotions and values. Taking over a family business is a daunting task as there is a great responsibility of keeping up the expectations and reaching the benchmark already set by your elders.

 

Jumping into already flowing business, you have to deal with many critical aspects of it where your decisions would be a matter of company growth. Setting your workflow that could match the existing pace of running the business is what you need to do first.

 

You are watching your business grow since childhood, so it probably would not be hard to catch up the things, but taking some important decisions like adding a new product, setting up a new location or taking the risk of the new financier is indeed a hard task for any business owner. 

 

For anyone who is a newbie in his/her family business and dreams to grow, below are some of the tips that can help you take it to the desired heights.

 

  • Observe and learn 

The most important thing that could impact the growth of the business is the learning and the understanding of the niche that you have as the new owner of the company. Get as much information from your elders about how they dealt with problems and what kind of solutions they have figured out in their times. This would make it easy for you to solve the existing problems without changing the hereditary pattern.

 

Observe the surroundings and the way things worked and what kind of improvement you think you can make or can suggest. Make notes about your observation and rethink it based on today's running corporate culture. If you think the existing process is good to go with the future developments then I suggest don't disturb the system in order to bring a change.

 

  • Keep emotions and business separate 

The most critical thing that comes with the family business is the emotions and values that took the business to the position it has currently achieved. Understand once you are into the office, you all are professionals, behave like one.

 

If you have more than one member from the family who is at the head responsibility to make decisions, make sure all of them are on-board during the important discussions of the company. The final decisions are to be made once all of the committee members agree on the same point. 

 

If you have a specific thing to convenience, explain briefly what you want to do and how it could benefit the organization's overall development.

 

  •  Build purposefully

Purpose and goals are what act as a base to build a foundation. Your empire is already built, what you need to do here is understand the purpose and define the new goals to be achieved by the company.

 

Here before you make any decisions, study the existing work scenario, find the areas of improvement, if the current operations are working well, its time you can jump for the expansion plans. 

 

As a newcomer, you might be having many new ideas and also an enthusiasm to implement them, but be very thoughtful about your actions. Do not stress over mistakes but keep your own track of ups and downs.

 

  • Keep up the company's core values 

 Your elders might have built the business keeping some core values in mind. Make yourself well aware of those things. Preserve the work ethics defined by them. 

 

If there is a process going on from years, try to analyze it and if you feel the need to bring a change, talk with the senior workers of the company as they are more experienced and have seen every wheel of fortune that the company went through. You can also meet business advisory services to get the right guidance about growing or maintaining the business as they are someone who knows the market from its roots.

 

  • Maintain old client and employee relations 

Employee and company growth go hand in hand. While your business was growing it connected many people whether its a client or the employee to build long-lasting relations to work for a lifetime. 

 

The relations built here are well nurtured by your elders and as the new owner of the company, it becomes your responsibility to maintain these relations to make it work further for you.

 

Some of your clients might be associated with the company for years, ensure that the new leader of the company will not make any difference in the customer service they have become familiar with years. Here you have to be very accurate about hiring new people in the company as you need to analyze whether they would be compatible to understand the values that your company keeps for their clients.

 

Summing Up

The feeling of being an entrepreneur might bring butterflies in your stomach but don't get overwhelmed with it. The new responsibilities are something that could bring out the best in you and your business. As the thoughts of the new generation leaders might differ from the older ones, but that is what we call change.

 

So don't be afraid to make your decisions, you are sailing in a very stable boat and all you need to do is learn to row it in the right direction with the pace of the new trends.

 

Article "tagged" as:

Categories: