How To Separate “Family” From Your Family Business

How about this for a life-changing story…

The integrator of a family business and I were talking and she was nearly in tears.

She, her husband, and their two grown sons were running a rapidly growing company. They loved employing people with great jobs and serving their customers. By most people’s measure, they were successful.

However, for the six years before starting their EOS® journey, every single family gathering included discussions about the business. They felt that they were always working – especially on Sundays when they got together for dinner.

This became an increasing problem when both of their sons got engaged. Their fiancés’ often felt left out of conversations, because they were.

As this integrator and her husband started talking about stepping back from the business, they got in more and more arguments about who should take it over.

Both sons were highly qualified, dedicated, and cared deeply about the employees and customers, but they both started accusing each other of not performing in their individual roles. It was getting personal.

Both sons wanted to play an important role in the business. Both parents had ideas about who would do a better job.

Feelings were getting hurt. Resentments were starting to grow. The integrator feared that the business would end their family.

Getting A Family Business Started on EOS

We got them started on their EOS journey with a clear and pure Accountability Chart™, effective Level 10 Meetings™, and a Scorecard with a handful of numbers on it.

After a year on EOS, the integrator and I were talking again. She was nearly in tears, but this time, for a completely different reason.

• The family had stopped talking about the business during family time. Everything they needed to discuss was handled in the Level 10 Meetings. Their time as a family was more open to the sons’ fiancés so that they could rebuild their family relationships.
• The Accountability Chart made it clear that one of the sons would be a great visionary for the business and the other would be great at running the finance function. They realized that they needed to hire a non-family member to be the integrator and another to run ops and sales when the parents retired. Who ran the business was no longer a personal issue. It was a decision made for the greater good of the business.
• The Scorecard told the truth about everyone’s performance and there were no more guesses, hunches, or unfounded accusations. It stops being about personalities, egos, hunches, and history and starts being about where you’re taking the business, who you need in it to get there and what they need to be doing.

EOS is transformational for family businesses. It takes the personal issues out of your decisions, gets you all focused on the business, and often lets you have family time that is just for the family. Having a business operating system helps families stay strong and own strong businesses.

Now that’s a great life-changing story. What more could you ask for?

Next Steps:

• Download a copy of our free eBook, How to Lead World-Class Meetings
• Download a copy of the Accountability Chart™ from the EOS Toolbox™ to help you discover the right structure for your company.
• Download the Issues Solving Track™ from the EOS Toolbox to learn how to IDS™ (Identify, Discuss, and Solve) issues more effectively.