Family Business Relationships

How Effective Are You In Family Business Relationships?


Questions about yourself:
1. When disagreeing with a family member, I am generally able to remain calm.
True False

2. I can generally hear complaints in an “opportunity to learn” light.
True False

3. Whenever I have a complaint or concern, I can generally bring it up in a way that invites discussion rather than defensiveness.
True False

4. My family business members would generally describe me as being a good collaborator.
True False

5. My belief is that in our family business, if we pull together, all things are possible. I look for and try to enhance those efforts in my partners and with our employees.
True False

6. I look for the positive intentions even when perplexed by behaviors.
True False

7. I can take responsibility for bringing an issue to the table.
True False

8. I believe that I model respect for others within the business, even when disagreeing with an idea or issue.
True False

9. My family members and co-workers would describe me as someone who has clear direction achieved through collaboration.
True False

10. I am basically an optimistic person; I see possibilities and potential more readily than roadblocks or problems.
True False

11. I am able to talk directly with the person with whom I disagree rather than to others.
True False

Questions about the family business relationships:

12. We have established methods for resolving conflict.
True False

13. We have a structure for decision-making.
True False

14. We have regularly scheduled times for meeting to plan goals for both near and far.
True False

15. We let each other know in many ways that we care about our family relationship.
True False

16. Our family business can best be described as “relationship first” rather than “business first”.
True False

17. In our business, roles and job descriptions are clearly defined.
True False

18. We are able to openly discuss problems and areas of disagreement.
True False

19. We each feel a sense of accountability to each other.
True False

20. We are all aware of and discuss how family, business and ownership intermingle and that each is affected by and affects the other.
True False

Scoring:
The more questions that you have answered with “true” indicate the better prepared you are to be a part of a healthy family business relationship.

If you answered “true” to 15 or more questions, then you can feel good about your relationship EQ and congratulate yourself and your family on their many strengths and resources.

Answering “true” to 10 – 14 questions would indicate that you and your family clearly have some strengths on which to build. You might consider such things as holding a family retreat to discuss a means to strengthen other skills, read together one or more of the many books that have been written that share information and exercises about how to develop these skills, meet with others in family business fields to learn what they did that worked or invite an outside consultant to work with your family.

If you were not able to answer “yes” to even 10 of these questions, consider talking with your family about the possibility of inviting someone in to help strengthen and develop these essential skills for a healthy and successful family business.