December 2010
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By Tom Beug
Family business owners should ask three questions before they hire a son or daughter — or another relative.
Make certain that you test your answers with an outside, independent, impartial and unbiased confidant. That would not be your spouse.
Your employees are in a lose-lose situation if you ask them. Think of it from their perspective. What happens if they say it’s a bad idea and you do it anyway. Or, what happens if they say it’s a great idea, it doesn’t work out, and they have to tell you that it isn’t working out?
So let’s take a look at the consequences of your answers to the above three questions.
Would you hire them if they weren’t related to you?
Sure you would, you say. But really, what is the son’s or daughter’s job history? Would you hire someone else with the same job history and references?
Best practice is to let your progeny or relative prove themselves at another company. School and that outside experience will help them develop their specific interests and talents in business.
Clarify their job responsibilities. As with any prospective employee, you need to document the results that you expect from a son, daughter or relative in the first six months or so.
Do they want the job? Is it their ambition or yours?
It is likely the dream of every successful business owner to leave a successful business to a child or children. But if they are not interested in the business or don’t have the ability to drive it forward, you will have left them a millstone rather than a happy life.
If kids are raised with the understanding that they will take over the business, one of two bad things can happen. They can feel obligated to take over the reigns even if the don’t want to, or, they can develop a sense of entitlement.
Which is more important: your relationship as a parent or the son or daughter’s position in the business?
Remember, if it doesn’t work, you will have to fire him or her, or tolerate a problem employee. You need an exit strategy before you hire.
A son, daughter or relative can be a great asset to a family business — or they can bring on myriad problems. Hire them as you would any other employee, and you’ll reduce the chances of problems that can hinder your business and your family.
Tom Beug is president of The Summit Group, a multi-disciplinary business consulting group based in Milwaukee, www.summitassociates.com. He can be reached via e-mail at tombeug@2ndsummit.com.
Wilfred A. Peterson offered a great insight on the meaning of Christmas in his "The Art of Living." I present his simple yet powerful message as my holiday thought for you:
Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It's lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It's higher thought and a greater plan. It's glorious dream in the soul of man.
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