Alternatives to Place a Next Gen Member in a Family Business
Everyone thinks having proper governance and guidance on proceeding when the next generation is ready to work is the solution. The reality is that what the governance might imply - as a rule coming from way up in the family or from a great consultant might not be what is believed to be the best option for each family candidate.
Joining (or not) the family business out of college, gaining experience elsewhere, and then joining the company?
These are questions asked repeatedly, and there is still no golden rule. It all depends on the family, its candidates, the company structure, governance, and the capacity and ability of current leadership and the next gen.
So, what is the best job place to allow your kids to join the family business - at the top, the middle, or the bottom? Many families around the globe went through this question and still do.
Suppose you are a multigenerational family business leader. In that case, you know this is a hot topic, especially when your next generation is ready to start professional life as an adult (probably after graduating from college or an MBA program).
What is the right thing to do in those moments? This question concerns most of my clients going through this process, as it can bring an array of spiky points of view.
I've found three predominant ways families can handle this.
1. Starting from the top
To start from the very top requires preparation, study, experience, and personal and process development. Placing those graduates in places requiring expertise and experience without actual knowledge can be a pandora's box. Some cases are successful, and some others a total failures. If you are going through this process, you know that this person requires professional and life experience, work ethic, high values, self-confidence, leadership skills, emotional intelligence, resilience, and a bright and curious mind.
In those successful stories, those placed at the top found success and performance because that family planted those seeds very early on in life. It is essential to understand that even though the story is successful, by doing so, you are creating a shortcut and bypassing a process that can make a much more substantial impact and success in the life of this person. Why? Because by not giving them the pressure this responsibility creates, you are allowing an organic process. You are giving this future leader space to mature, make better decisions, boost personal and professional areas of their lives, and think that family business is the best fit for them.
What is your goal?
Are you a family business leader always looking to develop and expand the company and the team? Even if you know your next-gen has a bright mind, by placing them at the top, you are narrowing their future leadership ability and their future evolution.
The most significant impact we can create comes from our minds. Allowing the mind to integrate things without the heavy burden of the family company makes them make better decisions.
Suppose this young professional is placed out of college at the top of the company. In that case, the idea of personal expansion gets restricted, even if their performance and leadership create big margins for the company. The company leadership took years to make it to the leading role. Placing a young next-gen at the top will bypass a logical process and create a narrow vision because their leadership journey is starting from the same current leadership position and lacking a solid base, those years of rich experience, struggles, challenges, and successes.
2. Starting from the middle
This approach might bring a young professional already well prepared to a middle management position.
Best practices show that there is success here when this individual is someone that has some prior experience. Probably either out of college and has also worked elsewhere before and might or not hold an MBA degree.
In my family story, if our kids are interested in joining the family business, they need to work outside the company for a few years. The whole point is to make them understand how it feels to be a regular employee, feel one more in between many, and not be recognized as owners. When the next-gen realizes how it feels in those jobs, they know how to be better leaders because they understand the mindset. They have been there before.
After gaining experience, going through the expected frustrations and challenges, and learning from that, they come to the company and share those learnings. They need a minimum of years to go through this process organically. There is much power in this case when they can bring different perspectives and not known best practices after joining the family business. Those years will make them resilient and wiser. For me, the more experience they bring, the more comprehensive the outlook will be, and the higher the impact in personal and professional areas of their life.
3. Starting from the bottom
Placing the next gen at the bottom is the old-school approach, and even though it is a best practice, some interesting points need to be addressed here. Starting from the bottom will give the next-gen a cruel reality of life, and at the same time, depending on their upbringing can create a challenge in how they connect with staff and carry work ethics and values.
Are you aware of your next-gen readiness? This situation might bring two polarizing pictures.
On one side, it can create trauma to show up in a way they are not ready for. They lack the skills to stay afloat in an environment that looks frightening, carrying a too heavy weight of what their last name is. This bottom placement also might create a belief that it needs to be and look perfect in front of others because of the filiation to the company's leadership. Bad behavior gets punished by the ecosystem and judged by others. This will subsequently interfere with their self-confidence, capacity, and ability to take the leadership stand.
Gaining experience outside the company will help your kids better connect with everyone in the organization and understand how to empathize and connect with them.
On the other hand, the image examples of the older generation might create shadows in those moments when things are not working well, and those might feel challenged or struggling (part of a professional's normal expected evolution). Those comments like – You are not like your father- You are not like your uncle- You are not like your grandfather - You are not like your brother or sister. This reality might create limiting beliefs that ultimately limit their future performance and leadership expansion. This creates a mindset where the improvement is because they want to match expectations (under the need for validation). Important to understand that in this way, the motivation comes from a need to be liked and validated and not from the person's true intention.
I believe there are no absolute truths here and the exceptions to the rule. I've seen success in all three approaches. The secret lies in having the mindset and getting to shape the mind of those next generations early on and planting those seeds and watering them from their early childhood.
To have successful next-gen leadership, you must dedicate quality time to them. An excellent education is crucial; however, the education that comes from the home is the most meaningful because it is ingrained in them and is what will inspire, build trust, and self-confidence and develop your future next-gen from the root.
If you are a very successful leader, you know your current success requires dedication, time, and trial and error. You know that mastery comes from repetition and is not only carried on in the last name. Similarly, you constantly focus on your company revenue and ROI - What can be more important than your family? What can beat the investment of a dedicated parent with a plan and a strategy? Like you do for your company, investing time and energy to form, boost and expand your team's leadership is essential. Imagine if you apply this same way of thinking and support yourself in bringing the best in your most significant assets, which are your kids?
