How Executive Coaching Can Help Your Family Business

Are you involved in a family-run business? Did you know that most of the nation’s wealth lies in family-owned and controlled businesses? According to Reuters, 80% of the American workforce is employed by a family business; 35% of Fortune 500 companies and 60% of all public companies are owned or controlled by families.

When it comes to longevity, family businesses have an average lifespan of twenty-four years. Thirty-five percent of family businesses pass successfully to the second generation, 12% to the third generation, and 4% to the fourth. Executive coaching can help family business owners implement strategies to keep their businesses going for generations.

Working as an executive business coach in San Francisco and all across the nation has given me the opportunity to connect with family-run business executives, and has revealed to me how important it is for executives to strengthen their leadership skills to achieve both their personal and professional goals. It’s easy to get so caught up in the daily routine of running a business that you might lose sight of the bigger picture.

Family business, like any business, needs goal-setting strategies and a succession plan. More family business fall on hard times or even fail when an emergency occurs and there’s no succession plan in place. A good strategy demands strong leadership, teamwork, and the separation of the “family-business” from the “family.” Without these, the business is doomed for failure.

Here are 3 proven tips for the executive business leader to run a successful family business:

1. Separate work from home.

   Avoid discussing (or arguing about) business-related matters over the dinner table. A good leader understands that creating clear separation between work and family is critical to running a thriving business and creating a more stress-free, balanced, and enjoyable personal life.

2. Learn to accept change.

   As your children join the business they may have their own ideologies. If you encourage the integration of new ideas and tried-and-tested old working habits you might be pleasantly surprised. Change can be just what you need to grow your business and help build strong team-building and intrapersonal relationships with your potential successors.

3. Trust in a reliable executive coach.

   — Running a family business can be complex. Confide in a trusted advisor, not related to the family, who can offer unbiased insight and advice and key tips on leadership development, helping you become a better, more effective leader.

A personal business coach can help you effectively manage your home-life and work-life and teach you the required skills you need to confront problems, openly address issues, and resolve conflicts. A coach can help you navigate the minefield of creating a succession plan—an important function that is touchy and thus often neglected in family-owned companies.

Executive coaching for your family business

Joel Garfinkle offers executive coaching for family businesses to help you constructively run a business where everyone understands his or her roles and responsibilities, decisions are based on know-how and not emotions, and communication is transparent, clear, and direct.

Joel will actively listen to your personal and professional goals and offer you expert business consulting and business coaching advice resulting in a more profitable and successful business for you and your family.

Want to successfully take charge of your family business? Contact Joel Garfinkle for executive leadership training and coaching services to safeguard your family business for the present and for future generations.