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How culturally engaged is your family business?
Maximising the value of your family business culture to overcome the retention challenge
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Every family business implements some kind of change at some point, whether that be a change of leadership, change of technology, change of strategy, or change of structure.
Most change initiatives take a lot of time, effort, resources, and money so you need to ensure that these initiatives will be successful. Did you know that one of the reasons that change initiatives fail is because of a lack of understanding of how much a change in culture will be needed to deliver that successful change?
Managers have such a huge impact on the engagement of their team. It is often said that people leave their managers not the organisation.
So as a family business leader, how can you ensure that all your managers are having frequent, and equally importantly, quality interactions with their team?
Managers have such a huge impact on the engagement of their team. It is often said that people leave their managers not the organisation.
So as a family business leader, how can you ensure that all your managers are having frequent, and equally importantly, quality interactions with their team?
Your family business culture is at the heart of everything you say and do. After all, it comes from long-held family values. Like never before, family businesses have the potential to attract new talent and retain existing employees.
During the acquisition process, cultural compatibility is likely to have been considered, particularly when it comes to the overall vision and company values of the family business. However, change is challenging, even if positive. Cultural integration is not something that can be left to chance.
Download these Key Steps to make your cultural integration a success.
The principle of working as a cross-functional team has been proven to deliver great results not only in outright business success, but more importantly as a driver for employee development and engagement.
Download our Top Tips on how to unlock the potential that cross-functional teams offer family-run businesses.
The principle of working as a cross-functional team has been proven to deliver great results not only in outright business success, but more importantly as a driver for employee development and engagement.
Download our Top Tips on how to unlock the potential that cross-functional teams offer family-run businesses.
Communication is the cornerstone of an engaged workforce. To feel engaged, your people need to feel connected to the company’s purpose, the role each of them plays in its success, and a connection to one another.
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A few months ago, I had a first introductory call with the CEO of a very successful family business.
Before our call, I had looked through their website. It gave me the basics - what they did, the industries they served - but nothing much about their values. Nothing that made them stand out.
Then the CEO started talking.
Are you looking to add hundreds of thousands - or even millions - of pounds in extra revenue to your business?
One of the biggest untapped opportunities I see in family businesses is this: you’re living your values internally, but you’re not showing customers how those values translate into tangible commercial value for them.
Not long ago, I spoke to a family business that prided itself on being “like a family” - supportive, loyal, and values-driven.
But scratch the surface, and a different story emerged.
They had aligned values. They had a strong culture. On paper, things looked great.
Yet in their rush to fill roles as their business had rapidly expanded, they’d brought in people who didn’t align with the ‘feel’ of the company.
A while ago, I worked with a family business that had just won a Best Place to Work award.
From the outside, things looked great. Employee retention was strong. Staff spoke positively about the company. Morale seemed high.
But inside the business, something didn’t add up.
One area of the organisation - just one - was completely out of step.
🚫 Engagement was low
🚫 Efficiency had dipped
🚫 And the culture in that department? Toxic
It wasn’t just unpleasant. It was starting to spill over into other areas. The company’s wider culture - and its performance - were under threat.
Earlier this year, I spoke to a family business that wanted help shifting their culture. Staff morale was mixed. Communication was inconsistent. Customer experience varied wildly depending on the department.
They had good values. But something wasn’t clicking.
When I asked how the leadership team was living those values day-to-day, they said: “Oh, we’re not looking at leadership right now. We’ve already decided the problem is further down.”
They wanted to “fix” the culture - without addressing the people who set the tone. It didn’t work. It never does.
At the end of a workshop with a leadership team earlier this year, I asked: “Which of your values brings the most value to your customers?”
Silence.
They had four strong values, but when pressed on which of these drove customer decisions, created competitive advantage, or improved margins…they were stumped.
Not because the values were wrong. But because they weren’t ‘working’ for the business. Not commercially. Not culturally. And certainly not strategically.
I know I have and it’s something I have to constantly stay aware of. And it’s something that many family business leaders struggle with. However, I was shocked the other day when having a great discussion with a very successful female family business leader who always appears to be super confident, purposeful and driven when she confessed to me that she still suffered from crippling Imposter Syndrome.
Without exception, all the family business leaders I am talking to right now are grappling with the often-thorny issue of how to attract and retain Generation Z colleagues. This younger generation of workers are coming into the workplace with often very different ideas of how they want their work life to be and what they expect from us as employers. And sometimes it’s hard to know how best to react to that as their approach to life may be very different from ours. However, the good news is that many family businesses already have a great track record of evolving with the times and staying ahead of the curve.
As a leader, people look to you as a living example of your company’s culture and values. Your words and actions will shape your company culture, every single day, either by your deliberate actions and approach or by more subtle messages that you send via your day-to-day behaviours. You play a key role in connecting with the hearts and minds of your people, reinforcing the values and acceptable behaviour in your culture.