The biggest concern among family members who are C-level executives at their family business is profitably growing the company. There are numerous ways they can be more successful and effective networking is habitually proven to be one of those ways.
“The various relationships of family members running their family firms as well as the connections of family members not in the business can be extremely important to the company’s success,” says John Bowen, founder of BSW Inner Circle. “While the majority of senior executives at family business recognize this to be true, most family members are not doing a very good job of benefiting from these networks, and they know it.”
According to Daniel Geltrude, Managing Partner of Geltrude & Company and Director of the firm’s Family Office Practice, “What is evident is that most family members have extensive and strong relationships in a number of different circles from the local community to cohorts of professionals to politicians. Although these relationships are often accessed to advance the agenda at the family firm, they are usually accessed reactively. It would likely be exponentially more advantageous to the family business if these relationships were systematically and strategically leveraged.”
There are several methodologies that can be employed to generate maximal returns from these networks. For example, one such process is street-smart networking. In this approach to maximize the usefulness of their networks, family members need to address a number of critical issues including:
• Having clear and delineated short-term and longer-term goals. These goals have to address not only what the family wants the business to achieve, but also how the family members benefit.
• A deep understanding of the depth and breath of their networks. An insightful understanding of the relationships family members have is essential. Also, the ability to extend beyond one degree of separation is regularly very useful. Mapping out these relationships usually attains best results.
• The prospective “value” of the people in the networks to the success of the family business. This comprises the resources they control and the resources controlled by people in their networks.
• How to create alignment between the goals and the relationships. In effect, the family members will get the best results when they have a good appreciation of what motivates the different people in their networks. Then they will be able to create connections between the “value” these individuals can provide and the goals of the family business.
When family members take a proactive and thoughtful approach to leveraging their relationships, it is possible for their family businesses to accomplish dramatically more. There are proven ways such as street-smart networking for family members to leverage their networks. Therefore, it is often a matter of making the necessary commitment to the process.
