Keeping it in the family
by Shivani Gupta,
Newcastle Herald Small Business Column,
published Monday, 13 June 2011
I had just finished a meeting with my new business colleague and he asked me “Can I have a kiss?”
Before you either shriek with horror or pull the paper closer to read the juicy details I should explain that my husband Scott has just joined my business.
While I love giving my husband a kiss I said “no”. The near kiss got me thinking about making sure we set some boundaries in our new family businesses.
It is hard to find exact statistics but I reckon that most businesses in Australia are small businesses and most small businesses are family businesses so whether to kiss or not is an issue for many people.
I am really looking forward to having Scott join the business. He has complimentary skills and brings an extra, highly skilled, pair of hands. He has always had a bit of involvement in the business and we work well together. It will hopefully give us a bit more flexibility as a couple in raising kids and running a house.
There will no doubt be challenges. According to the 2010 Australian Family and Private Business Survey conducted by RMIT University the equal most critical challenges confronting family businesses are communication between family members and letting go of leadership/ownership control (39.7%).
Interestingly, 40.9% of family business owner-managers believe that family-based issues are more critical than business-based issues and 45.5% believe that when family-based issues are resolved business issues can also be resolved.
I have been speaking to some other couples who work together for some tips. Scott and I have talked through some ground rules.
Of course the point we agreed up front was that our relationship is more important than any business.
We are only going to be working in the office together roughly one day a week so we don’t feel like we are on top of each other. Just like in any other business, we have made sure we are clear on who has what roles. After the near kiss, we agreed that, at work, we would think of each other as a colleague rather than as a spouse.
I think it will be important to try and not talk kids at work and work at home. One couple I spoke to allow half an hour after dinner to talk shop and then it is back to being husband and wife.
That couple reminded me that after five years they don’t always manage to stick to the rules and I am sure that this will also be the case for Scott and me. Like in any business it will be a case of continuous improvement.