Family Charter 5 Reasons To Have One In Your Business

In an earlier Vlog I talked about Family Charters or a Family Council when you've got a family business. As you can probably appreciate family businesses bring their own set of dynamics that some other businesses don't and so for a business and especially if it's inter-generational, sometimes a Family Charter can actually help smooth the waters.

So I just want to tell you why you would potentially have a Family Charter, but more importantly what the benefits are.

The main reason is that the family members get to speak as one voice and hear as one voice. So instead of different family members hearing different bits of information it brings everyone together. This can be very useful as sometimes in a family business not all family members are actually involved in the business on a day-to-day basis.

I'd just like to say that Family Charters sit outside the existing company, they're part of the Shareholders' Agreement. Nor are they not part of your Board Charter. They actually sit outside the business, but it's bringing that whole family focus together.

So what are the benefits? Well I've got five of them!

1) The first is that having good clarity among family members brings longevity for the business, especially for those inter-generational businesses.
2) The next one is it really provides support for the CE, that might be a family member or someone external to the family, but it brings a whole wraparound family support for them.

3) It also represents the family not just today, but for the future as well.

4) It celebrates success and achievement, something that quite often gets overlooked in family businesses.

5) And it really helps foster that family relationship from a broader business perspective.

So if you have a family business and there are siblings involved, or it's inter-generational and you really want to bring clarity to that role, make sure that family members are all treated equally, then give some consideration around a Family Charter or Family Council.

So think about the five things listed above when you think about your business planning, your marketing and your sales, the operational side of your business, the finance and admin aspects and the people perspective.

Thanks very much and until next time, take care out there.

For more about putting together a Family Charter or Family Council, give me a call on 021 748 142 or flick an email to john@planaconsulting.co.nz