There are many opinions about the top strengths of family business leaders.
One of my recent projects answers that question.
We (Kent Rhodes, Ed.D) and I recently developed and validated a 360 assessment process for next generation family business leaders. See www.AssessNextGen.com for details. We determined the top 50 items.
Our recent research found that the number 1, top strength, or Career Catalyst for family business leaders is Item 13: “Keeps confidences about family business wealth.”
Hmmm. On a scales of 1-10 how well does your family business keep confidences about family wealth? Here are some quick thoughts about how to apply this finding to your family enterprise or family business consulting.
For more details contact Doug Gray, Ph.D. at Gray@theFBCG.com or Kent Rhodes (Ed.D.) at Rhodes@theFBCG.com
Here is the transcript for your reference and sharing:
Title: What is the most important strength for Family Business leaders?
Description on YouTube post: A quick research update from www.AssessNextGen.com. We can now answer that ancient question, “What is the most important strength of Family Business leaders?” Here are some tips for your family enterprise or consulting.
Transcript of video:
Sometimes people wonder, “what are the top competencies that family business leaders need?” And I’m happy to report some early results from the Assess Next Gen Family Business Leadership 360 assessment. This data is from 163 responses in the last few months. Here is the top score, in other words, the Career Catalyst, the behavior that is number one. I’ll give it to you and then I’m going to ask you to reflect on it.
The top score, the thing that our raters said others ought to do, is item number 13: “Keep confidences about the family business wealth.” To repeat, the most important strength of Family Business leaders is to “keep confidences about family business wealth.” What does that mean for you and your family or your enterprise?
I recently asked that question of a friend of mine, John Broons, who’s in Australia, who is pretty brilliant. And he said, “family wealth needs to be part of the conversation. It’s too often not discussed.”
I agree. We need to prepare for risks, like a transition or a succession or continuity or another line of business. And too often family members don’t have any idea of what’s next. There’s the core business. Perhaps there might be other lines of business, but family wealth conversations should definitely stay within the family.
Many of my clients have a charter or clause which states, “This is what we will say, and to whom.” They may have a conversation with the wealth advisor and estate attorney, and they may not have that conversation with somebody like me, a business consultant. The family members are the only ones who have access to that information. This is to protect them from journalists or politicians or inappropriate people seeking to learn something about that wealth. And often this confidentiality clause is written in an agreement. So we’re really talking about the two first words here…
Keep confidences. The most important strength of Family Business leaders is to keep confidences.
How do we keep confidences? I think we need to reinforce some useful guidelines. My clients require trust guidelines. Let me give you a quick example. One of my clients has eight G4 children on this side and four children on this other side. Potential conflicts, right? So they made an agreement in writing, and verbally reinforced it in every one of their meetings, about what could be shared with Doug as the family business consultant working with that G4 generation. My focus is on leadership development. Part of my job is to reinforce for them what’s confidential and what they need to keep confidential.
It’s a bit like driving a car when you’re driving down an unfamiliar road. You’ve got the white lines on the right side, the yellow lines on the left side. Like a good driver, we need to keep confidences. We don’t want to go to the edge of those lines. We don’t want to go off the center of the road. We certainly don’t want to go in the dirt or the gravel on the side.
So, my invitation is to keep confidences about family business wealth. Keep that conversation sacred. There you go. Tip of the moment.
For more details on the Assess Next Gen Leadership 360 process, see www.AssessNextGen.com
In this episode: Rod Zeeb & Doug Gray, Co-Founder of Assess Next Gen and a Consultant with The Family Business Consulting Group, discuss trends in both qualitative and quantitative assessments that are available, information for access to the assessments, and collaborators to help you if you need it.
You may think I’m a good planner. Not always true. When my loved ones want a Christmas gift they send me digital links. I select something. Then on Christmas Eve I run around Nashville, TN to pick up my gifts. It’s a long time habit. Full of joy and occasional last minute substitute gifts.
Apparently I’m not alone.
On December 24, 20198 I raced into a jewelry store at Green Hills Mall in Nashville to pick up a gift.
Marshall Goldsmith was doing the same for his loved ones.
You may know Marshall as the best-selling author of “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” (2007) or “Mojo” (2009) or “Triggers” (2015). Or as one of the most influential executive coaches and leadership consultants of our time. Or as a contributor of CoachSource, the largest global provider of executive coaches, where I serve as an engagement manager.
Or as another person racing around to find meaningful gifts for his loved ones.
Click the button below to access the recording of the webinar. Feel free to share it with your network! Below are resources for your continued learning:
Free copy of the first chapter of Doug’s new book, Objectives + Key Results (OKR) Leadership; How to apply Silicon Valley’s secret sauce to your career, team or organization (2019).
If you’d like to learn more about how 15Five can help unlock the potential of your workforce, click here.
P.S. 15Five’s Best-Self Conference is right around the corner. Come learn from industry experts such as Simon Sinek, Amy Edmondson, Julie Zhou, and Claude Silver. Reserve your ticket now!
I recently published the following article on Corporate leadership.
This article is reproduced with permission from Choice, the Magazine of Professional Coaching in this link: choice_V17N1_issue_Doug-Gray
Here is the text of the article for you to share…
Title: Telling Stories; Using systems thinking to help your business clients attain meaningful outcomes
Throughout recorded history, for over 4,500 years, we have used stories to teach and entertain.
Coaches use stories. Coaches teach to add value to clients. By definition, coaching is a collaborative process for clients to attain meaningful outcomes.
Are you using stories to add value for your clients?
Here are two case studies that you can apply to your corporate coaching business immediately.
Case Study 1. Recently I explained Systems Thinking to a client who owns a small leadership development business using professional actors. This CEO was struggling to articulate the unique value of his company. And he needed to prepare for a big meeting with a prospective buyer that could lead to a potential 500 percent increase above his previous annual revenue.
He was excited and scared. I mentioned leverage, Archimedes, and the idea that “with a big enough lever one could move the world.” When he wanted examples, I told him a story about applied systems thinking that Macdonald, Burk and Stewart (2006) implemented at entrenched mining companies in Australia. Those leaders were unable to see past the obstacles in front of them, such as safety incidents, high turnover and absenteeism, and erratic productivity costs. Then they created transformational changes.
When my CEO client wanted to find simple words to describe the cascading effects of organizational change, he drew a model with concentric circles like a bulls-eye. (I encourage you to take a pen or pencil and write this down. It is a simple model that works well.)
The smallest ring was unlabeled, to represent the chaotic core of deep change. The second outer ring was “individual” to represent the changes that leaders need to make. The third outer ring was “team” to represent the group of two or more people that add leverage. If that group has one scoreboard, then by definition they are a team. The fourth outer ring was “organizational” to represent the scope of leaders influencing others toward a better vision of the future. The core skill of such leaders is public optimism.
So, I encouraged this client to find the words to describe a better future for his organization. He developed a story using a pebble dropped into a pool of calm water. This CEO client needed to know that others have applied leverage. He needed a simple structure that he could adopt. You can adopt this model immediately.
One result from his client meeting is that he literally “found the words” and developed his own story about leverage. He developed new marketing content. He improved his reputation. He asked for the business. Yes, he won the big engagement with that new prospect. And yes, he did grow his business 500 percent above the previous annual revenue.
Outcome-based coaching is critical for any leader. Perhaps you can do something similar in your coaching business?
Case Study 2.
The second story encourages leaders to apply leverage to a bigger vision of a better future.
Like many International Coach Federation (ICF) members, I volunteer as a board member at our local chapter to plan annual activities. One of our colleagues leads the corporate Learning and Development group at Bridgestone Americas (a leading automotive company). She needed to develop programs using Systems Thinking.
Specifically, she needed to prepare to replace an aging workforce, and had developed programs with the largest university in the state, using values from their company and partnering with the US Naval Academy and US Army at West Point.
They needed to teach essential leadership skills using their company values at a public university. Concurrently, Bridgestone needed to relocate 30-50 percent of their senior leaders from two other states to their new corporate headquarters in Nashville, TN, without losing significant intellectual capital or market capital.
She was both excited and overwhelmed about the changes ahead for Bridgestone. She needed to discuss ways to apply Senge’s (2006) model of a learning organization to those changes. I volunteered some stories to help her design solutions. My hope is that she has the corporate leadership executive sponsorship and required resources to implement systems thinking at that organization. We all need to transform organizations.
CONCLUSIONS
Notice the pattern? Leaders, by definition, influence others toward a better future. They find the words. They seek partners. They use leverage to gain results. Whether you are coaching a small business owner or a director in a large organization, you can help your clients attain meaningful outcomes.
The cornerstone of systems thinking is personal mastery, defined as “continually becoming” (Senge, 2006). In all major religions and most philosophies, there is a recognition that humans are aspirational. We stare at the clouds, stars and weather patterns and try to understand objective “reality.” We stare at social media and fear-based stimuli and try to determine useful “facts.” We work with clients who are stuck. We help our clients overcome perceived obstacles. Thankfully, humans are continually developing. Amid those chaotic stimuli, we tell stories to teach, entertain, and achieve meaningful outcomes.
As coaches, our primary role is to help others attain meaningful outcomes. Case studies are one way to help our clients make smarter decisions today.
A coaching query is: How are you using case studies or stories to help your clients attain meaningful outcomes?
REFERENCES:
ICF (2016). 2016 Global Coaching Study; Executive Summary. International Coaching Federation.
MacDonald, I., Burke, C., & Stewart, K. (2006). Systems Leadership: creating positive organizations. Hampshire, England: Gower.
Senge, P. M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organiza- tion. Random House/Currency.
Author Bio: Doug Gray, PhD, has been an International Coaching Federation certified coach at the PCC level since 2006. He is CEO of Action Learning Associates, LLC. His dissertation explored global executive coaching and leader outcomes. He models systems thinking by serving hundreds of clients. Contact him today.
Recent Comments