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Last updated 10-January-2001
A Web-Browser’s Guide to Genus’ Services
By Thomas D. Davidow, Ed. D.
Copyright © 2000 - All rights reserved.
Genus Resources, Inc.
Introduction
When people first consider looking for outside help with family business issues, they’re often ambivalent. After all, if they were strong, wouldn’t they be able to handle their own problems internally? These are the same people who would never hesitate to get expert legal advice or accounting advice. But with family issues, things are different. Families are very private. They often abide by an unwritten rule: No one shares family affairs with anyone outside the family. Therefore, to begin reaching out for help, it’s necessary to overcome the notion that asking for help is breaking a basic family rule. Genus Resources understands and respects the issue of privacy. All communications with our professionals are confidential, and this respect for confidentiality begins with your initial inquiry.
We’ve observed in our practice that privacy, wealth and success can create isolation. Isolated families lack the benefit of knowing that other families wrestle with issues similar to theirs. One of our primary goals is to help families understand that many problems they face are inherent in the nature of the family controlled enterprise structures in which they live and work. Such structures include family controlled operating businesses, family offices, or trusts or foundations.
Readiness
The history of each family and its present constellation of relationships create a series of dynamics beyond the control of any individual family member. Each family member’s feelings in response to family history and structure may be absolutely normal and reasonable under the circumstance. However, the manner in which a family member’s feelings are acted out and communicated can cause discomfort and conflict for other members of the family. Before any change in the system can be initiated effectively, the family must be ready to take on the challenge of addressing these areas of discomfort or conflict. Family members can be in different stages of readiness. We understand and appreciate the difficulties involved in a family reaching agreement to take action, and we know that being patient is ultimately more effective than pushing people into a situation before they are ready.
Genus Resources recognizes that in any change process there are different stages. Drawing on the work of Dr. James Prochaska, a psychologist and expert in assisting people through difficult changes, we provide assistance for individuals and families at all the stages.
Some families and individuals are in the pre-contemplative stage of change and are not ready for information. In these instances, having advisors, lawyers and accountants well versed in the complex issues of family business is essential, as these professionals can be guided to know when the right time to refer a family for more information would be. Genus Resources continues to design and implement training programs for family business advisors that give them information about the stress points in family owned businesses and how to get information to their clients.
Other families are in the contemplative stage of change and are seeking information to understand the difficulties that they are experiencing. They are no longer in denial about their problems and are ready for information but not yet ready for action.
In the preparation stage of change they are almost ready to take action and are building up the emotional momentum to initiate action. The action stage, as its name implies is when the clients are ready to address the issues. Maintenance is a stage where they work on sustaining the gains they have made. Termination stage of change implies that the change is completed sufficiently that the change process is completed.
Who calls Genus?
When Genus was founded in 1985, 95% of the phone calls we received were crisis oriented. These callers were in great pain. Their business was suffering because their family issues were affecting the overall productivity and profitability of their businesses. Today, only 25% of the phone calls we receive are crisis calls with family issues ready to "bubble over," where we need to respond quickly to the caller’s request for an appointment. Fully half of today’s callers present family business issues in various stages of tension and discomfort in both family and business arenas, but not crisis. The remaining 25% of callers seeking advice now are families in which both family and business are in remarkably good shape. However, these families want to ensure the strength and well being of both their families and their businesses through sound planning for the future.
As we begin the new century, calls for information about our services come from an ever-widening variety of sources: parents/founders, siblings, grown children, the next generation of business owners or managers, as well as professional advisors to the business such as the family’s lawyer or accountant. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our methodology with whomever reaches out from the business to make the first call.
What we say when a family member calls Genus:
First, we offer the caller a brief overview of Genus’ services and explain our consulting methodology. The first step in this process is an initial interview with a Genus consulting team. We explain how a Genus consulting team will meet with you face-to-face only if all family members currently working in the business are present at the meeting. There is no fee for this two-hour meeting if it is held in our offices. If Genus consultants are required to meet with the family at another location, we charge nominally for our travel time and for travel expenses. *
The initial interview gives both your family and Genus Resources an opportunity to talk with one another about both the issues and our methodology. It also gives Genus a chance to determine whether our resources are the best intervention at this time. Most importantly, this face-to-face meeting gives your family the opportunity to assess the chemistry between your family members and Genus Resources’ professionals.
Sometimes the caller has already informed the rest of the family that s/he is seeking information on outside resources. If s/he has "permission" from the other family members to do this research, the concept of the initial meeting is easy for the family to understand. However, even callers who have not previously discussed their search with the family understand that all family members in the situation know that there is a problem. They may differ as to the severity of the issues and/or their willingness to seek outside help. We spend time trying to help the caller choose appropriate language to express to the family why s/he called Genus. We also help the caller assess the family’s willingness to contemplate getting help to resolve the presenting family and business challenges.
When a professional advisor calls Genus:
Although we hope that all of this information would also be of value to the professional advisor, the initial dialogue between a professional advisor to a family controlled enterprise and Genus would be slightly different. The same rules of confidentiality apply, but the conversation would center on the issues the family may be facing and whether the professional feels comfortable about making the referral. We would also try to help a professional advisor understand the family dynamics presented in the case and provide ways for him/her to approach the family about suggesting the benefits of a family business consultation.
Sometimes the referring professional is interested in being in the room during the initial interview -- sometimes not. This decision is his/hers. We are comfortable either way. Generally, the professional relays the information to the client and provides them with our telephone number or requests permission from the family for us to call. Referral fees are never paid or accepted.
Rationale
There are many reasons for asking that all family members be present at the initial meeting. When the family has agreed to this initial meeting, it is an indicator to us of the family’s commitment to itself and to its relationships. It indicates that the families who will be coming to this meeting have explicitly acknowledged that there is a problem. It also suggests that each member of the family holds open the possibility that s/he is willing to work together to resolve the family business issues. Since we only work with clients who have this ability to gather, we work with a self-selecting population. This reality increases our chances of success because it assesses readiness of the family to do the work.
For any family business consultation to be useful, a family has to be ready to take on the emotional risk of change. While the process of working with Genus obviously involves dollars and time, the real risk is to members of the family both at the conscious and unconscious level. Families usually resist change because the "devil" you know can be better than the unknown. In all families, various family members have roles such as the "joker," the "screw-up" or the "achiever." There can be comfort in these roles. One’s identity can be caught up in the role a person plays within the family.
The Genus consultation process can and will both change communication patterns of the family and address the personal and family issues that stand in the way of effective business management, business growth and, in some cases, business survival. Families have to be ready to undertake these efforts. Genus believes that taking on a family business client when the readiness of the family has not been adequately assessed constitutes, in our view, a breach of ethics that will lead to failure of the engagement, a waste of money, and a waste of time for all parties. The most severe consequence, however, would be for the consultation to generate a sense of failure. Families who struggle with the unbelievably difficult issues inherent in family controlled enterprise do not need another failure. A failed engagement can send the incorrect message that there is no hope for change and, therefore, will make it harder for individual family members to risk attempting any change in the future.
The initial interview is a discussion about the issues that the family is facing. It gives the opportunity for the family to ask questions of Genus professionals and allows the family to make an informed decision whether it will choose to go forward. Implicit in all of this is the need for a further assessment of the family’s readiness and whether of not Genus Resources is the professional group the family chooses to work with.
The best, true (and most humorous) example of family readiness happened during a recent phone conversation. "We first heard about you four years ago through friends who were clients of yours. Then I saw a newspaper article two years ago about your company that I cut out and put in my drawer. I reread the article six months ago. Are you free to meet with us tomorrow at 11:00 A.M.?"
Other families may be thinking about getting some help and are not sure. Take your time. When you and the family think you may be ready…call.
Chemistry
Readiness to undertake a Genus family business consultation requires a rapport be established at the initial meeting and development in the family of confidence in Genus’ capacity for the depth of the rapport necessary to work effectively with family members. We believe that our success over the years is attached to such rapport with our clients. The reason we believe that rapport is critical is that the material/information that family members will have to share with us in order for the consultants to be helpful is extremely private and powerful. The family and each of its members must believe that they will be understood by the consultants and that they and Genus share the same core values. Trust between the Genus professionals and our clients is indispensable.
We believe that one’s ability to trust is linked to sharing similar values. When one traces the success of a family business, one can always see the values inherent in the family that form the foundation of the business’ culture and organization. These values are seen in how the family interacts with its employees, its customers and its vendors. Successful family controlled enterprises strive always for long term success and profitability. But they are rarely driven by profits alone. Inherent in the most successful family businesses is the concept that if the business adheres to a set of core values (which most of the time are implicit not explicit) profitability and financial success over time will ensue.
Genus Resources also has a set of core values. And while we do not conclude that our core values are the same as every family business that retains us, we do believe that our clients and our firm share the characteristics of being values driven enterprises. It is this commonality which underlies the necessary rapport for a client and Genus to make the engagement successful.