Family firms should hold meetings

Family businesses should hold a regular meeting of all adult family members in or affected by the business at least once a year in a business environment, such as a conference room or hotel meeting room.

A family meeting helps gain the commitment of the family to the strategic direction in which family and nonfamily executives running the business are taking the company. Yet the most recent study on the topic found that only about 35 percent of all family businesses hold regular family meetings.

Family meetings are not for making business decisions, but for discussing matters of importance to family members — ownership and leadership succession, learning what it means to be an owner and educating nonactive family members about the business.

Here are some tips for holding an effective family meeting:

• Set an agenda and stick to it.

• Give everyone invited proper notice of the meeting and agenda.

• Be as inclusive as possible regarding who is invited and make certain that everyone feels they have an opportunity to have their say.

• Select an outsider to be the facilitator, who will ensure that the meeting stays on topic and that everyone participates.

• Agree on ground rules that everyone who attends the meeting must follow. Typical ground rules include, “support the decision of the group 100 percent” and “keep family business issues confidential.”

• Keep a written record of the meeting and make sure everyone who was invited gets a copy of it.

Family meetings help the business approach the future in an orderly manner, smooth difficult transitions and keep everyone in the loop about important matters. Going through the meeting together brings family members closer to each other and makes them feel that they have a stake in the major decisions the business makes.