If you’ve ever been in business with a family member, you know there are several advantages, but even the most dedicated, hard-working family member can experience or create tension, stress and conflict in the company.
Can you really separate your family history, emotions and the knowledge you have of a person at a deeper level and still have a great working relationship? Families have successfully worked together, but there are reasons why it has worked.
What qualities create successful family working relationships? What are common issues and practices within companies that employ family? If you work with family members, awareness of several issues can prevent problems in your business.
Loyalty leading to micromanagement
Often, family members are more dedicated to the success of the business than other employees. Yet too much caring can cause conflict.
One business owner employed his mother. The owner had established his vision and goals, but he had trouble developing a consistent, fair style of leadership. He found staff management was much harder than actually doing the work. His mother, in her eagerness to help him succeed, openly voiced her concerns and opinions during business hours and outside the office.
She felt the office staff wasn’t diligent enough in collecting money at the time of service and was inconsistent in processing methods. She felt they weren’t doing a good job and needed more attention to detail. The boss had difficulty enforcing his policies because of the conflicting views between his mother and others.
His mother became a micromanager, telling everyone how they should be doing their jobs. She meant well and only wanted to help the business succeed, but her micromanaging drove down morale.
Taking work home
One business owner enjoyed working with his wife. She, however, was concerned that employees weren’t held accountable for their work. Because the owner was sensitive to conflict, he avoided meetings, coaching and performance reviews. His wife was quite verbal during off hours about her feelings, and that caused him discomfort, creating tension in their relationship.
It’s important, especially for couples, to separate their work life and personal life. Bringing personal issues into the workplace, and visa versa, can create tension and an uncomfortable environment.
Hiring someone you can’t fire
Business owners can be hesitant to talk to a family member about a problem at the office because of how it might affect them on the home front. They might walk on eggshells at work, worried about how the family member will respond if he or she were treated the same as other employees.
To be successful, family members need to know their role in the business. Being a family member and an employee can put anyone in a difficult position. Other employees, no matter how hard the family member works, may look at him or her differently. Because of this, the family member will need to hold himself or herself to the same or even a higher level of accountability than other employees.
Unfair pay
Some business owners try to help their family out by paying more than the average wage for the job category. That can affect payroll overhead. It is unfair to neglect other employees because you want to give special treatment to a family member. Resentment and unhappiness build if you do this.
When morale goes down, productivity goes down. In addition to pay, gender difference or age differences that affect your relationship with employees may feel intensified with family employees. Recognize that some conflict develops due to these differences and work at learning about better communication and leadership.
Addressing problems
If family employees and other employees can’t seem to get along, you must resolve the issue. If you don’t, tension will build, morale will go down and the business will suffer.
It seems easier to brush these issues under the carpet. Yet talking about them is what you’ll need to do if your business is to have the harmonious atmosphere your customers seek.
If you find your employees don’t get along, you’ll need to lead the discussion. There are two questions you can ask yourself to help take emotions out of the equation:
1. Is whatever is happening in the best interest of customer care?
2. Is whatever is happening in the best interest of the business?
A FINAL WORD
The key to a successful employee/family relationship is to treat everyone the same. You need the same level (or higher) of accountability, timeliness and dedication to customer service from all of your employees, especially family members.
Specifically outlining each employee’s role and keeping personal issues out of the workplace will ensure a positive work environment for you and your family member.
Rhonda Savage, DDS, is a motivational speaker on leadership, women’s issues and communication. Visit www.DentalManagementU.com or email Rhonda@MilesandAssociates.net.
