I would most probably be a richer man, if I where paid some EUR 10, every time a family business owner told me “Yes I agree with your new proposed way forward….but now is not the time for it…maybe later”. All this reminds me of Malta’s mega traffic problem. We all know we need to address this problem. We all know that change needs to happen. We all know that this change, although likely painful in the near term, will bring bigger benefits to all….but we keep kicking the can down the road. The vast majority of family business owners feel ill at ease with change, especially big ones. They are all obsessed with finding the right timing to push much needed changes….to which I always reply “How about Now?“. However I feel it is important to address the common misconceptions that holds various family business owners and leaders from pushing the change needed, that can help their business step up and move ahead.

Here are some of these misconceptions:-

• Meaningful change happens slowly: Research shows that over the span of time, even the world’s history, real change and progress occurred when changemakers decided that the moment that matters most is now. After all a change process that identifies the problems at hand and starts the flywheel of action that leads ultimately to solutions, is lengthy in itself and postponing its start will many times make things worse.
• Pushing it to the back burner: Things can always be done later. The most successful business leaders are those that are acutely aware of the cost of not now. The high price a business pays when it’s static. They live the adage that comfortable inaction is riskier than uncomfortable action.
• You have an abundance of time: If you’re in a leadership role, your time and that of your colleagues’ is the most strategic and precious resource you have. The business leaders who get speed right, treat that resource preciously by doing everything from helping their teams to prioritise ruthlessly to carefully planning and facilitating meetings. The leaders who don’t get speed right tend to use their time and other people’s time unproductively. They also tend to get lost in detail and failing to see the big picture and which elements they really need to get involved in.
• We always need to know more: Taking decisions with no information at hand is wreckless. However, no decision can ever be taken with all 100% information at hand. So beyond a certain point, trying to feel more confident by having more meetings and running more scenarios will be pretty useless. All the postponing to run after the illusion of more clarity will likely make the business more vulnerable, not less.
• The Top of the Pop reason for not doing something or bring change “Our People are stretched too thin”. Many times business leaders do not know how to prioritise and hence which problems needs to be solved first. In such instances they fail to build trust by solving the right problem first. Instead of building trust they end up being the bottle neck for quicker execution, as everything needs to be channelled through them. In turn this creates further anxiety, burnout and distraction, which then requires more time for team players to deal with such issues. So when business leaders tell me “we are too stretched”, they are likely telling me, I have no trust in my team and do not know how to delegate as thus I am making everyone go through me to get anything done, which is dragging everyone down with me.
• We NEED to achieve perfection ALL the time: In many instances perfection is unachievable. Achieving perfection all the time, is even more so. Moreover, there is always a trade-off. Which are the things you believe you really need to excel? Devouting resources for these things, also means not excelling in other things. That’s opportunity cost for you.
• Structure and Planning wastes time: The Navy SEALs have a famous adage that “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” This means that while building good organisational structures and processes takes time in the near term, it then yields a faster execution and promptness to change. My experience shows that businesses that invest time in creating good, clear operating systems save much more than the time they invested.

Many family business owners, leaders and managers, operate only with a strict operator’s mindset. It is as if the world will stand still until they feel ready to embark on change, research or a new approach. This is why I keep hampering on balancing an operator’s mindset with a strategic mindset. By doing so business leaders can have a more holistic look as to how their business is effected by what is happening out there and hence get a sense of urgency as to why change needs to happen now and not some time later.