Today we close Module 2 of the Award in Leading a Family Business accredited course. Today’s last session is a tutorial based on a case study of a family business which is at crossroads as to what strategic decision it needs to take, to keep growing.

This 2nd module was all about strategy. It covered the importance for family businesses to:-

• Have a strategic mindset and not rely only on an operator’s mindset
• How to undergo a process of strategic planning
• How to implement strategies and business transformation within the background of constant change.

Let me expand a bit more on this last 3rd point in today’s Blog Article. Many times business transformation fails as there is a missing fundamental element missing. This fundamental element is the notion that transformation is not a one-time special project, and it’s not about a single topic . It is about intertwining all necessary changes into a series of unified actions — or constant adaptation in the same direction.

So while I see many businesses focusing exclusively on bringing about change to improve their performance, actual business transformation is more than that. Improving business performance, may be a short-term goal but it is hardly deep enough to really effect the culture within the business. One fundamental element is to actually have the business register progress towards a long-term vision, not making knee-jerk tweaks. Instead of exploring how they can improve the bottom line, the best businesses work backward and ask: How could we invest in our people to create a long-term impact? How could we work together differently to build a different kind of business? They push past short-term goals (succeeding this quarter) and refocus on long-term sustainability (regenerating for the future and nurturing a sustainable business model).

Research clearly indicates that the most successful transformations create intentional change one step at a time. This is done by creating the foundation for change, listening for feedback, and keeping on at improving the way the next change is rolled out.

However beyond pure change management skills, all this needs to rest on the appropriate culture within the business. On overriding culture that rests on people with a can-do spirit, who will design and craft the lasting changes that regenerate organisations. Culture is an essential element of any major change and business transformations only work when culture is the driving force. To all business owners and leaders, I ask you to give an honest answer to the below questions, to understand if your team members and the culture within your business are strong enough to implement change within you business:-

• Do your various teams really talk to each other?
• Do they understand the impact their decisions have on their colleagues and the rest of the business
• Do your teams have the training and life-long learning mindset needed to upskill? Are your employees being retrained for greater adaptability?
• Does everyone within your team know about the customer preferences and how these are changing?
• Does everyone understand their role in driving a customer-first culture and how that will unlock business performance?
• Do your main top team managers have enough information in hand and visibility of business performance today and most importantly where the business needs to head from a strategic perspective?

Building a culture of collaboration needs hard work. It needs to be set on the availability of information so that people are able to understand, accept, and fuel powerful changes, instead of fearing or rebelling against change. Yet I still see family business owners and leaders who want to keep all their cards to their chest and then expect their businesses to have a strong culture that leads the business and implements change. It cannot happen that way.

What I can promise you is that the future is full of changes, challenges and surprises. We cannot plan or de-risk them all. The only way forward? Embrace uncertainty, find positive change from the triggers, and stay flexible and excited about driving evolutionary, more lasting change. To do that you need to ensure that your business can rest on strong culture, where everyone feels engaged.