Chapter 18 The Family as Entrepreneur

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Family Business Challenges Family squabbles in the business Family and non-family employees caught up in conflicts Succession planning Can you afford to put off deciding? Who's in charge Should the owner run the business? Family power struggles and rivalries Under qualified family members Balancing business needs and family loyalties Source:

Family Business Challenges Family member privileges at work Impact on other family members and non-family employees Complex interactions between family and business Conflicts involving love and power Management out of touch with business realities Long-term family management resulting in an inaccurate, stale perspective Non-Pecuniary Goals Family may seek other goals, like security or “staying together” or “preserving the legacy”

Resolving Challenges Some commentators recommend families must become more business-like Objectivity and transparency in all dealings Clear succession plans Training and development Written policies and procedures Others recommend some sort of family therapy or conflict resolution process A lot of different therapies on the market though May also involve non-family members

PROJECT AND TIME MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SKILLS

Project Management The best project management systems include: Project planning Workforce planning Time and expense tracking Cost and revenue accounting Analytics – on time and on budget? Both web-based and stand alone productweb-basedstand alone Free open source software:

Why Use PM Software? There are a number of benefits: Forces you to logically consider all steps in a project Most programs allow nesting (or sub-tasks) Makes dependencies (bottlenecks) explicit Provides budget estimates based on tasks Enables you to track changes to the plan and provide new budget and completion estimates

Billing & Time Management As most consultants bill hourly, it is important to have an effective way of tracking time. The best software: Tracks time/billable hours by client or project Allows additional expenses Has an automated timer Generates invoices and tracks billings Links to accounting system Wide variety of options: Web-based Stand alone Mobile apps

SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS CONSULTING METHODS