Your family business legacy

Inside the report

Avoid the pitfalls that hold family businesses back. 

Each chapter breaks down a major challenge that family business owners face and offers practical guidance on how to overcome it. 

✅Getting professional advice throughout your family business journey 

✅Five lessons to learn from family business success stories

✅Preventing conflict in your family business

✅Seven practical steps to guide your family business through succession

✅Estate planning essentials to protect your family business legacy

Family business legacy> Advisors

Advisors

Working with advisors to support your family business

The people you choose to work alongside you have a big impact on how your business performs. 

An external advisor is a great resource for a family business – someone not entangled in family dynamics can act as a sounding board or a source of impartial advice.

The earlier and more thoughtfully you involve the right advisors, the greater their potential to positively shape outcomes for your family business.

There are key moments along your family business journey where choosing the right advisor will be critical to success. These include:

• Business launch
• Entering new markets
• Considering a joint venture
• Landing a major contract
• Applying for major funding or finance
• Buying new equipment or a premises
• Adopting new technology
• Expanding the ownership base
• Setting up a self-managed superfund
• Dealing with family conflict
• Implementing better governance
• Establishing and managing a family office
• Succession planning or exit

Read on to learn which advisors you will need to navigate these moments and how to find the right professionals for your business >>

Operational challenges

Overcoming family business operational challenges

One thing these businesses have in common is a systemic approach to navigating operational challenges. Systemic design reduces stress, creates stability and makes decisions less personal. Your operational systems are set up to bear the load, rather than the individuals. 

Five common elements of operational systems that work for family businesses stood out to us as lessons any family business can learn from..

They are:

• Planned meetings
• Clear roles
• Written policies
• Scalable systems
• External perspectives

Family conflict

Preventing conflict in family businesses 

When everything is going well, your business and your family will feel seamlessly integrated, operating in sync. 

When problems arise, the damage to both business and family is amplified beyond what either would experience alone. Disagreements over money, control, or succession may be complicated by existing family dynamics, expectations and unspoken emotions simmering beneath the surface.

Every family business faces tension at some point – it’s a natural part of working closely with loved ones. It is how you handle these situations that sets the tone for what happens next.

There are some important questions you can ask before conflict arises, such as:

• What are each person’s expectations around ownership and roles?
• How do we define fairness when it comes to shares, inheritance or rewards?
• What’s the process for raising concerns or disagreements?
• How can we create safe spaces for honest conversations?
• Who can help us mediate or guide difficult discussions?
• What are our shared goals for the business and family?
• How will we review and update plans as the business evolves?

Read on to learn how to spot conflict before it happens and strategies for defusing tense situations >>

Succession planning

Simple steps to guide your family business through succession

Succession planning can be one of the most emotionally charged and strategically complex stages that a family business goes through.

Whether you’re passing control to a family member or a new owner, emotions will run high during this transition.

Having advised many family business owners before, during, and after their succession phase, there are steps you can take to give your family the best chance of success.

Smooth your succession by following these seven steps:

1. Start early
2. Provide proper mentoring for your successors
3. 3. Have the right business systems already in place
4. Adapt and evolve
5. Get professional support
6. Document everything
7. Be prepared to let go

Read on to learn all the details for following these steps and get your succession right >>

Estate planning

Estate planning can protect your family business legacy

An estate plan enables family business owners to make decisions in advance for situations where they are no longer able to make those decisions. 

Many family business owners have good intentions, but too often, their plans fall apart due to unexpected events like relationship issues, illness, or death. An estate plan is a way to ensure that your loved ones are cared for and your assets are distributed according to your wishes. 

The fundamentals of good estate planning are simple, straight-forward, and too often overlooked. They include:

• Understand how your business and assets are structured
• Get your accountant involved
• Get the right documents in place
• Review regularly

Read on to learn more about preparing your estate for the future >>