The Challenge


By Stan Mann


George’s high productivity got stopped dead in its tracks. His mother was demanding meeting after time-consuming meeting over the details of how to renovate their new facility. George was making a major expansion in his family-owned business. He was adding a new home care division. The expansion was consuming much of his time. Now mother was telling George what bids to take and what contractors to use. And of course, all those meetings ate up his precious time.

George needed additional funds to make the new change. Mother was one of the big investors. Now mother had taken her position as a major investor as permission for her to tell George what to do.

George was in a quandary. Mother was undermining his authority as CEO, interfering with his decisions and wasting large amounts of his valuable time. Furthermore, he wanted a high quality facility, not a cheap one that his frugal mother was bent on providing. What was he to do? He couldn’t fire his own mother - could he?

It was a tough decision!

Finding A Solution

Confused and anxious, he discussed this challenge with his coach. During this discussion, it became clear to George that George had allowed his mother to overstep the boundaries of an investor. Most investors do not have oversight to the running of a business. Their role is passive.

George realized he allowed this to happen when he accepted his mother’s offer of help. Mother had offered to help George renovate the new facility. This “help” turned out to be like a lifeguard hitting a drowning victim in the head with the life preserver he was throwing to the victim. This could not go on. He could not afford the time and he wanted a high-quality facility - not the low-quality his budget minded mother wanted.

The first thing he had to do was to confirm that it made good business sense to fire her. Secondly, he had to know in his heart that he had the right to do this. He conferred with his brothers and sisters who supported his decision. This would be harder than it was the time he fired his nephew four years ago.

He was naturally nervous about confronting his mother. Although he was now a grown man, he had a long childhood history obeying his mother. He certainly did not want to hurt his mother’s feelings or cause dissension in the family.

It would be a delicate conversation. Rather than demanding or pleading with her, he decided he would ask for her help in solving this problem.

George role-played with his coach the intended conversation. Using principles of assertion, George practiced with his coach until he felt comfortable.

It worked like a charm. His mother turned the reins back over to him without a tear or a reprimand. George was in charge of his company once more.

Other Dilemmas

Running a family business has many advantages. Your relatives are usually much more dedicated and loyal then an outsider would be. However, there are dilemmas, like the one I just described. A brother may just not have the necessary skills required.

A sister may think she has a free ride in the family business, hurting the business by drawing a high salary for inferior work.

Just like any business, to succeed in this competitive environment, you need to have high quality, competent and motivated workers. They have to be in a job that matches their skills. Sometimes your relative has to be disciplined or even fired. This is especially hard to do to a family member. It is extremely difficult to be objective about family members. The cool objective eyes of an outside consultant or coach can be a huge help.

© 2006 Stan Mann.

Stan Mann, C.P.C. supports business owners, top executives and commission salespeople to substantially grow their business and have a balanced life. He is a Certified Professional Coach. For additional articles and resources please visit www.stanmann.com.


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Management Information:

Related Articles


Keep The Faith - Transform The Fear
FEAR! To what extent does fear rule your life? How is fear controlling or motivating you? Bring up the topic and watch people react. Our lives incorporate so many beliefs about fear- reinforced by what we tell ourselves and what we hear from others.
My Companys Leadership Sucks!
Maybe it's the season or just a more buoyant job market; but lately I'm sure involved in a lot more discussions about leadership.I'm receiving more requests for help defining the key characteristics which make a great leader; and I'm hearing a lot of negative stuff from clients about their bosses.
A Man and His Razor
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less. William of Ockham. This is Ockham's famed Razor.
Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance
Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty in return. Companies that complain about employee loyalty have usually done nothing to earn loyalty, often routinely lying to employees, demanding sacrifices that are never rewarded, shunting them aside and casting them off in the name of good business.
Developing Your Mission
"The best Leader is one who knows how to pick good people to do what he or she wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Heidi Richards -Mission statements describe the purpose of an organization or a sub-group of it.
Marketing Miracle: Outsource Your Creative Services
The current economy is causing most companies to tighten their belts. With limited staffing and a restricted budget, how do you continue to promote your business? The simple solution is the occasional or ongoing use of outside resources such as graphic designers, writers, webmasters, and other creative talent.
Employee Discipline: How to Nip Problems in the Bud
Are you uncomfortable with delivering disciplinary action, even involving employees you know deserve it? You're not alone. Disciplinary action is one of the least favored tasks a supervisor must occasionally perform.
The Leadership Imperative: Making Your Leadership Your Life
Nearly all leaders I've encountered are underachievers. They're getting a fraction of the results they are capable of.
Give Yourself a Boss Day Gift, Part 2: Are You the Position or the Person?
Are you the position or the person?Bosses can lose their own identity sometimes. It's easy.
The 20/60/20 Rule Of Leadership. Dont Go Solving The Wrong Problems
Several decades ago, a passenger jet approached a Florida airport with the pilot and co-pilot struggling to fix what they thought was a malfunctioning landing gear. The landing-gear light was on, signaling that the gear was deployed; but both men did not hear it actually deploy.
Take The Guesswork Out Of Problem Solving
In today's chaotic world and uncertain economic times too many good people are burdened by too many problems that seem insurmountable and too many businesses find it increasingly difficult to compete effectively. The old traditional methods of finding solutions to these problems don't seem to work like they used to.
Survival of the Fittest: The Road to Human Extinction
I was watching a TV program some months ago about a biologist working in Central America who was dedicated to protecting the panther species from extinction. During the program I heard him make a comment that upon reflection I found had embedded in it seeds of wisdom that not even he was aware of.
Assessing Managers for International Competence
How do you select staff for international assignments? It's an important question because, no matter how effective and successful your employees may be at home, they cannot be guaranteed the same performance in a different culture-unless, that is, they can demonstrate some key competencies. But beware, these may be quite different from the competencies they need to succeed in their own environment.
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Organizational Structure of Our Growing Business
This article relates to the organizational structure competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It shows how structural concerns can affect the typical employee workday, as well as feelings towards your organization's management hierarchy and reporting structure.
Managing People - Why Is It So Difficult?
Managing, supervising, being a team leader is the hardestjob in the world and I'll tell you why.Imagine what it's like to drive a car.
Data Delivers Credibility
Over the past couple of days I've been setting up visitor counters, so people in another organization can accurately count the number of people who visit their event.They got the idea (and the counters) from an association I belong to, and they, too, are learning how data delivers credibility.
Lets Make Training More Interesting!
Many HR managers believe that by sending their workers to participate in external training programs, they have fulfilled their responsibilities. This is not the best situation.
The Communications Myth
Living in the 21st Century is truly marvelous, isn't it? We live in a world of instant communications where everything we need to know is right at our fingertips. The moment anything of significance occurs it is instantly transferred around the globe making us the most well informed generation in the history of the world.
Managing Employees Is A Little Like Herding Cats
Q: I started my small business about a year ago and it's grown steadily. I like having my own business, but I'm having a tough time managing people.
Keeping Meetings On Track
We all have been in meetings with certain people who get our blood pressure to rise or just make us feel what a waste of time. Here are some of those people and hints on how you can maintain keep the meeting on track without coming across as a dictator or inept leader.