Introduction: This tool provides a framework for you to professionalize your business future and actively reduce risks from contaminations between family issues, some partnership issues, and business requirements.
There is an old adage - “When is the best time to plant an oak tree? Twenty-five years ago. When is the next best time? Today.” The earlier the owner/ownership team professionalizes the family/business purpose, the better. If you haven’t done it yet, today is the best day to start.
Forge a common understanding, nurture commitment to it and use it to keep your focus. This tool is helpful for managing stakeholder expectations in general, and for dealing with feelings of entitlement among stakeholders.
Instructions: This tool was devised to help today’s business steward(s) develop a plan for managing expectations, by managing the purpose of the business. If you are the sole person responsible for the business at this time, take some quiet time and work your way through the steps outlined below.
If your business has multiple stewards and/or owners who share equally in decision making, the CEO should distribute this tool to each relevant person, so that everyone has the opportunity to work their ways through these steps independently before coming together as a group.
The goal is to work collaboratively in a preventive, proactive solution-generating effort; you don’t want to ambush people from an adversarial perspective by not giving everyone the same opportunity to prepare in advance for these important conversations and decisions.
Think through your feelings and beliefs as you consider each step. Consider the goals that each step is designed to address. How would you see them coming to fruition?
Consider the issues designated for each step and identify others that might be relevant for the specific circumstances of your particular business situation. (You may want to include a non-involved trusted advisor or friend/mentor with whom you can bounce ideas around as you consider these goals, steps and issues.)
If there are two or more people serving as the stewards of the business, once everyone has gathered their thoughts independently, bring the group together to work your way through each step in turn. Talk through each of the issues.
Consider your best alternatives for what you are trying to accomplish. Identify action steps that you’ll have to take to reach the goal(s), and work them through to your best solution, then work to implement the steps by creating a marketing plan to sell your solutions most appealingly to all stakeholders.