Ownership and Trust

Most small business environments are created by an individual or a family. In the case of a small family business, relationships can be close and intense. This means that such businesses can often be emotionally laden environments. When families have interpersonal difficulties, emotional intelligence in business can be difficult to maintain.

As such, this particular form of ownership can create potential risks. These risks can often be exacerbated when there is a high degree of power concentrated in one person, usually the founder of the business, or in one or two other family members. Such concentration can lead to poor decision-making, a myopic mindset and/or an unclear focus.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon successful and effective small business owners to establish a business policy development framework that ensures that these risk factors are managed and, where possible, eliminated from their companies.

Effective business owners welcome the idea of adopting a governance model that ensures that the best interests of the business are served, as opposed simply to serving the interests of one or two individual family members.

They also set time aside to invest in leadership skills development, at this governance level, as they know such development … Read the rest