Some of the oldest companies in the world are family owned — with many dating back several centuries. They are the epitome of resilience. Like other companies, family businesses live in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world where past success doesn’t guarantee future success.
Does Your Family Business Encourage Dissent?
The challenges family businesses face are more complex than in the past. No single person in the company will have the solutions for those challenges. Nor can one person know the future challenges and opportunities that will be presented. It requires a diversity of perspectives and ideas. Research shows that companies that have high levels of diversity and inclusion are almost twice as likely to be innovation leaders in their market, outperforming their peers by 35%. To bring in more diverse perspectives, senior leaders need to create psychological safety and allow constructive dissent, while maintaining deep connections to the mission. By marrying depth of experience with a culture of constructive dissent, a family business will be able to proactively solve thorny issues, increase the effectiveness of their decision-making, and open the door for innovation.