Essential steps for working with family

It can be wonderful to have family members working in your business. When it’s successful, you build a legacy of a thriving practice. It takes more than hope to make it happen, though. It requires honest discussions and thoroughly teaching your children about your business from top to bottom. Without that, you may face strained family and employee relationships. That’s not a legacy any of us would want to leave.

I work with my two daughters, Emily and Sara, as well as my wife, Nina. For Nina and me, working with our children is rewarding as parents, and it’s been great for our business.

What does it take?

Flexibility and communication are the most important elements in working with family members. You have to bend a little and allow people to take different roles — don’t bring them in thinking they’re going to do things the way you did or enjoy the roles you think they would.

In addition, you need to handle your family members’ emotions in a business setting. We had to manage our children as adults in our practice, and that required being open-minded.

Watch the Bentons talk about how they work together as a family and professionals in “Work with family and flourish.”

How we got started

Before we brought our daughters into our practice, we had to make sure it was right for the practice and right for them. As each family member entered the practice, we had a heart-to-heart discussion. Why did they want to be here? What were their goals?

I told them if they found they didn’t like the job, they had to let us know. I didn’t want them to stay just because they didn’t want to disappoint me.

The benefits we enjoy

We have watched our daughters evolve, learn and grow. We’re living a parent’s dream.

When Emily managed our property and casualty team, it worked out well. She showed us capabilities we didn’t know she had. She is a leader, focused on goals like I am and has brought her team to heights that I never could.

Sara and Emily both recently passed their CFP exams and are progressing quickly into financial planning. It’s been fantastic for the practice.

The risks

People can make mistakes when they bring their children into their practice. I believe one of those is placing them in jobs they’re not quite ready for yet.

We believed starting at the bottom and learning everything on your way up was important. Our children are going to own our practice one day, and they need to understand every function.

Making it work

Our daughters started at different times as college interns. When they began working full-time, each of them worked in customer service, property and casualty sales, property and casualty management, financial planning support and then on to financial planning.

They got to try on the business as they progressed through these different roles. I wanted to be sure I didn’t force them into a job that didn’t work for them.

Our daughters immersed themselves in everything they did, and they communicated well with us. We met regularly, and we learned about the challenges they faced. We then faced those challenges head-on.

You will create professional success and extraordinary personal rewards working with family when you keep the lines of communication open and allow your children to find the role in the organization that best matches their talents.

John R. Benton Jr., CLTC, is a 15-year MDRT member and Top of the Table qualifier from Warren, New Jersey. He’s the founder of Chartered Financial Services. Watch the Bentons in the video “Work with family and flourish.”

For more about working in a family-owned business read, “The differences and universalities of a family business.”