THOUGHT-BASED APPROACH
We are a coaching and consulting practice. We work with individuals and groups in family businesses and financial families.
We also collaborate with other business advisors, in fields like law, finance, estate planning, and insurance. We can assemble a team of professionals, as required, or work with the people you know and trust.
Our services include:
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Communications, including Family Councils
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Transition planning and succession
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Leadership development/support
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Family retreats and next generation team-building
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Business and personal development
CASE STUDY: FINDING HARMONY – TOURISM COMPANY
Peter Goodson, the son of the company's founders, has been active in family tourism business for ten years. Uncertain about whether he'll stay in firm, including eventually taking it over. His mother, Marianne, also the company's President, has a health scare, and his parents decide to retire.
There is enormous pressure from other family members for Peter to 'step up to the plate' to keep family business going. Working with his coach, Peter discovers a passion for the most viable arm of the family firm. He decides to discuss staying on with company, but shifting its focus to the part of the business with strongest potential.
His coach helps Peter identify clear goals for himself and the business, and prepare for conversation with his parents.
The Goodson family is currently working through this transition period, with the end goal of transferring the business to Peter, so that he can focus on a particular arm of the company.
CASE STUDY: PASSING THE TORCH – FINANCIAL SERVICES
John Barlett, the founder of a family firm is near retirement age, and his adult children have been active in the business all their lives. They're eager to take over the business, but John has spent his life building the business, and wants to continue working. His wife, Margaret, is caught between her husband and their children. And the children are struggling, too, as each wants to become president. Family dinners are more like board meetings, and everyone is in distress.
A friend of John and Margaret's suggests coaching, and John agrees to try it. Working with his coach, he explores his dreams and plans, and what life might look like if he did retire from active management of the business. The coach also works with each of the children to explore what's important to them, their vision for the business, and how they see themselves moving forward with the company. The eldest son, David, decides he was never really happy in the family firm, and opts to explore other career options. One daughter, Julianne, develops a strategy to expand the business, which she presents to her father. John begins to think through a succession and retirement plan, in consultation with his wife and their trusted professionals (such as the company's accountant, lawyer, and financial planner).
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CASE STUDY: UNDERSTANDING THE SECOND GENERATION – AUTO PARTS MANUFACTURER
Family business founder Arnold Nelson engages a coach to work with his three children, all of whom work for the business. Arnold is eager for his children to understand more about the business (feels they've been 'too privileged' and 'don't really get it') before he can retire with confidence. With coaching, each of his offspring identifies goals and makes commitments to action plans, with each deciding independently that they aren't interested in continuing with family business (and that this has been the reason for their unfocused behaviour). Siblings share this news with their father, and help him prepare the business for sale.
CASE STUDY: CLARIFYING THE VISION – ENTREPRENEUR
Debbie Appleyard has been developing her professional practice for more than a decade, and as her reputation grows, she is grappling with whether to take on more staff and expand the scope of her business. Her home life is busier, with young children, and a full schedule of extra-curricular activities. Working with her coach, Debbie recognizes that personal service is one of her core strengths, and that growing the business would create additional management responsibilities, and take her away from the work she does best. As a result of working with her coach, she decides to define a specific niche, fine tune her company's list of services, strengthen her brand, and increase her fees.