Are you, or were you, associated with a family-owned business? Chances are good that about 90 percent of us are, whether we realize it or not. That's because 85 to 92 percent of all U.S. businesses are family owned.

And family dynamics—often emotional, irrational, and unchecked—can dramatically affect the fortunes of those businesses and the people who work for them. But relationship issues often remain a challenge from behind the family's doors, unexamined, unmanaged, and unresolved.

Consider the business owner who is advised to get the greatest tax benefit possible by gifting his business equally to his two children. After Dad retires or dies, the kids disagree and quickly run the business into the ground. And how about the founder who tries to turn the business over to a child who lacks experience or maturity? The result is dysfunctional management relationships caused by family ties at the top that transcend normal standards of role definition and competency requirements.

In spite of these common challenges, most family business owners or next-generation family don't have any formal support or continuing education on the unique issues they face. Until now, they also lacked a forum for sharing questions, best practices, and solutions.

New forum addresses family business challenges
If you are involved in a family business, you can now join more than 800 people in more than 30 countries who are members of the Family Owned Business Network on LinkedIn. Here you can find colleagues who are family business owners and members, professional service providers to family businesses, researchers, and academic experts who specialize in the topic.

The Family Owned Business Network provides a forum for discussing common concerns, exchanging ideas, solving problems, sharing recommendations, and gathering research insights.

In-person "Family Business Circle" meetings are being tested, as well. Initial gatherings have collaborated with the Helzberg Mentoring Program, Johnson County Community College, and the Leawood Chamber of Commerce. The Family Business Circles are expected to become a foundational element of the network.

I founded the network from Leawood in late 2009, having grown up around my dad's small business in Cleveland, Ohio, and the small businesses of relatives across the country. I counseled many family firms in my early days as a Cleveland-area attorney, and later became CEO of a family-owned business in Kansas City, Mo.

As I've authored books and consulted with family businesses, I've found that most professional service providers focus primarily on tax, legal, and financial issues, rather than dealing with relationship issues. But family relationships are at the heart of the matter. If you don't have them right, you won't be as successful as you could be.

There are two reasons for this gap in services for family-owned businesses. The first is that many businesses don't communicate that they are a family-owned business in their public materials. The second is privacy. Family business owners are understandably protective about sharing the personal matters that naturally intertwine the business.

The most difficult challenge for senior family business members is how to treat their children. Should they be in the business? How should they be educated and evaluated to prepare to take over the business? Do they want to be in the business? Here are some of the things we need to pay attention to:

• Ability. Owners should evaluate their children's ability to perform effectively and give them opportunities and rewards accordingly. Often, children are given positions that don't match their skills, abilities, or interests.
  
• Desire. Some children may not want to join the family business, but do so because of pressure from their parents. This often is a recipe for failure.
  
• Roles. Leaders often don't define the roles and authority levels for their family members. This can be quite confusing to other members of the leadership team and for the family members' direct reports. Consider, for example, what happens when the CEO mom overrules the vice president daughter's directive.
  
• Experience. The business owner may bring a child into a leadership position directly out of college. Children who get some outside experience before joining the business tend to be more secure in their ability to manage successfully, often get more peer respect, and have an easier time transitioning into family business leadership.

Network goal: 1 million members
My goal for the network is 1 million members. The challenge is keeping it focused on raising issues and finding solutions to help one another, rather than allowing it to become a forum for irrelevant postings. We screen each new member to ensure that he or she is joining for the right reason: mutual benefit.

As the network grows, we hope it will serve as a support organization for small Family Business Circles led by area directors around the world. It will provide network management services such as membership, book reviews, communication, philanthropy, lobbying support, business opportunities, and research. It also will provide an archive of pre-screened material and an array of resources covering subjects such as succession, leadership development, women in family business, and buy-sell business opportunities.

How to join the network
To join the Family Owned Business Network, visit the LinkedIn Groups Directory and enter The Family Owned Business Network. The network is also available on Twitter, Facebook, and the Web at fobn.net.
www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2439055&mostPopular=&trk=tya