Process advice for family businesses – creating clarity, making efficient decisions, avoiding conflicts
Our experience has shown that facilitated and guided processes within family businesses lead to significantly more efficient decision-making and wide-ranging solutions. This almost always helps to prevent conflicts from arising or escalating, long before they can only be ‘resolved’ through time-consuming mediation or legal proceedings.
What is process advice?
We define process advice as the ongoing support we provide to individuals and committees during decision-making and change processes. Unlike traditional specialist advice, which focuses on imparting expert knowledge, process advice does not provide ready-made solutions (i.e. advice). Instead, it creates a framework within which entrepreneurs, shareholders, advisory board members or managing directors can develop their own solutions.
In terms of our role as process advisers, this means that we do not dictate answers but establish a clear, structured process that encourages reflection and dialogue, ultimately leading to viable decisions.
In my case in particular, this approach reflects my vocational training and practice in systemic work. In this context, ‘systemic’ means that decisions are not considered in isolation but within the context of the relationships, roles, structures and (sub-)organisation(s) of the family business. The focus is therefore on the interaction between the family, ownership and the business.
Benefits of process advice
Why should a family business embark on this path? From our perspective, there are several compelling reasons:
- Conflict prevention: Good processes prevent entrenched positions from developing. Many conflicts do not escalate because of ‘insurmountable’ differences, but because decision-making processes are unclear or remain undiscussed.
- Commitment: Clearly defined procedures and transparency lead to commitment, meaning that decisions are not only made but also implemented.
- Trust: A structured process strengthens the trust between the persons involved as everyone knows their voice is being heard.
- Efficiency: Well-prepared and facilitated meetings save time, avoid repetition and improve the quality of the outcomes.
We combine our systemic expertise and experience as process advisers with our specialist knowledge as tax advisers, public auditors or lawyers in our work, in other words, with in-depth understanding of business, legal and tax matters. This combination is extremely helpful for many family businesses, as concerns are not discussed in a theoretical vacuum but in a context that takes into account the business, tax and legal aspects of their situation.
Areas of application
Decision-making processes within the family and amongst shareholders
- Who will take on responsibility in the next generation?
- Which investments are decisive for the future?
- How are the differing expectations and values of the shareholders taken into account?
Change processes within the company
- Handover and succession planning
- Integration of external managing directors
- Adapting the corporate structure to new markets and technologies
- Purchase and sale of shareholdings
Collaboration and efficiency
- How are meetings and decision-making sessions conducted?
- Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined?
- Are decisions made in a transparent and comprehensible manner?
Support for advisory boards and supervisory boards
- Support in clarifying roles: advisory body or supervisory body?
- Facilitation of strategy workshops
- Reflection on the collaboration between the advisory board and executive management
Limitations of process advice
However helpful process advice may be, it is equally important to be aware of its limitations:
- No substitute for specialist advice: Process advice is not a substitute for tax, legal, business management or strategic advice. Its aim is rather to compliment these by ensuring that specialist information actually leads to ‘good’ decisions.
- Willingness to reflect as a prerequisite: Process advice thrives on the openness of the persons involved to engage in dialogue and follow a structured approach. Without this willingness, process advice cannot function.
- Willingness to compromise: Where the focus is solely on asserting interests, process advice reaches its limits. It can only be effective when the persons involved are willing to find a common path despite their differing positions.
Conclusion
Good processes make all the difference. They provide clarity, promote trust and they prevent conflicts. Family businesses that rely on process advice not only invest in the quality of their decisions, but also in the long-term viability of their collaboration.
Process advice in family businesses means supporting people in their decisions and processes in a systemic, structured manner and with a clear understanding of the bigger picture.
It is precisely by combining our two roles, namely that of tax advisers, public auditors or lawyers as well as that of systemic process advisers that we create added value. Our specialist knowledge and process expertise intertwine, opening up new areas of opportunity for family businesses. After all, investing in good processes not only safeguards decisions, but also relationships and long-term viability.
