A family business is not about giving job positions to your descendants and relatives, but about preserving something that took time and effort to build. It’s a company like any other, thriving on good professional relations and expertise.  

To make sure all family members understand this and have no hard feelings, you need to treat them as employees and not people you spend holidays with. In order to put aside personal disagreements, here are essential tips for running a family business for overcoming challenges.

Appoint decision-makers

If you run a business with family members, you all need to establish who has the final say during a decision-making process. It will create a clear management structure that won’t lead to conflicts between family members and their different opinions about what’s best.

As an alternative to appointing one person, you can turn decision-making into a joint effort when it comes to big choices. This will help you decide by voting or consensus, although you should keep the right to have a final say in crucial matters.  

Resist the need to micromanage family members

Micromanagement is something you see in family relations every day, but in a business environment, it’s unacceptable behavior. It’s a sign of distrust in the competence and professionalism of your family members, giving them a reason to feel inadequate to do their jobs.  

Instead, treat them as non-family employees and allow them to perform their tasks without you looking over their shoulder. One of the most important things in business, is trusting your employees, and that applies to family members, as well.

Don’t mix business and personal

The moment you step through the company’s door, the personal relationship you have with a family member stays there. It’s important to separate professional life from personal so your company can be free of drama that often comes with family relations. Always do what’s best for the business despite the conflicts in your family through just and impartial decisions.  

Work on communication

Good communication is the foundation of any relationship. It’s wrong to believe that because you know each other so well, you and a family member don’t need to talk things through. If you want this business relationship to work, you need to discuss with them all the details about their duties and specific projects.  

The same applies to any remarks you might have regarding their performance, no matter how uncomfortable that conversation might make you feel. To make things easier, use official methods of communication and be clear with your messages. Weekly meetings and encouraging different standpoints are a good start to develop a healthy business relationship with your family members.      

Be fair to family members

One of the most common mistakes is treating family members worse than other employees to dissuade everyone there’s favoritism in your company. Although understandable where this comes from, it’s a huge mistake.  

Favoritism is something you can avoid through equal treatment of all your employees, including family members. Avoid respecting different standards for a family which is above the expectations you have for non-related employees.  

Make an outside experience a requirement

Before you hire any family member, make it a requirement to come to you with previous experience at another company. It’s best if this company is doing business in an unrelated industry to yours so they can learn about different perspectives and widen their expertise.  

Three to five years of experience outside your company can help them appreciate the jobs you entrust them, as well as bring new ideas. They may also develop work ethics that they wouldn’t perceive as required when working for their family.  

Be professional

It may be called family business, but the fact remains that it’s business, so that’s how you should treat it. Relying too much on the family aspect can neglect some business ventures that would be good and profitable for the company.  

What you want for your business may not always be acceptable by your family, but staying professional is the only way to deal with presented opportunities. Instead of thinking about how your family would be seen based on your company, focus on how your business will be recognized regardless of your family.  

Formalize all business deals

Handshakes and verbal agreements may work outside the office, but when it comes to business – it’s best to formalize it all. Most people are not comfortable with this step because they don’t want to insult a family member since it can appear as mistrust. However, documented agreements formalized by family lawyers are not about trust, but rather good business sense.  

They are much needed to avoid potential conflicts and misunderstandings that are common in the business world. So, have everything in writing before starting on a project or hiring a family member to maintain good business relations and outcomes.

Welcome innovative ideas

Being open to innovative ideas is for everyone, regardless of them being family or not. If you only accept creativity from family members, other employees will see it as nepotism and feel dissatisfied.  

Encourage everyone at your company to suggest ideas and give feedback about projects and their realization. To make sure you are including all the key elements, employ people who are of different ages, cultures, languages, and backgrounds. This will bring fresh and diverse ideas to the table, paving a way for innovation and progress in your company.  

Have a succession plan in place

A succession plan is something you should have from the start to make sure that your company will be in good hands when you step down. It’s so important that your business may depend on it one day.  

Think of family members who would be a good fit to run the family business and make critical decisions in the future. Above all, take a look at your succession plan occasionally to make changes and additions so it’s always up to date with your wishes for the family business.  

The bottom line

It’s not easy to be at the head of any business, let alone a family-owned one. One of the essential tips for running a family business is to keep professional and personal separate. Act in the best interest of your company even if that’s not something that sits well with other family members. You may have to put in an extra effort to avoid conflicts and ensure harmony, but it will make your company stronger and more successful in the end.

Well-maintained heritage buildings provide numerous benefits for their communities. They add to the culture of a town or city and make it more attractive for tourism. They help us get a glimpse at our past and preserve history. However, no matter how well they’re built–these buildings require proper maintenance.

If you’re taking care of a heritage business building, you probably want to keep it in good shape as efficiently as possible. To achieve this, you need a plan that will guide you through the process. Here are a few pointers to help you create one.

Understand the property and its needs

Understanding a heritage property is crucial for anticipating its weak spots and maintenance needs. However, there’s no use in theorizing–you have to get up close and personal. The best way to get a better understanding of a building is to inspect it thoroughly. This will help you figure out the areas that need the most maintenance.

Weak spots are harder to notice in regular conditions. If you want to find issues that need fixing, you’ll have to inspect the building after it’s endured harsh weather. This way, you’ll notice problems such as drafts and leaks more easily. While doing this, concentrate on areas that you might suspect are weak, such as the roof or attic.

Keep thorough records

It’s important to record every change you make to a heritage building. Doing this helps you in a few different ways. For one, you can get a perspective of where issues most commonly occur. A few photographs of spots and leaks will remind you where to check for weak spots next time.

You also have to consider that teams of professionals might work on certain kinds of repairs. When there’s specialized work involved, it helps to have photographs and documentation of previous states and changes. This way, the restorers can know what to work on without disturbing other elements of the heritage building. Similarly, a future owner can get a better idea of how to do repairs if they know what happened before.

Formulate a plan

Before you can get down to business, you need to create a property maintenance plan. It’s an essential element that will help you work proactively in preventing damage to the heritage building. Doing inspections and keeping tabs on previous maintenance pays off, as you can formulate a plan more easily using the information you collect.

When you take into account how the building is structured and set up, you’ll be able to choose adequate cleaning and restoring materials. Recorded previous repairs will give you insight into what works and what doesn’t. You can cross unnecessary tasks off your checklist and find alternatives that will best help maintain the building. As a result, maintenance will be more efficient and cost you less in the long run.

Get adequate help

Some areas of heritage buildings aren’t simple to maintain, and they often require the assistance of trained professionals. When dealing with areas such as piping or roofing, the tasks should be delegated to trained plumbers and roofers, for example. However, you can’t choose your professionals at random. They need to be qualified to work on heritage buildings in order to properly maintain them.

What makes maintenance on these buildings difficult is their construction. Those who are trained in modern methods of repair and maintenance often don’t know how to deal with problems in heritage buildings. They can cause irreversible damage to them or utilize repairs that don’t preserve the properties involved.

When you need a specific task completed, such as a roof repair, you should seek out professional heritage roofing services to take care of it. It’s better than risking the integrity of the building by hiring random roofers.

Maintain the greenery

One of the more overlooked problems in property maintenance is plant overgrowth. Various plants can damage walls directly when growing near them. This includes ivies, shrubs, and various types of trees.

If the plants make up a crucial part of the garden or yard, you should aim to preserve them while also keeping them away from walls. Trim them as needed and prevent them from causing harm to the building.

Conclusion

It’s better to prevent a problem than have to deal with it later on. When you’re creating your maintenance plan, make sure you cover all the basic needs of your heritage building. Form a schedule that will dictate when and where to make repairs. It’ll help you keep the building in good shape without causing any unnecessary changes or disturbances.