Meetings are useless for family businesses… or are they not?

Typical (not humoristic) statements

“Why the h*** do we need to meet every week?”

“What have you been discussing for so many hours?”

“No, we do not run regular team meetings in this company!”

“Why do we have to meet to decide? I’ve made up my mind!”

“Meet to discuss? We prefer dedicating our time to DOing things.”

“Meetings are for multinationals; we are a humble local company” (of some million euros of revenue….)

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Family Businesses do not love meetings

All the above are (stereo)typical statements of quite a significant number of Family Business Owners, who have probably triumphed to build a successful business of millions of euros, hundreds of customers, and some dozens of employees … or even more!

It is neither rare nor trouble-free: intense disputes take place within family businesses between younger and older generations or between owners and executives about … meetings.

Many “successful” family businesses, especially those in the first or second-generation (s), have grown up working hard, making mistakes (and correcting them), taking risks (that worked out), reacting fast to competition, doing things without much thought and discussion behind, “running ahead” without a long-term approach.

To be “successful” (= earn enough money for the family to live decently) under these conditions, you do not need to meet and discuss to decide. The problem arises when this “first era” is over, and a new one is approaching.

History proves that, in quite a lot of cases, there were some brilliant initiators - business owners who had a great idea that became a successful concept or product and that made them and their families rich. In this primary stage – indeed – it is more effective to have a concentration in decision-making. Additionally, market input is easily elaborated by one person’s mind. So, no need to share your thoughts or ask for advice or be challenged or request some kind of support/cooperation. No need for meetings, too!

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Things change when Family Businesses become more of a Business and less of a Family

While family size cannot exponentially grow in just a few decades, a family business can undoubtedly do so – and that’s very welcome! A growing family business includes more people, more processes, more systems, more products, more relationships. More conflicts, too! All these cannot be handled by just one or two people (thousands are the unpleasant failure examples of family owners who tried to achieve the obviously unachievable: keep operating in the old manner during the new era).

More complexity needs COORDINATION. Growth needs COORDINATION. High targets need coordination (remember: success is the result of many people’s efforts in the same direction). Coordination is what makes a complicated process an easy-to-achieve target, what transforms a bunch of controversial guidelines into a set of solid and straightforward directions, and what combines different types of input into a solid output. Coordination is the key to achieving a great result out of different individual efforts.

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Meet if you want to GROW, but meet with RULES!

Coordination is the “sine qua non” for a business to scale up. Growing without coordination is impossible. Coordination without communication among people or parties involved is unfeasible. One-way communication without discussing and exchanging information, ideas, and opinions is totally inefficient. Discussing and sharing in corridors (= not-organized ways and environments) is the absolutely ineffective thing to do. So, what do you do?? You arrange a MEETING! With agreed rules and frames, an agenda, concrete topics to discuss, a clear process to make decisions, a disciplined way to follow up, and so on.

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Meetings are only for corporates: Myth!

There’s a lot of discussion in organizations of all sizes and sectors about the necessity of meetings (or not) and about the “proper” meeting framework (why we meet, how often, to discuss what, for how much time, who participates, etc.).

Some will support that “it depends on the maturity stage of the organization” or “meetings are for corporates” or “no need to meet in small organizations”. But that’s exactly a huge mistake. Business meetings put things into perspective, allow people to obtain a more professional approach, dedicate time to think, and decide through a structured discussion.

There are also other - than size or maturity - more complicated characteristics of every company, that have to do with the nature of the business and the culture of the organization, that define how and how often meetings are run. But, stating that meetings are only for corporates is a jarring joke.

Meetings are for everyone who wants to organize their work and achieve great results present also in the long term. So simple, so straightforward.

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Family businesses DO need meetings

So, why is there so much discussion about the necessity of meetings? Well, it’s the same as the discussion about women being equal to men. It is straightforward and obvious, but still, it does not happen. Thus, we must provide arguments up until it does happen.

The same goes for many family businesses. There are still Family Business Owners who refuse to understand how a meeting can help them run, develop, and make their business more profitable. Why? Because they DO NOT KNOW how to run an effective meeting. They were never taught how to run a productive meeting; therefore, they cannot recognize its impeccable value.

The justified question “How do you avoid meaningless meetings?” or “How do we make a meeting effective?”, has already been answered by evident real-life examples. Through meetings, professionals mature, obtain wider experiences, and get prepared to handle future challenges effectively. Through meetings, the work is organized, and people are aligned and ready to achieve high targets (inspired leadership being part of the equation, too!).

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Major advantages of meetings

Regardless of the negative aspects of a mistakenly held meeting, there is a long but inexhaustible list of meeting advantages to bear in mind.

·?????? Different teams and people in the company get coordinated

·?????? All involved stakeholders participate in decision-making

·?????? Issues are resolved in a constructive way

·?????? There is a multi-way flow of important information

·?????? Decisions are taken based on data, discussion, and argumentation

·?????? Assumptions are taken into account

·?????? Progress is highlighted

·?????? Recognition and reward are assigned

·?????? Tasks are ascribed

·?????? Transparency is achieved

·?????? Common targets are set

·?????? Corporate governance is respected and followed

·?????? Accountability is applied in practice

·?????? Different opinions are heard

·?????? Optimal solutions prevail (well, most of the time)

·?????? Organizational discipline is attained

·?????? Commitments are taken

·?????? Best practices and lessons learned pervade throughout the organization

·?????? People act as responsible team members not as isolated individual contributors

·?????? Alignment is realized

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In short, appropriately run meetings can help family businesses keep their people inspired and engaged to achieve great results.

?I really appreciate the fact that you are reading my article. I have written a book on family businesses (“Secrets of success for family businesses in the new era”) which is also available as an? ebook (only in Greek) here: ?https://www.patakis.gr/product/645960/vivlia-praktikoi-odhgoi-ergasia-epituxia-epixeirhmatikothta/Mustika-epituxias-gia-oikogeneiakes-epixeirhseis-sth-nea-epoxh-Gia-epixeirhmatie/

?I usually write articles about business issues I have encountered and thought of and I think it would be useful to share with you. If you would like to read previous posts of mine, just visit my author page on LinkedIn?https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/marica-labrou-06ba5011

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