Working Relations

Posted Apr 16, 2007 by Vidisha Priyanka

Updated Apr 16, 2007 at 06:23 AM

By DAVE SIMANOFF
The Tampa Tribune

Dealing with co-workers can give you a headache.

Dealing with parents, siblings and children can give you a headache.

So you’d imagine you’d need an industrial-sized vat of analgesics to deal with co-workers who also happen to be your parents, siblings or children.

But you’d be wrong.

Although being part of a family business can be maddening, family-owned businesses across the Tampa Bay area are learning that planning and good communication skills can prevent family issues from interfering with business success - and, conversely, the same tactics can stop business squabbles from souring family relationships.

“The dilemma is that for family businesses, the boardroom is the new playroom,” said Paul Karofsky, principal at Transition Consulting Group in Palm Beach Gardens, and executive director emeritus of the Center for Family Business at Northeastern University in Boston.

“It’s the new backyard - it’s the arena in which the issues within the family are going to play themselves out,” Karofsky said.

How do people stop family issues from bleeding into business affairs?

“There has to be a tremendous amount of open dialogue,” Karofsky said. “There must be a willingness to set some boundaries of what’s acceptable and what’s not.”

Local Example: Waller & Wax

Laura Waller and her son, Jonathan Wax, hired a business consultant, met with a counselor and spent several months planning before they merged their financial planning firms in 2003. They discussed how to handle conflicts and set some ground rules, such as not discussing business at family gatherings.

The preparations before the merger were important because “we didn’t want to destroy our relationship,” Wax said.

The partnership, Tampa-based Waller & Wax Advisors, has been fruitful. Waller and Wax won’t discuss financials, though they said the company has grown by 15 to 20 percent each year since the merger. In addition, Waller says the partnership has given her more time to pursue her other passions, painting and philanthropy.

Waller said she was adamant about not bringing her son into the business until he had established himself as a financial planner.

“There’s so much to learn, and there’s a lot of pressure if you’re expecting [your children] to learn everything from you,” she said.

Wax said he and Waller are very mindful about running the business as a partnership of professional equals and not a mother-and-son shop. In front of clients, Wax refers to his mother by her first name.

“It helps me keep the family aspect on the side,” he said. “I don’t want to say, ‘This is what I recommend, but let me go check with my mother.’”

Family Meetings

At Evatone, a Clearwater-based company that makes and distributes CDs, DVDs and other marketing materials, family members meet outside the office every three months to discuss business.

The goals: to make sure everyone in the family is informed and involved in the business, and to confront and settle any potential problems before they hinder company operations.

“We have an opportunity for there to be a conflict and to resolve the conflict right there,” said Mark Evans, the company’s vice president of human resources and grandson of founder Richard Evans. “We don’t bring it into the board room. We don’t bring it into the office.”

Evans and his brother Carl, the company’s president and CEO, started the quarterly meetings in 1996. The family wasn’t facing any immediate problems at the time, but the brothers were worried that issues might crop up in the future that could compromise the business.

Working for a family business “is a tremendous legacy, and we work hard to preserve it,” he said.

Dianne Welsh, James W. Walter Distinguished Chair for Entrepreneurship at the University of Tampa, said dialogue between family members is vital because “communication issues and misunderstandings can get way out of proportion real quick.”

She said that’s true not just in the office, but in the home, as well.

“It’s really always important not to bring the business home with you,” Welsh said. Too much business talk at home could alienate family members who aren’t involved in company operations - or turn off children who might be expected to run the company one day.

“Parents might badmouth the company business at home. They usually talk about problems around the kitchen table and not really the good things that are happening,” she said.

Tribune photos by JAY CONNERAt Evatone in Clearwater, family members meet outside the office every three months to discuss business. Carl Evans, left, the company’s president and CEO, and his brother Mark started the policy in 1996 to keep everyone involved and head off problems.

Financial planner Jonathan Wax calls his mother, Laura Waller, by her first name at Tampa’s

Waller & Wax Advisors. “It helps me keep the family aspect on the side,” he says.

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762 or dsimanoff@tampatrib.com.

5 TIPS FOR WORKING WITH FAMILY

1. Define roles. Family members may wear several hats: manager, owner, director.

2. Set limits. Make sure family members know how much company money they’re allowed to spend, and whether they may hire or fire employees.

3. Be clear about compensation. Make sure family members know how much they’re going to be paid for the roles they assume in the company.

4. Don’t discuss business at family events. Schedule time for family business meetings. Don’t use the Thanksgiving table as a board room table.

5. Ask for help. Consultants can facilitate family meetings and help set up systems for resolving disputes.

Source: Paul Karofsky of the Transition Consulting Group