Family Dynamics: Leveraging the Kolbe Index to Understand Your Family Business
Family businesses present a unique blend of personal relationships and professional responsibilities. They intertwine the dynamics of kinship with the demands of commerce. A family business is a venture that has continued for generations, but with changing times, it has to reappoint new leadership.
It can be passed down from an elder family member to their children or other family members. However, this process can create conflict in certain circumstances. That is where the Kolbe A™ Index plays a key role. It helps you understand each family member's talents - regardless of shared DNA. Typically, the founders or first generation of a business Initiate on the Quick Start™; are natural risk takers. As the business endures succession, other talents will run the business very differently. .
Leveraging tools like the Kolbe A™ Index will articulate these dynamics, offering insights into individual problem-solving, communication, and decision-making approaches. Instead of frustration, you can recognize and capitalize on each member's unique strengths - and have insight into their leadership style for the next generation.
Lets see how this works
While I do not specialize in family businesses, approximately 20% of my clients have a family dynamic (shared sibling ownership, parent/child, husband/wife, etc). Lets review a client example.
Recently, I worked with a family business that specializes in youth lacrosse development, training and teams - 36 Lacrosse. On the leadership team of three people, there is a brother/sister dynamic and a husband/wife dynamic. Furthermore, each member on the leadership team has a very different way of taking action. They had the recipe for synergy; but they needed the instinctive framework to build an understanding of each other’s talents.
Owner Ted Sperides hired me to lead a Kolbe session with their leadership team. “As a small family business, we were experiencing some overlap in our roles and some trust issues across deliverables. We wanted to get a clearer understanding of “who is best in what seat” to confirm strengths, improve efficiency and uncover areas where we might need to hire.”
Through the Kolbe assessment and Erin’s consulting, 36 Lacrosses’ leadership team was able to clarify their roles and leave the session with a sense of pride and accountability for each other’s share of the work in the business. A few months in, every member has been more engaged with their role and more trusting of each other to do the job they are responsible for. Everyone is much happier working in areas that Kolbe defined would best suit them and it has helped create better systems and processes for their company.
The Kolbe A™ Index offers invaluable insights into each family member's approaches by identifying individual conative tendencies related to problem-solving, decision-making, and action-taking. It analyzes how they approach tasks and collaborate within the business.
Furthermore, by aligning tasks with individual strengths, families can optimize productivity, minimize conflicts, overcome more challenges, and capitalize on the diverse talents within the family. This ultimately leads to greater success and benefits business and family relationships.
Final Thoughts
The Kolbe System emerges as a transformative tool that transcends the scale of a family business, proving just as effective in small enterprises as it is in large corporations. It offers a profound understanding of individual strengths and instincts within the familial and professional world. It fosters effective communication, harmonious relationships, and optimal task allocation.
In today's evolving landscape, where traditional gender biases are being dismantled, the Kolbe System stands as a beacon of meritocracy. It ensures that leadership positions are rightfully occupied by those best suited to drive success, irrespective of gender.
Moreover, its capacity to reveal mismatches between roles and individual aptitudes promotes personal fulfillment while also enhancing overall team dynamics.
Leveraging the Kolbe A™ Index empowers enterprises to harness unique talents, identify patterns, and carry out healthy discussions. Contact The Instinctive Advantage to learn more about how Kolbe can help guide your family business to success for generations to come.