Now hear this: neotiating strategies that bridge the generation gap

Entrepreneur, April, 1996 by Patricia Schiff Estess

Negotiating strategies that bridge the generation gap

Armed with college degrees and eager to make a mark when they enter the family business, the younger generation often finds instituting change as difficult as maneuvering around the Green Bay Packers' Reggie White. They rush their elders with suggestions on fabulous new marketing ideas, product development concepts, forward-thinking personnel policies and suggestions for upgrading systems . . . and find themselves having lost 10 yards of influence while picking up 15 of frustration.

The younger generation may not understand that separating business problems from family relationships isn't always easy. In fact, a relative may well be part of the problem. Some parents may feel any suggestion for change made by a child is tantamount to a criticism of how they've been doing business. Others react negatively because on a gut level, they fear being upstaged. Some blindly hang on to the old ways, rejecting change simply because it deviates from the tried and true.

But it's not always parents who react emotionally to change. Sometimes younger members of the family business need acceptance so much that they propose changes simply to get a say in operations, says Sam H. Lane, a corporate psychologist and family business consultant in Ft. Worth, Texas. Others come on like gangbusters, assuming their ideas have never been thought of before or not understanding the ramifications of their proposals. "Then," Lane says, "they get indignant when they face resistance."

Proposing change

Most businesspeople know that to survive and prosper, a business must shift gears from time to time to stay in sync with changing market conditions. And if a business has been around for a couple of generations, chances are many changes have already been made, however grudgingly.

The problem, then, is often not the change itself but how that change is proposed to senior members of the family by the juniors. For the younger family members, the key to success is to approach the proposal in as businesslike a manner as possible. The experts offer the younger generation these tips for overcoming resistance:

Become presentation-savvy. If you were working in a nonfamily business, you wouldn't dream of proposing significant changes without studying the problems from myriad vantage points, doing cost-benefit analyses and researching the competition. "Whenever you evaluate a change," suggests Tom Hubler, president of Hubler Family Business Consultants in Minneapolis, "analyze it in the context of this acronym--B.O.S.S. What's the change going to do for the Business, the Other person ("How will this help my dad achieve his goals?"), your Self, and the other Stakeholders (other family members, employees and customers)?

"Thinking through the proposed change very carefully, perhaps with the help of an accountant or someone wise in the ways of business, works on two fronts. You'll have an easier time selling your idea, and you'll be making a better proposal."

Minimize risk. Often you'll have to deal with people like Lee Greenberg's late father, Joe. "He made every decision based on what he had to do not to lose the game, not on what he should do to win," says Lee, a partner with his son, Scott, in H. Greenberg and Son, a Northbrook, Illinois, household textile manufacturing firm.

If overly cautious elders are the problem, move slowly. Scale back the proposal, perhaps instituting the change for one department only. Or recommend building in phases, re-evaluating at the end of each phase. Either way, the risk can be contained so the older generation knows the business isn't at risk.

Strategize. How you approach the negotiations is as important as what you say. Scott Greenberg recalls that while his father agreed wholeheartedly with his ideas and visions for the company, when Scott first made his verbal proposals for change to his grandfather, it was a disaster.

"We were both playing hardball and went from fighting to not talking," says Scott. "I then decided to put everything in a detailed, written proposal, initially concentrating on the cost-saving ideas. This opened the door for me." Because Scott wanted to continue the momentum after he got his first, tiny positive reaction from his grandfather, he immediately mapped out another plan.

Establish a track record. You'll have more credibility if you have a record of good judgment and achievement. As Scott and Lee Greenberg's changes were implemented and proved successful, for example, it became easier to convince Joe to expand the changes and institute new ones.

Finally, this warning from family business consultants: Don't expect a positive reaction immediately. Almost always, the older generation needs time to mull over new concepts.

Patricia Schiff Estess publishes the newsletter Working Families and is the author of two new books, Managing Alternative Work Arrangements (Crisp Publications) and Money Advice for Your Successful Remarriage (Betterway Press).