Guidelines for Successful Family Construction Business Transition

The basics. Whether formally or via relevant work experience, young people need to learn the business from the ground up. They should demonstrate a hunger for internal and external training. We recommend that they work outside the family company for at least three years. Ideally, they will work for another contractor that's larger and more sophisticated than their own family business. Get out there, learn, and make the inevitable mistakes on somebody else's nickel. Earn promotions, accolades, and on-the-job education. Doing these things means that when the family member returns to the legacy business, he or she is genuinely ready to contribute. Upon return to the family company, family members should start in the field even if only for a short period. This will allow them to appreciate how projects come together, and they can best learn that from working side-by-side with people in the field, experiencing their ups and downs, the ebb and flow of their days, and the kind of hard work required to bring jobs to fruition. That appreciation for the grueling work in the field contributes to empathy later on. 

Earning respect. Respect can neither be demanded nor bestowed; it absolutely must be earned. What’s the pathway to earning respect in construction? It's leading people to success across projects. Operations are the normal pathway for young people to learn the construction business, but they could also earn their spurs via success in business development, estimating, or any number of different ways. The main thing is a young person needs to be able to execute his or her job and build teams, collaboration, schedules, and budgets. They must engineer project success because if they can't run a project, how can they run a business? It's important to earn respect internally, of course, but if young people aspire to senior leadership, they also must earn the respect of peers, trade partners, customers, bankers, bonding companies, and other professionals. Earning respect never stops; in fact, it takes a lifetime. The paradox of respect is that you can lose it in an instant. It only takes one colossal slip-up or one major transgression. There's no real-time prescription for earning respect. Some will dash through the process with aplomb while others will take longer. If a family member doesn't earn respect, both internal and external, over time, don't even bother considering that person for senior leadership. Nothing collapses morale more than rewarding family members who have not genuinely earned their places. That will cost you good people, and that's a huge risk in today's construction marketplace. 

Senior leadership. Senior leaders must develop and hone great listening skills. In fact, they should listen much more than they talk. They must demonstrate sound decision-making. They've got to be mature, reliable, and consistent in their business and interpersonal habits. They must be masters at building and sustaining professional relationships. And finally, leaders must demonstrate true care and concern for employees and their families. If people come first in today's construction world, (and they do!), the most important decisions they make as senior leaders are people decisions.