Coaching in the Family Owned Business: A Path to Growth

Citation

Cunningham, J. (2012), "Coaching in the Family Owned Business: A Path to Growth", European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 36 No. 2/3, pp. 372-374. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090591211204797

Book synopsis

This book is part of the Professional Coaching Series edited by David A. Lane and is the only title in the series dealing a specific form of organisation, the family owned business. The book is comprised of nine chapters written by various authors of both practice‐based and academic backgrounds. The aim of the title is to develop knowledge in a coaching profession in which, according to the editors, many services “fail to appreciate the importance of group dynamics in a family business coaching practice”, (p. xxiii).

A comprehensive introductory section by the editors clearly sets out the scholarly and practical ambitions of the title. In particular, an international perspective is emphasised alongside the application of relevant theory to the field of practice. Although not explicit in its structure, the book is built on two distinct areas, this first being a theoretical and academic reflection on the issues familial involvement bring to the coaching setting, and second is the presentation of narrative case studies from the coaching profession.

The book begins with a helpful overview of coaching definitions and some critical thoughts on the development of “coaching psychology”; this effectively sets the context in which the main issues of family business coaching will be set. Key issues offered by this chapter are: family dynamics in relationship patterns; communication styles and the nature of holdings; the interface between family and business systems; and the local and global contexts of the family business situation. The application of traditional coaching practices is, according to the author, more complex and holistic in nature than in more traditional, non‐family orientated firms. Relational issues are highlighted as causing the most concern to family business clients and therefore family business coaches, thus the aims of the book seek to explore these areas and present some potentially helpful coaching practices.

The following seven chapters offer individual insight on particular areas of interest to professional coaches. Chapters two to five maintain a mostly theoretical approach with the presentation of a number of coaching models and psychological techniques to be used in the field of practice; for instance: the two‐tier Coaching Model for Family Business; Family Systems Perspective; PRACTICE Model of Coaching; Stress Mapping; and the Universal Integrative Framework (UIF), among others. The next three chapters go on to provide a more detailed and subjective analysis of quite specific scenarios relating to the coaching of family businesses. These scenarios include: the involvement of non‐family employees and organisational culture; the building of business in expatriate families; and the impact of various stakeholder groups on family and business dynamics. The final chapter summaries the previous 8 chapters and proposes that the key theme arising from the book is the need for dual coaching of the family and the family business: this also positions the understanding of family dynamics playing a central and critical role in the development of an effective coaching relationship.

Evaluation

The holistic approach to family business adopted by this book is one which is well considered in academic literature: this has particularly developed since the introduction of a unified systems perspective by Habbershon et al. (2006). Therefore, the systemic perspective, typified by the “blended coaching approach with an interdisciplinary focus” (p. 4), fit with recent thought on family firm strategy. However, many of the contributions in this volume do not tackle this in any depth. Engagement with existing family business literature is light, this is particularly evident in the opening chapters, which give detailed coaching models and “solution‐focused frameworks” (p. 38), but fail to embedded such themes into the family business context convincingly.

Contributions from those who are actively involved with family businesses (chapters six to eight) provide far greater depth and insight. It must be said though, that these offerings are wholly subjective in nature and represent only extreme cases. Also, the scale of the book limits the number of individual accounts from family businesses, thus the ability to be comprehensive in scenario inclusion suffers. The majority of the insights presented are appropriate and useful, however, one exception is the chapter considering “the expatiate situation, followed by its effects on family members” (p. 93). It is unclear in the text how the topics discussed here, considering motivation for business start‐up in expatriate spouses, relate to the objectives of the publication.

The book's main strength is the use of detailed case examples and fictional dialogue excerpts, laced throughout. This has been seen in previous family business publications, for example Grant and Nicholson (2008), but in this volume it provides the target reader with a practical application of techniques, without which the text would remain ineffectively abstract. Also, the book is generally well written, in understandable and accessible English. However, on occasion the writers make knowledge assumptions of the reader, in particular during discussions of psychological techniques and coaching practices.

In recommending this book to prospective family business coaches a word of caution would have to be included. The limited engagement with surrounding academic literature causes many bold statements made by the authors to appear unsupported. One particular instance presents the development of a family constitution as a panacea to inter‐generational difficulties, this fails to take into account the many individual psychological barriers to such a development, as detailed in texts (for example, Kets de Vries et al. 2007). Overall, this book provides a good introduction to an area business coaches may be inexperienced in.

In the author's own words

No other coaching type has such a diverse range of issues to deal with in a coaching intervention. The task of family business coaching thus requires delicate crafting to ensure that each part of the family tapestry is being given appropriate attention and suitably integrated into the overall design of the coaching intervention. The speciality of family business coaching is, therefore, not focused only on family issues, but also on the interface between family and business, so that the coaching intervention takes into account all major issues encompassing a family and their business (p. 9).

About the reviewer

James Cunningham earned a BA (hons) and MSc in Operations Management at Glasgow Caledonian University in 2005 and 2008 respectively. He worked as a performance analyst in the finance sector and later as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language. His PhD research focuses on the small family firm sector in Scotland, exploring issues of knowledge sharing and leadership styles. James Cunningham can be contacted at: jcunningham@qmu.ac.uk