Written by Ros Gray for Be the Business.

“You can see the relief on their faces when they realise they’re not alone. This is the power of community – to show you’re not the only one.”

Sue Howorth and Dave Clarkson are talking about what tends to happen when new people come to one of their family business events. “You know usually after an event finishes, people clear the room and go home? Our delegates always choose to stay for longer. They tell us it’s not like the usual events they attend; there’s just this feeling of mutual understanding and an emotional sensitivity to what it’s like being in a family business.”

The additional pressures on family businesses are easy to understand. Dave says: “Often, people are living in a family environment together, as well as working together. That means there’s no switch-off at the end of the day. Plus there’s a lack of external influence coming into the business itself, and that limited knowledge base and skills can stifle change. It’s a very specific situation and only members of other family businesses can identify.”

A growing family of families

This is what drove Sue and Dave in 2014 to create the Family Business Community – a network for collaboration and learning exclusively for members of family-run businesses. Now it’s a flourishing network of over 3,000 businesses across the world – that includes the business owners as well as next-generation family members who will succeed them. The aim is to help them grow by providing content, events, peer groups, advisory programmes and connections with other family businesses.

“On paper it’s a very diverse community,” says Sue. “But because around 85% of all businesses are family-owned or family-influenced it covers all sectors, industries, and countries. The common ground between family businesses goes deeper than all those differences.” Regardless of business size, Dave describes what they’re seeking as ‘harmony’ as they grow or evolve. “Even though the number of zeros on their trading turnover might be different, the challenges are exactly the same.”

Balancing the emotional with the rational

From the beginning of the venture Sue says there were always two sides to the need they identified. “A family business often becomes too rational, or it goes too much the other way and too emotionally volatile. So the first step when they come here is often to work on the relationships and dynamics inside the business, before they can make progress on the business itself.”

“When they come to our events, they share time together, listening to each other’s experiences, and they open up in a way that they just wouldn’t at other business events. There’s that sense of belonging and mutual understanding – and that creates a great environment for learning and development – the rational side.”

Community with a bold ambition

It was when Sue relocated to the Lake District that she began to build networks in the region. “I realised I didn’t really know anyone in the business community in Cumbria, because all of my contacts were from further away. So, I started doing a bit of mentoring, business advisory support, and through that met many family businesses and it became clear that the majority didn’t really talk to other family businesses or share knowledge and support.”

Dave, meanwhile, was advising family businesses as part of an accountancy firm when he saw there was a wider need for advice beyond professional services. “I found it frustrating that I couldn’t offer family business clients more support. So, when I met Sue and we started talking about family businesses, it was exactly what we both wanted to focus on. We gave up our career paths and set down a joint ambition: to be the most trusted family business network in the world.”

An accidental business

Now successfully running the community as a commercial enterprise, Sue and Dave describe the origins as ‘an accidental business’. “We just set out bringing together people who all had something in common. From there, we started to connect different peer groups who had specific issues in common or were at the same growth stage. That cross-pollination is what we’re still doing today, just on a bigger scale.”

Using the right language to engage family-run businesses has been important in the success of building this community. There is a certain family business lexicon that differs to the language used by professional service firms and academia. “We often find ourselves translating,” says Sue. “For example, instead of using terms like ‘succession planning’ they just say, ‘taking over from Mum and Dad’ It’s a subtle difference but one that means families will engage more in a process when the language is right.

Community with two hearts at the centre

The combined skillset of the two founders clearly gives The Family Business Community twin-engine energy. Sue and Dave always go to meet families  together: “We’re two pairs of eyes, two sets of ears listening in, we will pick up different things about where they are in their journey. Then, depending on where that business is, at that time where their emotional state is, whether they’re fit-for-growth, we’ll work with those families together or independently. We can read the room very well. And we can read each other very well too. That chemistry helps the families feel like they’re in safe hands too.”

The co-founders say they often feel like their role is a parental one. “We get so involved it’s sometimes hard to step away,” says Sue. “They get to a point where they need less direct time with us, and it can get quite emotional for everyone involved. This is one of the more difficult things about what we do. But ultimately, it’s a huge privilege when people open their hearts and minds to you and let you help them.”