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Something Worth SharingThe ‘H’ Balance
We’ve been doing some research just recently focusing on family businesses in an area of the US. I was delighted to stumble across professional advisers who promoted their ‘family business’ work; they appeared to focus on helping with succession planning, dispute resolution, next generation strategy and governance. I was excited to find people working in this space - until I looked deeper. Every single thing was built around the ‘head’. By ‘head’ I’m referring to strategy, the approach, the results, financials, rules and management. Much of the work you’ll still see around family businesses is built around the 1970’s Three-Circle Model of the Family Business System (developed at Harvard Business School by Renato Tagiuri and John Davis). This talks about 1) the family, 2) the management, and 3) the ownership of a family enterprise. Not one of these 3 things is the same as it was in the 1970s as well as missing out identity and purpose, but more than that even, is the lack of understanding at a ‘heart’ level*. Now, we’ve all encountered the ‘sandals and candles’ heart brigade that want to hug a tree and just hope for success - this holds issues and challenges, just the same as being too ‘head-based’. Family businesses are the perfect example of the need for “the H balance” - the careful and considered head and heart approach. It doesn’t mean it needs to be a perfect 50/50 split, but a natural and ever-moving recalibration of balance. People - and organisations - that fair the best have developed strength and resilience around both the heart and the head, and how they work together. Too much heart without the head may feel great, but lacks clarity and is fuzzy. Too much head without heart may feel clear but cold. Both of these result in chaos, overload, and feeling lost and stuck. When we get head and heart working together we end up with people, teams and businesses in ‘flow’. The flow zone of a balanced heart and head is where true progress happens. While I’ve given the example through family business work, this simple fact and approach is true for every happy and successful individual and team. *these are the reasons why we use the GLAS Method, and 7 elements, for families and businesses.
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