An interview with Family Business HR Guru Tim Pointer

The whole point of bringing in people from outside the family as business leaders is to get their perspective and bring their experience, so over-ruling them is counterproductive. You have to decide what is your one-way of working – which stands for everyone – and stick to it. You have to say, this is the approach, rather than falling into the trap of ‘one rule for you, one for you’. What that approach is, is always bespoke to the business. I have always found the concept of ‘best practice’ completely naff, because obviously it is about the most appropriate practice. There is more than one way you can do anything, and you have to decide together – as business leaders, including family members – which is the right fit.