A Family Business is like: an Australian Sea Lion because …
… they often fail to define the family’s ground rules.
Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca cinerea) facts:
- Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Mammalia; Order: Carnivora; Suborder: Pinnipedia; Family: Otariidae; Subfamily: Otariinae; Genus: Neophoca; Species: Phew!
- Sea Lions have external ears; Seals have internal ears.
- They are closely related to Fur Seals (Family: Otariidae – “eared seals”).
- Like seals they are pinnipeds, which means “fin foot”. They use their fins to swim (like penguins) and to manoeuvre on land. Their tail fins, or flippers, are used as rudders for swimming, and as stabilisers on land.
- Habitat: islands and waters off South and Western Australia. Other sea lion species are found in waters ranging from the Arctic to the sub-tropics and Antarctica.
- Total Population: approximately 15,000. Considered a rare, but no longer seriously endangered species. It was brought to the brink of extinction by 19th century sealers.
- Diet: fish, squid, octopus, crustacea, sea birds.
- Hunting grounds: up to 30kms offshore, and depths of up to 300m. Hunting trips may last up to 3 days.
- Social behaviour – read the article!
A Family Business is like an Australian Sea Lion because ….
Their parenting and associated social interactions are a confusing mixture of nurture, collaboration and territorial and leadership competitiveness that can result in anything from runaway group success to homicidal disaster.
Breeding and Parenting (Sea Lions)
Mature males are called “Bulls”. They grow to lengths of 2.5m and weigh up to 300 Kgs. Females, called “Cows”, are about 1.8m long, and typically weigh around 100kgs.
Unlike most wild animals, and all other seals and sea lions, the Australian Sea Lion has no set breeding times or cycles, and pups may be born at almost any time of the year. While individual family groups tend to birth together, because the females come into oestrus at the same time, their breeding cycles may be totally different to that of the next family, living nearby on the same beach.
Gestation takes around 17 months, and produces a single pup. The female is likely to be in oestrus again within days of birthing, which makes them sound like a Victorian breeding factory, albeit one with low productivity. They spend the year after birth weaning and protecting their new born calves, which need to be fully independent before their next sibling arrives, as they’re likely to be chased away from the family group as soon as that happens.
The bulls come ashore to mate for two to three weeks each year, and become ferociously territorial and possessive of the four to seven cows they round up to make a family group – assuming they’re powerful enough to win any mates against the competition. The “families” are little more than opportunistic groups that come together for purposes of biological reproduction. The bulls only hang around long enough to see the birth of the new pups (which are probably not their own progeny), and to breed with the females when they come into oestrus a week or so later. They then lose all possessive and protective interest in their family group and may need to wait another 17 months for the next breeding cycle, unless they can create, or gatecrash, a new family party that’s on a different breeding cycle. Evidently, male Australian Sea Lions don’t have a great social life!
Some cows, especially those without their own progeny, show strong protective tendencies towards the group’s pups, especially when their mothers are away feeding at sea, which sometimes lasts for several days. The pups would otherwise be alone and quite defenceless on the beach. This sort of community support is very unusual amongst wild animals, where it’s more common to find that the only group behavioural guidelines are the laws of survival – which are seldom benevolent.
A significant number of male pups are chased off by bulls, and may even be killed, for getting in the way during their testosterone-laden competition for territory and mates. The losers failed to get their heads around the unwritten ground rules of engagement and social interaction within their family group, and within their species. They should have known they had to get out of Dodge on the arrival of new siblings – an event that instantly changed their status from being last year’s focus of motherly affection to this year’s social complication and threat – at least around breeding times. And this is how things stay until they become sexually mature and take their own dominant role in the breeding herd.
The Nub of the Matter: The Family’s Unwritten Ground Rules
Many of the issues we see in family businesses have similar, and sometimes no less dramatic, elements and outcomes. The individual and collective needs and wants, interests and expectations of some or all family members, and of the family as a whole, have not been adequately exposed, explored, examined, discussed or agreed and, as a result, there is great opaqueness over issue such as: “What is The Plan”? What is my role in the family and/or in the business? What do I expect out of all this and what is expected of me? Are we in this for the short, medium or long haul – and practically, what does that mean? How do we handle the competing needs and interests of different generations at different times? What are the rules of engagement with the business, including entitlements, performance expectations and remuneration issues? How do we deal with family baggage, tensions and conflicts? What’s our system for consistent and wise decision making? How do we learn from our triumphs and failures so we become better at what we’re doing? How do we create a valuable legacy that benefits our future generations?” And so on ………..
Some families enjoy very high levels of trust between members, and across generations. They have such great faith in their leaders that even my shopping list of uncertainties doesn’t create much angst. In reality, such families are few and far between, and the more common scenario is better represented by the Volcano Principle: some activity is evident on the surface, which indicates subterranean activity below. But nobody wants to descend into the magma to assess the real dangers, preferring to hope that nothing happens on their watch. (Note: we say, “hope” is not a plan!).
Family issues and challenges can lie dormant for many years, simmering away, with their pressures growing all the time. Eventually something happens, it may look like trivial, but it’s enough to be the catalyst that moves the tectonic plates that start the chain reaction that eventually shatters the volcano’s cap. The resulting eruption spews unstoppable emotions and irresistible forces high into the air – to the distress, and possible destruction, of the family and the business.
Prevention is better than cure
Fortunately, there’s a whole range of scalable, tried, tested and practical strategies that can be implemented in almost any family business situation. Some are adaptations of good business and organisational practices, others are obvious common sense. But wasn’t it Voltaire who said: “Common sense is not so common”? Although we’ve missed our chance to ask him whether he had family business in mind when he said it, after working with many over the years on various issues and challenges, I can confirm that if he wasn’t actually thinking of family business, he might as well have been.
Communication
Communication is a means to an end. It’s a mechanism for conveying ideas, information, attitudes and emotions. Contrary to popular belief, poor communication is never the root cause of confusion and tension in a family, the issues always go much deeper than that. But poor communication does foster an environment that inevitably produces poor problem solving, decision making and conflict management processes and skills. It also prevents the development of personal self-esteem and confident relationships, both of which are major contributors to resilience – one of the most important attributes of successful individuals, families and families in business.
Surprisingly, even high-functioning families benefit from dialogue coaching designed to help members talk to each other more constructively. It helps them become more willing and able to express their thoughts and (gasp) emotions, which in turn leads to better mutual understanding, appreciation and consideration.
Establishing, or re-establishing, wholesome communications within a family constitutes a major advance towards that family’s peace and prosperity.
Clarity
Each family is a microcosm of society, and to enjoy stability and success every society needs a reasonable measure of clarity about the meaning of life: what we’re here for; what we’re supposed to be doing; and how we’re supposed to be doing it.
These concepts are usually formulated and translated into high level principles, values, visions and goals – by religious orders, political parties and other social leadership groups.
Similarly, families looking for clarity need to start by defining their values, because everything they subsequently choose to do is referable to them. Most values are remarkably consistent amongst family members, even across generations, and this realisation begins to build a sense of congruence in the family.
The next task requires developing aspirational, long-term, individual and collective visions for the future, through conversations that place important issues in plain view. These visions should help to identify the group’s individual and collective goals.
Certainty
Values, visions and goals are great “feel good” factors, and they do raise everybody’s hopes and expectations, but they’re too “fluffy” to be useful unless supported by concrete plans that identify specific tasks, timeframes, resources, responsibilities and accountabilities. This is the job of Strategy, Business and Family Plans, with appropriate levels of detail for individual businesses and families. Plans provide stakeholders with the certainty they need to confidently organise their efforts and resources.
Family Constitution
Multi-generational Family Businesses need greater levels of clarity and certainty than do ordinary businesses and families, especially as they approach, or journey through, succession processes. Enter the Family Constitution, which should state the agreed rules of engagement between individuals, the family and the business.
The Sea Lion’s Constitution
A Family Constitution written for Australian Sea Lions would explain that every young sea lion will be loved and protected until just after its first birthday, or thereabouts, and that they’re then expected to provide and fend for themselves. It would include a non-negotiable directive to move out of the family home around the age of 15 months.
Another clause would explain that, to maintain congruence with the core sea lion family value of nurturing new generations, all young sea lions should make themselves scarce before any new siblings arrive, as loafing around within the confines of the family home will be regarded as a serious threat and challenge to the family structure, potentially punishable by death.
More detailed clauses would explain, with appropriate sub-clauses, every family member’s role and their attached responsibilities. Hence the Patriarch (Bulls) would be described as the undisputed head of the household for the few weeks that correspond to the cows’ birthing and mating cycles. It’s their job to form and defend the family group and to ensure that the species is properly propagated. After that they’re free to roam the oceans as their moods take them and they have no further responsibilities towards their wives, or their former and future progeny.
Outside the breeding season bulls are expected to behave themselves with reasonable decorum towards the rest of the herd. They can be as selfish as they like with their food, but must be willing to share the beach with other sea lions.
The Matriarchs (Cows) are responsible for the biological survival of the species. This confers upon them certain strict responsibilities:
- To carefully select a Bull as a mate who ticks all the boxes for size, strength and aggression (intelligence seems to be optional).
- To avoid jealousy and conflict with the half dozen or so other Cows coerced by their shared Bull into the family group.
- To nurture and protect their pups, and those of other Cows in need, or under threat.
- To wean their pups and help them become self-reliant quickly.
- To expel their pups from the family home before entering the next birthing and breeding cycle (to protect them against the new Bull in their life, which may or may not be last year’s father).
Outside the breeding season Cows are expected to behave themselves with reasonable decorum towards the rest of the herd. They should help to look after any young sea lions in need, and be willing to share the beach with other sea lions.
Infant Sea Lions under the age of 15 months (Pups) have the right to be protected by the herd. Thereafter, they must largely fend for themselves.
Adolescent male sea lions, between 3 and 6 years, must keep out of the way of mature Bulls and Cows during the birthing and breeding season, or they can be regarded as competitors who may be attacked and killed without further warning, explanation, correspondence, redress or damages. Their crime is that of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
All good Family Constitutions have explicit Execution, Enforcement and Consequences clauses. Our Sea Lion Constitution could read something like this:
- It is the responsibility of every member of our family, as soon as they pass the infant pup stage, to be fully aware of the requirements of our Family Constitution.
- We agree that the requirements of our Constitution are essential to the survival and success of our species, therefore every member of our family, beyond the age of pup, agrees to unconditionally honour its directions.
- During the birthing and mating season, the Bull for the time being has complete and unconditional authority over the family. This includes the power to grant life or deal out death to all family members, including pups ands calves born in previous years.
- For the rest of the time until the next breeding season our current Cows are responsible for the physical, mental, emotional and social health of the family.
Conclusion
Business and Family Plans, supported by a comprehensive Family Constitution, provide the clarity and certainty that keeps families in business out of serious trouble and on the path to long-term success. Their value lies at least as much in the conversations held along the way, as in the documents themselves.
If Australian Sea Lions could be helped to have the conversations and develop the sort of Family Constitution described above, many innocent deaths could be avoided every year – both amongst Neophoca Cinerea, and amongst other species of pinnipeds.
At time of writing (Winter 2011) the Australian Government has shown no interest in developing Family Constitutions for Australian Sea Lions.