You have likely noticed its arrival. Our days are brighter and warmer for longer. The trees, bushes and shrubs are budding. Daffodils and tulips are declaring their ready and the timing is right. Spring has arrived!
Each year, I enjoy today—the first day of spring—for two reasons. First, it’s a beautiful reminder of possibilities. And, it’s also an annual reminder of my beginning as it is also my birthday! Births of all kinds are celebrated, and rightfully so. New life deserves a celebration of cake and icecream if you ask me.
Spring is a reminder, too, that what was once seemingly dead or dormant is showing signs of life. It’s a testament that nothing has to be forever and always. And it’s living proof that through the darkest of times, greatness can come again.
Nothing can’t be worked through, tilled, fertilized or given another chance… even a struggling family business.
As we get soaked into spring, I want to challenge you to consider three opportunities you have within your family business collectively and within your family and business independently.
A Time for New
Every conversation is a chance. Every meeting is a choice. Every choice is a seed. What your seed will do depends upon the choice you make and what you do with it. You are given the choice to not only collect seeds and plant them, but to also disperse them as well. Here are some considerations on what you could do to offer new seeds to yourself and to others.
- Business grows when seeds are planted. Take a look at your connections outside of the business and see what seeds you can plant.
- Teams grow when seeds are cultivated Take a look within your business and see what conversations you can plant where all opinions are welcomed and valued.
- Communities grow when seeds are spread. Take a look at what you can do to give back or what relationships you can nurture in your community
A Time to Become Anew
Just because something was doesn’t mean it has to remain. Mistakes are a part of human design. No one is perfect, and no business is perfect either. Sometimes, we find it hard to give things another try, but our family is worth it and you are too. Here are some considerations on how you can give others in your life another opportunity, even when it’s the most challenging.
- Forgiveness should come with a clean slate. When people are given the chance to positively change, many times they are excited about it. It’s freeing for both parties. Consider a challenged relationship in the family business and how you could be the first to offer forgiveness. I promise you that the weight you will let go of will be worth it.
- Possibly it’s not a relationship that needs to become anew but a process or a system. If you feel limited by the “box” then throw it away and create a new one altogether. Inspire the team to be innovative for when they do, new ideas may spur and fix old problems and challenges.
- Give yourself grace. Mistakes are only failures if you don’t learn through them. Review the laundry list of mishaps that you carry around regularly and journal your learnings from those challenges. Then, toss it away and move forward. Your family and your business depends upon it.
A Time to Renew
It’s custom in our current culture to find antique shops in our cities, to see designers refurbishing materials others would toss to use within a home, and see people give new life to treasures found at yard sales. If people can restore items, surely we can renew and rekindle relationships. Here are some considerations on how you can regenerate parts of your family business that you’ve been overlooking.
- Time can heal if you let it. If you find that you are harboring ill feelings toward another but can’t articulate or rationalize why, maybe that’s an indication that it’s time to let it go. Wash it off and restore that friendship.
- If you find that you have physically been impacted by the worries and stress of the family business, how can you pour back into you? You can’t bring your A-game if you aren’t fueling you. Take time to rest. Schedule vacations. Embrace a healthy lifestyle. When you do, everyone wins.
- Your soul needs nourishment regularly, and so does the soul of family business. From time-to-time our spiritual selves need to be replenished. And it’s a beautiful reminder that our family businesses do too. The heart of both is love. When you give love and embrace love, great things come from it.
The conditions needed for seeds to grow are simple: soil, water and sun. The conditions needed for a family business to bloom are simple too: gratitude, humility and love. When the conditions are right, all soak up the sweetness of what spring annually offers.
