4 tips for scaling a family business

Driessen Group was a family business, with about 150 employees specialising in HR-related services for the public sector in the Netherlands. We were growing fast, we were in the news, but it wasn’t clear to me where we were heading. 

The purpose of growth

There were many questions that I didn’t really have the answers to. Like many bosses of family businesses, I didn’t understand the purpose of growth. What is it actually for, when you stop to think about it? How could we grow without losing the thing that made us special in the first place – which was being small – and without spoiling the party?

I knew I needed time away from the business – to work on the business instead of in it. The Developing Strategy for Value Creation programme at London Business School asked the right questions: Where do you want to go? What do you want to sell? As the company grows, what do you want to become? Equally importantly, what do you not want to become?

It made me realise that, in order to grow the company effectively but in the right way, we needed to give people opportunities – we needed to transition from a family business to a family of businesses. It was very exciting to come out of that first course with a coherent strategy and a vision of what the business should be.

Because the courses had made me aware of the importance of giving people the opportunity to run their own business, we then sent all company directors on the strategy value-creation course. It took two to three years of working on the strategy to implement it, and today the leaders of each business are executing the strategy and we’re growing and evolving.

What I’ve learned about scaling a business

1. You need to step out of it a few times a year
   
   At London Business School, you are in a classroom with people from all over the world and they react in a completely different way to the issues your company has. This forces you to think about your company in a much more methodical way, and it was incredibly helpful to talk to people from different cultures, who are often in much bigger companies, and get their perspective on your issues.
   
   
2. Create a learning framework
   
   London Business School also has many teachers who are experts at creating a context where you really learn from each other. Essentially, the School creates an architecture for learning. You don’t necessarily know how or why, but you know you are learning, and I have used that architecture in the business to recreate the learning environment.
   
   
3. Do less but better
   
   One of the most important benefits was realising that, when you are the leader of a company, everything you do makes a difference and will have either a negative or positive impact on your employee. Of course, no one intends to have a negative effect, but your impact grows as your company grows. I learnt to do less, but to do it better. My experiences really helped me to focus on the priorities, and I am better equipped now at letting others lead, rather than trying to do it all myself.
   
   
4. Make your people feel responsible for their actions rather than accountable
   
   There is a tension between accountability and responsibility. Accountability can mean blame and can create a more fearful atmosphere, whereas having responsibility means feeling trusted, appreciated and empowered. It’s such an important difference, because to create impact at scale, you need to empower others. You need as many people as possible to be happy in their work environment, so you have to create an environment in which others can do that too. That means giving people responsibility – without the blame. Responsibility trumps accountability every time.