If you own a business that includes members of your family, you know the stresses and strains that are pulling you in every direction. There are management decisions, financial pressures, family obligations, and employee issues crowding your mind all day … and sometimes all night. How can you ever learn to master this chaos so that your revenue and relationships are both healthy?

I’m happy to tell you that there is a way forward … a path to success at work for those of you in the unique position of being in business with a spouse, sibling, parents or other relative. With the skills, knowledge, and expertise acquired through 30 years of coaching successful businesses, I can introduce you to effective strategies that help you excel in communication, sales, leadership, management, team building, and much more.  

As a specialist in family business operations, I will bring to life the learnings I’ve included in my book -- The Family Business: How to be in Business with the People You Love, Without Hating Them – and help you to apply those relevant lessons to your specific situation. All aspects of a business – the finances, employee relations and especially work-life balance equation – are impacted by the family dynamic. Together, we’ll address all of those issues and explore the joys and challenges of running a business with family members. As we work together, you’ll learn techniques and proceses that will help you function at your very best, both within your work environment and your family relations, for years to come.

Are you looking ahead to planning a transition of ownership or management within your company? This can be extremely tricky to navigate. Having the understanding, techniques and experience can help the business evolve smoothly. Making all participants feel respected and relevant to each step in the process, and that decision-making is done in an appropriate and timely manner is imperative.

Are you a member of a family in business together, or, do you know someone in a family business?  Then you know the challenges associated with running a successful family business and maintaining good family relationships.  Janna Hoiberg is a well-known author, speaker and Family Business Consultant with over 30 years’ experience in managing and operating successful businesses.  She has helped businesses with needs varying from increasing profits, improving systems, strengthen teams and executive leadership, and fiscal growth. 

Janna’s specialty is "Creating a Path for the Next Generation Family Businesses" especially where the running a business are often complicated by family and family dynamics.

Generational Transition Consulting

As a successful Family Business Specialist, one of Janna’s area of expertise is in working with companies in generational transition.  By providing a conduit between the current generation to the next, she enables families to pass along their heritage to one another.  She is essentially, a generational translator.  Being a forward-looking leader, her expertise lays in assisting the two generations to move forward in motion rather than staying stuck in  non-productive stasis.

Conflict often times occurs in family-owned businesses when the new generation is given or wants more authority.  Often times, this incoming generation seeks autonomy as they move forward in growing and shaping the business, while the older generation may feel as if their own impact and efforts are gradually being diminished.  Janna works to identify the cultural (generational) problems that exist—to tease out the discrepancies between one generation to the next in terms of interpersonal conflicts, generational conventions and expectations.  Janna also works to ensure the focus remains on the critical business aspects during the transition

Janna uses techniques that do not conflict with either generation’s beliefs, but rather, she provides a bridge between the two so that they may safely navigate the oftentimes widening chasm that exists.   She works with all parties concerned to explore the content and belief systems that shape generational expectations and biases.  This exploration encourages all parties to identify conflicts between both generations and to gain clarity about the conflicts.  Thus consensus building begins. 

Executive Family Consulting

As the family successfully transitions the business from one generation to the next, the opportunity exists for the new generation to make substantial growth in the business.  Yet, there is a significant need for the new generation to have a strong sounding board that is outside the family.  The new generation often wants to walk without their parent’s involvement in decision making and vision for the business.  Janna has successfully navigated those waters.  Her understanding of business and the baby boomers path toward running a successful business and her ability to relate, challenge and encourage the new millennial generation in business practices provide that generational translation.  Janna assists with teaching and understanding current leadership styles and helping the new leaders to communicate, lead and build the strong team that is needed for the business.