Yesterday, MJ talked to me about a recent training meeting for a Christian retreat-type thing that he is involved with. The most recent meeting was a “team-building” event. Unlike a lot of corporate organizations, this didn’t have people falling backwards into someone else’s arms and they didn’t go whitewater rafting. We did not discuss their activities in any level of detail, but it is the concept that is important here.

In a weekend event, there are weeks of planning, preparation, and practice that go into making it happen. If your dream is to launch your own family-owned business (FOB), do not think that the pre-launch process will be less involved. And team-building, in this case, becomes a synonym for relationship-building.

It starts with understanding that the pressures involved can easily turn one family-member against another. The family’s strength is in the relationships between one another. Not necessarily in blood relationships or common ancestry, because this counts for little in real life. It is in the mesh of individual ties between members, including common memories & history, and in the genuine affection and commitment that fill our relationships.

If you are contemplating a family business, you should start communicating to your family members that you still care for them when you are so busy working that you don’t see one another for days at a time. Your family members should also understand that business is business and family is family, that sometimes you are acting as part of the business and other times as part of the family, and that this separation is necessary and healthy.