Although nepotism is very common in family businesses, unless it is blatant it can often be difficult to recognize and address. In this blog post series, we will look at how to avoid nepotism by creating hiring and promotion practices that combat it while still loving our family members well, helping to foster a healthy culture within the family business.
Family business leaders want to see their families succeed. That is Biblical. 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” This Scripture implies that we should help our family grow and flourish.
In non-family businesses, the dynamic of helping families in the corporate setting isn’t present like it is in a family business. Leaders are focused on being stewards of the company and putting the best people in the right positions for the company to flourish.
It gets tricky when our stewardship of our families intersects with our stewardship of the company. This is where nepotism can occur. Nepotism happens when a family business’s leaders unjustly prioritize family members over non-family employees in their decisions and business practices.
Often, nepotism starts unintentionally, as leaders honestly want to see their families involved and thriving in the business. Over time, it can become more blatant to the point where all employees know that if they are not blood relatives, they won’t get a promotion over a family member who is going for the same promotion. When this happens, stewardship of the company suffers unnecessarily.
On the other hand, if hiring and promotion decisions are made based on experience and performance (as they would be in a non-family business entity), stewardship of the company can be protected. Family business leaders can remind the family members who did not get a desired promotion that, as leaders, they must focus on what pleases Christ first, be stewards of the family’s equity shares, and develop a plan to grow family members’ experience and performance for future leadership positions (more on that in our third post in this series).
Creating fair hiring and promotion practices makes it more likely that talented non-family employees will stay in the business. It can also improve accountability and decision-making within the company and make it more likely that the right people will be in the right roles. In our next blog post, we will look at specific steps that you can take to create ethical hiring and promotion practices in your business.
Chew On This
Where has nepotism impacted trust in your organization?
