Will Sri Lankan family firms be around in three years?

There are three corporate decision makers in Sri Lanka right now, says The HR Consortium Ltd., a total HR solutions provider: “First, the founder of a company, hesitant to hand over the reins of a company that took him or her years to build. His or her children are uninterested in taking over the family firm or intent on pursuing dreams elsewhere. Next, the ones who inherited their parents’ company and must navigate their family dynamic. Lastly, the new boss who took over the business and is faced with a change resistant mould.”

Like many Asian countries, Sri Lanka too is peppered with family firms realising that change needs to come fast. The HR Consortium feels that the time perhaps has come to ask the question, “Are Business Chairpersons managing their organisation’s Human Asset with the same rigour as they do their Financial Assets?” Or is it too late now?

The recruitment landscape has shifted rapidly from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market. The biggest challenge today is to attract and retain people. Gone are the days that the recruiter could specify the salary and job objective to filter out the ideal candidates for the job vacancy. Now candidates broadcast their personal brand and set their conditions. They chase a clear idea of what they want; unless they find it at work, they will not commit. Who are these elusive individuals? Millennials. 

Millennials find their job interesting and worthwhile if their voice is heard and their ideas implemented. On the side of the management, there is no thought about how employees add value to the business. The HR Consortium sees the employees’ need to be involved in the decision making as their value proposition. “The last ‘employee satisfaction’ survey report lies untouched on the HR Head’s table. Has the company’s research partner done a good job gathering data that could possibly be included into the business plan for the next quarter? Probably. But it is insight, not data, that can be translated into action,” The HR Consortium says.

The business research unit of The HR Consortium, Second Curve Ltd., gains insight by recording the ‘employee displayed emotions’, enabling them to measure their ‘emotional stamina’. The significant patterns are used to build action plans and initiatives. It doesn’t stop there. Unfortunately, most companies have trouble putting suggestions to practice. Enter the next phase where The HR Consortium works alongside the company to ensure its effective implementation.

Time must be spent identifying the emotional stamina of employees, and whether they are capable and willing to do their job. For instance, due diligence is done for the latest machinery in factories, but the same is not done for the human resource. As American Sales motivation speaker Zig Ziglar says, ‘You don’t build a business – you build people – and then people build the business.’

Second Curve offers an Employer Brand Tracker that is more than a document picking which employee is an asset and who needs to be kicked out. It is an expansive study blending the different visions of the Boss, the Board of Directors, the Senior Managers and each employee. Second Curve collects insights, strategies and solutions and passes them on to The HR Consortium. Then a holistic answer is developed to solve the multitude of issues. Local research shows that while most family firms are vision oriented, they have not set it clearly in writing. Do not be a part of the pack; change, adapt and thrive.