Boating Industry

February 2015

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February 2015 | Boating Industry | 19 [ All in the family ] www.BoatingIndustry.com Vallely, his uncle, Tim Vallely, and his dad, John Vallely, split duties amongst the owners to cater to individual strengths. For instance, Josh and his uncle split the responsibility of managing boat brand relationships. The Vallely family is able to learn from each other's expertise and experience to make deci- sions for the business. "Having multiple generations in the business … drives growth, change and energy throughout our business," said Vallely. "The next [genera- tion] comes into the business and provides new ideas, a new set of eyes on current operations and brings new energy into the organization." A mutual respect across all generations helps keep any family business fresh, stable and thriv- ing, said Smith. "No matter what your current family struc- ture is, prepare for the possibility of having family members working in the business by having a plan that has been well-thought out and includes expert advice. The plan should include clearly defined roles, expectations and progression," said Smith. "Without such a plan, you are going to be flying by the seat of your pants and adding unnecessary challenges to family relationships." Grow individually, together Some people could never work with their sib- lings. The hair pulling and shin kicking of their youth would somehow creep its way back into the adult relationships. For some marine busi- nesses, however, this isn't the case: working with their siblings contributes to the business's overall success. Take Gordy's Lakefront Marine, for example. You don't get to be Boating Industry's Dealer of the Year if you spend all of your time fighting. Siblings Rallee Chupich, Tom G. Whowell, Tigrr Workman and Steele Whowell have equal ownership in the business. Gordy's was tran- sitioned to all of the siblings from their father, Tom W. Whowell, who still helps on-site from time to time and is actively social with customers at the restaurant. Because four siblings, instead of one key person, run the business, Gordy's established a family council. This allows the family to keep work and family time separate, all the while re- ducing friction and creating a more harmonious work environment. The council was developed in 2008 with the goal to meet approximately three to four times a year to discuss specific items and concerns within the dealership. Tom G. Whowell and Chupich boil it all down to the importance of establishing habits be- tween owners, siblings or not, and the standards for the owners are the same if not higher than they would be for anyone else working at Gordy's. "It's really all about the processes and the meetings, like a normal business would man- age," said Chupich. Poole works with her brother, Jay Poole, and mother, Debbie Poole, in the dealership. Poole and her brother learned from their father and his brother, who were previously the co-owners of the business, that it's important to have a distinc- tion between work and family. Unfortunately, their working relationship provided the next generation with a model of what not to do. "They had very differing views on [running the business]," said Poole. For example, if a family member needed a job but the business didn't have a position open, one would make a job because "that's what you should do" and the other one said "no, the business doesn't need any more help, so we shouldn't hire them." Making these distinctions ahead of time was a top priority for managing the business when Poole and her mother and brother bought Poole's uncle's shares and took hold of owner- ship. Therefore, they hold family business meet- ings. Jay is not in a managerial position so their family business meetings are separate from man- ager meetings and address different issues. "That suits the strengths of us as individu- als. While we're all owners of the business, that doesn't necessarily mean … we all need to be senior management. We're in positions that help the strengths of the business," said Poole. "[We address] things that affect us as family members working together in the business so that we can try and avoid any potential prob- lems before they start." Poole suggests these meetings happen out- side of the business and to make a distinction when you begin working together whether your family business is based on a family-first or busi- ness-first mentality. "Both of them have their up-sides and down- sides, but it's important that everybody's on the same page," said Poole. At Gordy's, each sibling has their own teams and areas of expertise. Whowell is the director of sales, Chupich is director of service and res- taurant operations and Steele is the director of business strategy development and marina op- erations. Workman has five children so her work at Gordy's is on payables and bookkeeping for the restaurant as well as special projects. "If all three siblings were leading the same team, it may be more challenging," said Whow- ell. "Each has a different style and each has a Clearly defined roles across generations have contributed to the success of Buckeye Marine.

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