Ray Turek
Chief Human Resources Officer
Spartan Light Metal Products
Episode 336
Beyond Strategy: Relationships are HR's Core Currency in Family Business Succession.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJanuary 23, 2025 · 14:13
Thesis
“Effective HR leadership demands a deep understanding of human dynamics, intentional relationship building, and continuous adaptation to diverse generational expectations to successfully navigate transitions and drive sustainable organizational growth, especially in family-owned businesses.”
Show notes
The Built by People podcast episode features an in-depth discussion with Ray Turek at Spartan, a seasoned HR leader with over 30 years of experience in various roles across both public and private sectors. Sponsored by Predige, the episode covers Ray's extensive career journey, his instrumental role in managing succession planning in family-owned businesses, and the unique challenges of transitioning from family to non-family leadership. Ray also shares insights on preserving institutional knowledge while driving organizational change, developing future family leaders, and fostering effective board dynamics. The episode concludes with Ray's advice for HR professionals, emphasizing the importance of agility, ambiguity navigation, and staying updated on generational and workplace trends as he transitions into advisory and consulting work. 00:44 Guest Introduction: Ray's Career Journey 02:09 Challenges in Family to Non-Family Leadership Transition 04:56 Balancing Institutional Knowledge with Organizational Change 06:47 Developing the Next Generation of Family Leadership 09:16 Effective Board and Senior Management Relationships 11:33 Gaps in Succession Planning and Board Effectiveness 12:58 Parting Advice for HR Leaders 14:06 Conclusion and Farewell
What you'll take away
- 1Succession in family businesses requires extensive communication, stakeholder management, and intentional coaching due to high visibility and emotional attachment.
- 2When integrating new leaders or driving change in long-tenured workforces, prioritize relationship building in the first 90 days over immediate results to foster acceptance and collaboration.
- 3Board and senior management effectiveness hinges on fostering relationships outside of formal meetings and engaging in self-reflection, such as anonymous 360-style surveys for board members.
- 4Leaders must deeply understand and adapt their management styles to the diverse motivators and expectations of a multi-generational workforce, moving beyond traditional career paradigms.
- 5HR leaders need to be agile, thrive in ambiguity, and stay fresh on broader societal trends beyond HR to anticipate future human capital needs and manage the 'human capital engine'.
What most organizations get wrong
- •New leaders in established cultures should prioritize relationship building in their first 90 days over demonstrating immediate, radical changes, contrary to the typical 'prove yourself quickly' mentality.
In Ray's words
“You cannot underestimate the amount of visibility and attention that those roles get. Both for the family member as far as where they're moving in the organization, as well as the person that follows behind them.”
Highlights the unique social and emotional complexities of succession in family businesses due to inherent visibility and attachment.
“for the first 90 days, you really need to work on building relationships in the organization. And you need to work at making sure the organization knows you.”
Provides actionable advice for new leaders joining an established, long-tenured team, emphasizing cultural integration over immediate results.
“that board is— I think sometimes we think, well, gee, there are all these executives, A-players, you know, great resumes, they're going to function as a high-performing team. That's not necessarily the case.”
Challenges the common assumption that highly credentialed individuals automatically form an effective team, underscoring the need for intentional board development.
“you're managing 5 generations. Do you understand all 5? The training you received before you became plant VP to run the plant might not really work with a good portion of your workforce.”
Underscores a critical gap in current leadership training and understanding regarding the diverse dynamics of a multi-generational workforce.
“be an advocate and a guardian for the people, and you'll be an advocate and a guardian for the business, right? You take care of one, it takes care of the other.”
A concise statement of the symbiotic relationship between a people-focused HR strategy and overall business success.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Difficulty for family members in leadership to 'let go' of control during succession, coupled with high visibility and scrutiny on both family and non-family successors.
- •Resistance from long-tenured employees to new leadership or organizational changes, stemming from deeply ingrained practices and a 'this is how we've always done it' mindset.
- •Boards often fail to operate as high-performing teams despite the individual caliber of their members, leading to suboptimal decision-making and missed opportunities for strategic collaboration.
- •Current leaders lack adequate understanding and training to effectively manage and motivate a multi-generational workforce, potentially leading to disengagement and a disconnect with employee expectations.
- •The inherent ambiguity and rapid pace of change in today's business environment demand HR leaders to be exceptionally agile and continuously informed, a challenge for many traditional HR functions.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You have a little over 30 years experience in HR roles
Exploring Your Career Journey
Ray Sutter has helped manage succession planning at a family-owned business
Family-Owned Businesses' Succession Planning
Brad, can you share your experience in developing next generation of family leadership
Bradley On Developing the Next Generation of Family Leaders
Ray Miller: Having a good relationship between board and senior management team essential
What Makes a Board-Senior Management Team Relationship Effective?
Ray Miller sees gaps in how companies approach succession planning and board effectiveness
Ray, on Succession Planning and Board effectiveness
Ray, any parting advice you'd like to share with our community
Ray McGuirk on His Final Words
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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