Lloyd Cos. spreads out the responsibilities
The Sunday newsmaker Q&A features The Lloyd family, founders of Lloyd Cos. and winners of the 2014 Family Business of the Year award from the Prairie Family Business Association. Responses were compiled by Christie Ernst, head of family business transition for Lloyd Cos.
Question: What's the best part about working with your family?
Answer: We have a fun culture at Lloyd Cos., and so being able to share in that fun with my family makes it that much better.
Q: What's the most challenging part of working with your family?
A: We have to work to maintain our professionalism around each other and not allow the casual nature we have as a family to enter the business. For example, it's much easier to be late for a meeting with your dad than it is with your boss, and it is common practice for us to make fun of our dad, and it takes some self-discipline to not make fun of our boss.
Q: You've taken a focused approach to planning for your company's future. What are some of the strategies that you've employed?
A: We have spent several years developing a strategy to professionalize our organization so it is not dependent on one person. Entrepreneurs wear many hats and change hats without others knowing what hat they are wearing. Over the past several years, we classified (CEO) Craig's hats into owner, board and management and then defined a strategy on how to transition each of those roles.
1. Ownership: Our family's vision is to be a family-owned business but not necessarily a family-managed business. The next-generation owners of the company will include Craig's three daughters and his nephew Chris. The family has been working to develop their skills around being responsible owners while empowering management to do their jobs.
2. Board: We have developed an independent outside advisory board. Craig has always been accountable to his customers, but the board creates a new level of accountability for Craig and the management team. The board meets quarterly to ensure that management's strategy aligns with the values, needs and goals of the ownership group.
3. Management: Craig wore the most hats in his role as a manager, and we have been hiring and training professionals to lead each division of the organization including construction, development, property management and real estate. Each of the division leaders report to Chris Thorkelson as COO.
Q: What are some ways you've found to effectively involve most or many family members in decision making?
A: We are actually trying to take family members out of the decision-making process as it relates to operations — that is, unless they serve in a management role that requires them to make decisions. The family made a decision to hire the best management team we could, and with that we need to empower the management team to make management decisions. Family decisions include: what values and culture we want to see in our company, what are the philanthropic goals, how much risk are we willing to take and what return we want on our investment.
Q: Sometimes family-owned businesses break apart as new generations leave town. Why do you think your family has been drawn to stay in Sioux Falls, and what could the city do to make it more attractive for others to do the same?
A: Liz, Christie and Mary left Sioux Falls with the famous last words that they would never return. As they got older (and wiser) they realized that Sioux Falls has so much to offer and each of them returned to Sioux Falls with new skills to benefit the company. We can't say what will attract other people, but our family is drawn to Sioux Falls because of the strong community feel, the progressive development, the opportunities and the work-life balance.