255. Family at Work: The Risk Leaders Miss

🎧 PODCAST SHOW NOTES

Family members working together doesn’t automatically create problems.

But ignoring the dynamics absolutely can.

In this workplace case study, Kathie Owen explores the often-overlooked risks of family relationships inside organizations—including married couples, extended family members, and informal family pipelines that quietly shape culture, communication, and trust.

Drawing from real-world consulting experience, Kathie explains why these dynamics are rarely visible on org charts, yet deeply felt by employees—and how leaders can address them proactively before they erode culture, psychological safety, or performance.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why family dynamics at work are not the problem—avoidance is
• How unexamined family relationships can impact trust and communication
• Why anonymous feedback is critical in psychologically safe workplaces
• The overlooked role of visible, human-centered leadership
• How leaders can assess risk early—especially during acquisitions
• What strong leadership presence actually looks like day to day

This conversation isn’t about blame or judgment.
 It’s about awareness, leadership, and prevention.

👉 Read the companion blog post with bonus resources:
https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/family-at-work

👉 Learn more about Kathie’s work or inquire about consulting:
www.kathieowen.com

If this episode resonated, consider sharing it with a leader or organization who could benefit from this perspective.

Transcript

0:09

Hey, it's Kathie Owen, and today on workplace case studies, we're gonna talk about something that shows up in far more companies than people realize, but almost no one talks about it clearly. Today we're talking about family members in the workplace. Sometimes that looks like married couples. Sometimes it's siblings, sometimes it's cousins, and sometimes it's interns related to high level executives or human resources. And most of the time leadership says,"That's not a problem here." Until it is. If you are new here, let me briefly ground you in what I do. My name is Kathie Owen, and I am a workplace and executive leadership consultant who specializes in these case studies. That means I don't just design programs or run workshops. I go inside organizations and observe patterns. How people communicate. Where trust flows or stops. What people won't say out loud. Where risk quietly lives. I've worked with organizations dealing with culture erosion, burnout, leadership blind spots, acquisitions and mergers. And issues that left unaddressed can cost millions, even multi-millions. Most of the problems I solve were never written down anywhere. They lived between people. Let me start with a company I recently worked with that was acquiring another organization. On paper everything looks solid, strong departments, good leadership structure, no obvious red flags. But when I did a deeper cultural review, something stood out. There were two married couples inside the company being acquired. One couple at the executive level, one couple in the mid-level management, different departments, no direct reporting lines, so leadership assumed no issue. But here's what I said to them. I'm not saying this is a problem. I'm saying it's a risk that hasn't been assessed yet." And here's the important part. I didn't even dig deeply enough at that point to confirm whether there were additional family relationships, siblings, cousins, extended relatives, and that alone told me something needed to be addressed proactively. Because when leadership doesn't ask these questions, culture fills in the gaps. Family members working together isn't automatically bad. Let me be clear about that. It can reflect loyalty, it can support retention, but only when leadership is intentional. Problems don't usually show up In organization charts, they show up in information sharing, perceived favoritism, psychological safety, who feels safe speaking up, who doesn't. And those dynamics intensify when family relationships exist. In one organization I worked for family relationships were spread across departments including human resources, and that's where risk escalates quickly. Because human resources must be neutral, it must be trusted and it must be perceived as safe. But when employees believe information travels through family channels, even unintentionally, silence takes over. People stop reporting concerns. They stop asking questions. They stop trusting the process and culture quietly erodes. This is why anonymous feedback systems are critical, not as a suggestion box, not as a once a year survey, but as a living channel for psychological safety. If employees don't believe they can speak safely, they won't. And when family relationships exist, especially connected to leadership or human resources, anonymous feedback is not optional. It's proactive for employees, for leadership, and for the organization. Now let's talk about something companies underestimate leadership presence. A CEO does not need to spend hours a week to understand culture. 15 minutes a week can be enough, but here's the key. If it's not the CEO, it must be an executive leader who is a people person, not someone checking a box. Not someone rushing through a real people person. Someone who stands with employees, who listens, who observes, who asks real questions. This isn't new thinking, by the way. Henry Ford was famous for walking the floor. He talked with workers. He watched processes, he asked questions, and many of his innovations came not from boardrooms, but from standing next to people doing the work. I've seen this done beautifully. One leader would go into the warehouse and stand with employees while they worked. Sometimes packaging boxes, sometimes just being present. People felt seen, they felt important, and they talked about work, about challenges, about life. Not informal meetings, but in real moments. That's where leaders learn what's actually happening. In a company of 200 employees, this is not hard to do and it doesn't take long. I've also seen the opposite executives who say they are visible. But when they come downstairs, they don't make eye contact. They looked rushed. They grab food and leave. They don't sit in shared spaces. They don't eat in the break room. They don't linger, they don't connect, and employees feel it. Presence isn't about being seen. It's about being available. When family relationships exist inside a company, leadership presence becomes even more important because employees are constantly asking themselves, who is safe to talk to? Who is protected? Who gets heard? If leadership doesn't intentionally balance those dynamics, culture tilts. Not loudly, quietly. And quietly is where the biggest risks live. Family members in the workplace are not the problem. Avoidance is. Proactive leadership means naming potential risks early, setting clear expectations, protecting confidentiality, creating anonymous safety channels and staying visibly human and connected. When leaders do this, family dynamics don't erode culture. They coexist within it. This is the work I do. I'm an invitation only consultant. I don't sell generic solutions. I solve specific human problems inside organizations through observation, pattern recognition, and strategic intervention. I work with leaders who wanna know the truth before it becomes expensive. And honestly, this work is creative. It's fun, it's meaningful. It's impactful and it changes how people experience work. Alright, thank you for watching. If you know a leader or an organization that could benefit from this conversation, please share it with them. And if workplace case studies like this matter to you, you're in the right place. I'll see you next time.