|
|
 |
|
| Building Your Family's 100 Year Plan: The Series |
100 Year Plan Part I: The Family Mission Statement
Brett Anderson & Thomas Kostigen
12/01/2003
|
Rules of Engagement
Family meetings, formal or informal, are obligatory tools for defining and implementing our families’ missions; but these meetings need to be governed by rules that establish how information is shared and decisions are made. These rules are a byproduct of the family’s structure of governance, which varies widely. A first generation family is usually headed by one or both parents; a larger multigenerational family, however, will need to have governing structures that enable its members to choose representatives from among their ranks to interface with the numerous institutions and financial entities that manage their resources—everything from the family office and private bank to charitable trusts—all the while maintaining the integrity of the group’s mission. Because the participation of individuals is so crucial to team building, not to mention to the individuals’ long-term contributions to the family wealth, most of us choose a representative system of family government, the family council. The procedures surrounding these councils should include:
• Timetables for family meetings—when and where they take place
• Guidelines for how issues are presented and decisions are made
• Divisions of responsibility with procedures for assigning each family member’s role
• Accountability—methods by which members report back to the group on their activities.
Like our mission statements themselves, these systems must be flexible. Circumstances change, however only as a result of major shifts in the underlying values of the current generation, not just as a matter of convenience.
"You want to have clearly defined roles and balances of power," explains Braden, "but you also have to have the flexibility to adapt as needs change. If the family dynamics change, but you have exactly the same structures in place, then communication can break down. Conflicts break out, and family members don’t speak to each other. The chances are that those conflicts will then be resolved by lots of lawyers."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
