Here are some practical tools that we have developed to help families as they enter the journey to become generative families. They each help a family to learn about itself and begin a conversation about becoming a generative family. They can be used by the family on its own, or with an advisor.

Defining Personal, Family, and Business Values:

The Values Edge Process employs Values Cards as a tool to help an individual, couple, family, or team to define their Personal Values Pyramid, and then create together a Family or Team Values Statement. It utilizes a model of seven values categories—Mastery, Self-Expression, Tradition, Relationship, Inner Development, Lifestyle, and Social—to help individuals and families explore their values in relation to their personal motivations and life choices. The value categories are color coded to identify them easily. (See Figure A.1.)

Each kit includes decks of values cards, along with colored stickers for transferring values to a Display Card that preserves each person's Values Pyramid in a visible format that can be worn as a name card. By sharing personal values arranged in colorful pyramids, people in a family or a work team can easily experience their similarities and differences. It includes a Facilitators' Manual to guide a Values Discovery Session, which might include exploring personal values, and also defining team or family values.

The use of these cards adds concreteness and a well-grounded model to explore differences and similarities in their personal values and then integrate them into a shared team or family values statement. They can compare legacy and current values, or current and aspired future values, and develop an Action Plan as an individual, family, or work team. (See Figure A.2.) (For ordering information contact Dennis Jaffe, [email protected].)

Family Enterprise Assessment Tool (FEAT®)

For families that own a business or other shared investments across multiple generations, navigating the complexities can be a challenging journey. FEAT® (Family Enterprise Assessment Tool) is an online assessment that enables multigenerational families who are in business together to understand the current status of their family dynamics and enterprise. FEAT® enables families to anonymously gather each family member's perceptions with measurable results.

A family may find it difficult to talk about these issues, or even identify where the problems lie. FEAT® helps families understand their particular areas of strength, opportunities, and differences. FEAT® is a 50-question survey, taken by each member of a family, that provides feedback on 10 areas of successful family enterprise functioning, as a family and as a family enterprise. Each family report provides detailed information that can support families in productive communication, building trust, and creating strategies, policies, and practices to work effectively as a cross-generational team. (See Figure A.3.)

KEY FEATURES

• User friendly, 24/7 online access for use on desktop or mobile devices
• 25 statements on family dynamics and 25 on family enterprise providing measurable results
• Compares perceptions of family members in 10 key areas of competency ranging from governance to preparing the next generation, to wealth and ownership
• Compares across family demographics such as gender, blood versus marriage, generation, ownership, and family branch
• Available for purchase by an independent family or a trusted family advisor

This tool was developed in partnership with Caroline Bailey of Premier Growth. For more information, visit premiergrowth.com or email [email protected].

Family Balance Sheet: Measuring Capital of the Family Enterprise

The Family Balance Sheet™ is an online tool to quantify a family's human, financial-educational, relationship, social, and legacy capitals. Most families focus on preserving and growing only financial capital. The failure to measure and grow the five qualitative capitals is the principal cause for the failure of family flourishing.

• Human Capital refers to family members' ability to develop character and skills.
• Financial-Education Capital includes family members' ability to make financial decisions.
• Relationship Capital refers to members' ability to forge caring and productive relations within the family.
• Social Capital refers to doing good for others within the community or world.
• Legacy Capital includes the vision and values that guide the family's long-term decisions.

The Family Balance Sheet quantifies topics that are sometimes hard to express in words, but which lie at the heart of every family's flourishing.

Find out more by emailing [email protected].