Family Governance Is the Ultimate Team Sport
Shortly after writing My “Role / Goal / Control” Life Hack last year, I came up with another rhyming word that I could have added to those three, and I made note of it so that I could someday write this week’s post about it.
Looking at the title I chose for this week’s blog, you may have already guessed that that word is “enroll”.
I’ll quickly recap the initial post, which highlighted a three step way of looking at a challenge one faces.
I suggested taking a moment to first consider the role one was playing in the particular situation, then to think about the goal they’re trying to achieve, and then finally being realistic in understanding that there are only so many elements that one can actually control in any set of circumstances.
Moving Away from the “What” Questions
You may have noticed that all three of those questions normally begin with the word “what”. What is my role; What is my goal; What can I control.
Today, I want to add a different question, and this one starts with Who.
As in “Who can I enroll in this project?”
Some tasks are best handled by a single person, but many others have a higher likelihood of success when a leader is able to enroll the support and participation of others.
I write about challenges that families face as they prepare to transition their wealth from one generation to the next, and so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I think that overcoming family challenges is particularly well suited to such group involvement.
Going Far, Going Together
A family “project”, as I call it with some of the families I’m privileged to work with, is by definition something that works best when several people are involved in it.
I can’t believe it was over 6 years ago that I wrote Going Far? Go Together.
That remains one of my favourite blogs, and is based on the African proverb:
If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
Needless to say, if you want to have people join you on your quest, it helps if you’re able to enroll them in it.
Some Definitions Are Useful
As often occurs when I write these missives, I end up Googling important words along the way, to make sure I’m as precise as possible getting my points across.
With “enroll”, I came up with some interesting angles:
- “officially register as a member of an institution or a student on a course”
That one wasn’t exactly what I was going for, but just below that I hit pay dirt:
- recruit (someone) to perform a service.
I like the part about recruiting, because it highlights the fact that there is often some outreach required from the leader in order to attract other parties to the task.
In Service of the Family
The “service” is also part of it, although perhaps less noticeably.
The person who is attempting to enroll others needs to convince the others that the “service”, or what’s to be gained, is for the benefit of the others, and ideally the whole family.
When one member of a family begins to take this task seriously it typically feels a bit lonely and even overwhelming in some respects.
Once they’re able to enroll one accomplice, it gets easier, as I discuss in The Exponential Magic of Family Collaboration.
The secret to doing this is to not have high expectations that it will be quick or easy to get others on board.
It really is a marathon and not a sprint, and various family members will each take their own time to understand what’s involved and why their enrollment is important to the success that the family is hoping for.
This Is NOT for All Families
For many families, all of this work is simply a bridge too far, and for most families it’s more work than they’re prepared to do.
But, for some families, it is exactly what they need to be doing, in order for the wealth they have accumulated to be successfully transitioned from one generation of their family to the next.
It truly is for exceptional families, in the true sense of the word, i.e. they are the exception.
I write a lot about family engagement and family alignment, and a big part of both of those is family enrollment.
It takes a lot work and patience to get everyone on board.
