The Power of a Shared Vision in Enterprising Families: 

Charting the Course for Continuity

For enterprising families, a shared vision isn’t merely an abstract concept, but often a fundamental compass that helps to steer their collective entrepreneurial journey. It supports enduring alignment, fosters long-term success, and helps manage the inherent complexities at the intersection of family and business.

While the value of a shared vision is acknowledged across most organizations and institutions, its application within a family enterprise requires a uniquely tailored approach. Our client families often wrestle with the following questions: 

• How explicit must this vision be? 
• How do we align our aspirations for the business and those for the family?
• Who should be involved in developing this vision? 
• How can we ensure that it becomes a dynamic, living guide that truly serves our unique needs and aspirations – and not just another ‘document on the shelf’?

Defining Your Family’s Vision: The “Why” and the “How”

A shared vision needs to be explicit enough to clearly define your destination and enable the development of a robust roadmap to reach it. This vision should be the embodiment of the shared aspirations, values, and long-term goals of a family and its collective economic and social endeavors for the next generation. Consequently, a well-articulated vision generates excitement and provides family members the ability to clearly define ‘who we are’ – giving them a clear sense of purpose.

Unlike a more traditional business vision, which focuses solely on a commercial entity, a shared vision for the family enterprise encompasses all aspects of how to deploy the family’s human capital throughout the system, including the family, their ownership structures, their governance entities, their operating businesses, their investment portfolios and any philanthropic activities. It defines not just what the family wants to achieve financially, but also the kind of family they aspire to be, the legacy they wish to build, and the impact they want to have on society and on future generations. This holistic perspective ensures that all family activities and assets are aligned with a unified purpose, extending beyond individual interests to serve the broader collective good of the family unit.

Beyond the basic economics of a family enterprise, this shared vision frames how families pursue strategic choices together on a broad spectrum of fundamental decisions that defines who they want to be as a business family. Building strategic alignment across the enterprise in this way requires the following elements:

• Values and Purpose: Articulation of the values as owners, definition of the family legacy, as well as the family’s purpose within the broader enterprise.
• Vision: Clarity of what you want to achieve as a business family, including growth expectations, risk diversification, role of next generation, ownership structure and other relevant areas.
• Structures: Governance architecture required to govern the enterprise and the family effectively.
• Processes: Principles for shared decision-making and participation in governance structures.
• Policies: Principles to regulate the relationship and ensure consistent decision-making among family members, and between family members and the business.
• Leadership: Guidelines for effective leadership in the company and within the established governance structures.
• Education: Guidelines for the preparation of the family members as responsible owners.

The importance of a well-defined systems-level vision cannot be overstated, since it serves as the ultimate guiding star for the family’s long-term success and cohesion. Firstly, it fosters unity and alignment among family members, providing a common direction and reducing potential conflicts that often arise from divergent individual goals. Grounded in a set of shared values and a collective purpose, it helps to build and sustain a strong family identity and culture that transcends generations. Secondly, the vision is crucial for strategic decision-making, offering a framework against which all significant choices—from business investments to wealth distribution and philanthropic endeavors—can be evaluated. This ensures that actions taken today contribute to the family’s enduring legacy and sustained prosperity, thereby increasing the likelihood of the family enterprise thriving for generations to come.

Crafting the Dream: A Collaborative Journey

Many family enterprises struggle to define a shared vision as a result of having a mindset that is stuck in the present. It can be incredibly difficult for some families to contemplate potential futures that are fundamentally different from their current reality, often in the belief that what works well today will continue to work in the future. However, as we all know, this isn’t always the case. Each developmental stage of a family enterprise—from controlling owners, to sibling partnerships, to cousin consortia—requires a different set of conditions to achieve enduring success. The inherent challenge of moving past the present and anticipating future needs makes crafting a shared vision a complex undertaking for many family enterprises, particularly without thoughtful advice.

In our experience, there is no one-size-fits-all recipe for developing a shared vision. It’s a carefully crafted process, unique to each system, requiring a deep understanding of the family, the business, and its owners. The successful creation of a shared vision requires buy-in and engagement from all key stakeholders across multiple generations – with each generation playing a vital role in the process. This naturally depends on factors such as culture, age, role and understanding of the family enterprise. Consequently, facilitated conversations between multiple generations, with each bringing different perspectives, is critical to developing a shared vision that truly reflects the needs and desires of the entire family.

However, even the most compelling vision can face resistance. The most frequent source is often older generations who believe they “know best” and are hesitant to delegate discussions about the future. Overcoming this inertia requires managing expectations on both sides, with older generations being open to listening to new ideas, and younger generations understanding that not every proposal will be approved, and that they need to engage both patiently and productively in the process.

Another common source of resistance stems from a perceived lack of business knowledge among the younger generation. Education about the family enterprise and preparation for the visioning exercise can help to mitigate this natural barrier to getting started. Engaging an outside resource to introduce the strategic imperative and facilitate the process can be incredibly useful for families, helping to level the playing field and ensuring a productive and inclusive discussion.

Finally, when it comes to decision-making authority in the context of a shared visioning process, research and experience suggest that either consultation (seniors retaining authority but consulting with their children) or joint decision-making (seniors sharing authority and inviting children into a joint process) are the most effective strategies. What’s crucial is to foster a dialogue with all family members – allowing each to contribute and see themselves in the result. This means that the process is often as important as the outcome to achieve effective results.

Crafting the Dream: Key Components and Benefits of a Vision

A well-defined shared vision provides families with several critical assets: an ultimate destination, a clear roadmap to get there, critical tools and resources, a realistic implementation calendar, accountability for each action, and specific milestones to measure progress. 

Additionally, engaging in this shared visioning exercise together provides families with other long-lasting benefits:

• It ensures continuity and longevity: By establishing a shared purpose and values, it increases the likelihood of the family enterprise enduring and thriving across generations.
• It fosters family unity and harmony: It creates a common ground around which the family can rally, reducing conflict and improving communication by providing a framework for collaboration and decision-making.
• It guides strategic planning: The vision informs business strategies, investment decisions, and philanthropic endeavors, ensuring they align with the family’s broader objectives.
• It attracts and engages future generations: A compelling vision can instill pride and a sense of stewardship in younger generations, encouraging their active participation and commitment.
• It strengthens identity and legacy: It helps to preserve the family’s unique culture, history, and values, ensuring that the legacy of previous generations is upheld and evolved.
• It provides a moral compass: It acts as a guide during challenging times, helping the family to make tough decisions and difficult trade-offs while staying true to its core principles.

Evolving Horizons: When to Revisit Your Family’s Vision

While a shared vision can guide a family for an entire generation, it needs periodic monitoring and must evolve to reflect shifting dynamics. A developmental view is essential as the family grows and the ownership structure changes.

Symptoms indicating the need for a visioning exercise include:

• A general lack of motivation and commitment to the enterprise’s continuity.
• Serious discrepancies in aspirations among family members for themselves, the family, and the enterprise, which haven’t been discussed.
• When senior members of the family enterprise perceive significant differences in what current and future generations desire.
• Planning for the kids rather than planning with them.
• Individual family members feeling pressured into the family business, sacrificing their own dreams.
• Strategic choices being made by the CEO or by the board without proper guidance from shareholders.

Every generation should have the opportunity to redefine its shared vision. As the family changes and individual dreams shift, so too should the collective aspirations that form the bedrock of the family enterprise.

Conclusion: A Foundation for Family Continuity and Legacy

As your family enterprise reflects on its continuity and a building a long-lasting legacy, it is imperative to think about formulating (or refreshing) your shared vision. The first crucial step is to educate the family about what the process entails. Understanding the commitment, potential challenges, and immense benefits of this important initiative will set the stage for a truly transformative journey that will bring the family closer together and generate lasting value for the enterprise.

Remember, this shared vision is more than just a business plan. It is a deeply personal and collective articulation of your family’s shared destiny, purpose, and values, and is critical for sustaining your enduring success and well-being for generations to come.