Nancy P. Bruns, chairman of the board of the Dickinson Group, has a simple way to assess the success of communications from the family office and business to the family: “By the number of people asking questions, or contacting the office, about items that were in the newsletter. If they had read it, they wouldn't have asked.”
Communication among family members, and to and from the family office, serves multiple purposes. One is practical: sharing information on the family's investments, for example, or notifying family members when they need to take action. The deeper purpose, though, is to reinforce family bonds and create connections that will endure as the family grows and changes. That means the communication will also include more personal matters, such as family or family business history, or current announcements of births, marriages and deaths.
Bruns' family has settled — for now, at least — on using several different means of communication for different issues:
“We have a private Facebook group where we encourage all members of the family to be involved — they post birthdays, anniversaries and other family news, very little related to the business,” Bruns says. “We do a quarterly newsletter from the board, which I write, updating everybody on the business side. We have a family website that includes business information, our family tree going back 10 generations, upcoming events, and meeting minutes — things like that.”
The best plan for a particular family will depend on the size and complexity of the family and of the information to be communicated, as well as on individual preferences.
⢠What information do family members want and need?
Good communication starts with having something to say that family members want or need to know. Even the best communications plan will fail if the content of the messages doesn't engage the family members.
⢠How large — and how spread out — is the family?
A small family, especially one whose members live near one another and see each other frequently, may not need a highly structured infrastructure unless complex business needs demand it.
⢠How quickly do family members need the information?
Some information is time-sensitive and needs to be disseminated to everyone quickly. With other information, such as routine investment updates, it may be acceptable to use a slower means of sending out the information.
This is where family members' preferences make a difference. Some family members may prefer to receive printed reports, for example, even if it takes longer to get them. Others, particularly younger family members who grew up with ready access to online information, may expect real-time communication.
⢠What communication tools do family members use, and what are they willing to adopt?
Families have a lot of options — and many, like Bruns' family, may ultimately use different communication channels for different purposes. Both cost and security play a role in families' choices.
Group text messages or WhatsApp groups are common ways for families to stay in touch and tend to have multigenerational appeal. Email may work better for disseminating complex documents, though younger family members may not use it as much. Secure portals are a common way for families to share sensitive material, such as investment-related documents. Larger families or those with more complex needs may consider a digital hub.
The important thing is to communicate to family members in a way that they will receive the message. The most well-crafted communications will not be effective if no one reads them.