When leadership development is a deliberate practice in the family office, it can help ensure that everyone — from family members to employees — is aligned.
Craig J. Duchossois, chair emeritus of Duchossois Capital Management, says his family office has a formal leadership development program “to reinforce the family’s values and mission.” The program offers a range of development opportunities, including having people serve as a board observer with a board mentor.
“The most powerful thing about leadership development is that it creates a common language and common frameworks for everybody. That then shapes the culture of the enterprise. Without that, you’re going to have a lot of people leading in a lot of different ways, and they won’t be aligned with the family’s purpose,” says KC Long, family business coach and facilitator with InnerWill Leadership Institute.
When done right, leadership development can be a culture-shaping tool, not just a box-checking exercise.
“It really starts with the whole idea of mission, vision, values,” Long says.
Leadership development is important both for family leaders of their family offices and for professional staff, though it may take different forms for different people.
One approach is to connect leadership development plans to the list of responsibilities for each job — though a recent report from Citi Private Bank found only 55% of family offices have job descriptions for all employees, so many family offices would need to start by creating them.
Linking the development plan and a job description has worked for Scott Saslow, founder and CEO of ONE WORLD Investments, Inc. He has a job specification for his position as CEO and works with his advisory council on a development plan to go along with it.
“My advisory council evaluates me against this spec, crafts with me the development plan and monitors its progress quarter to quarter,” Saslow says.
Whether through job-linked development plans or mentoring opportunities, intentional leadership development programs can align leaders with the family’s mission, vision and values — and build a strong culture around them.