Mark Tepsich, executive director at UBS, works with families on engaging family members with the family office. He’s seen firsthand how the right approach can improve buy-in and communication across generations.
“The engagement strategy arises because the next generation is asking questions — about the business, the portfolio, philanthropy,” he says. “The engagement strategy is just one way among many to help inform the next generation.”
Tepsich suggests a number of strategies for engaging family members:
- Start with the family’s interests: “I see a lot of NextGens saying they’re interested in sustainability or ESG or crypto. If the family just says, ‘We don’t do that,’ you’re shutting down their interest, whereas you should be cultivating that even if it’s something you don’t agree on. To get the broader family’s buy-in, you have to leverage their existing interest and build the engagement into the existing family enterprise.”
- Teach the basics: “Let’s talk about stocks, bonds, financial literacy, everything the family office talks about: the business, portfolio, foundation. Let’s help you understand the investment process a little more, how to make thoughtful investment choices.”
- Promote family communication: “If it’s a big, spread out, multigenerational family, the family office itself can be the locus of family communication. The family office might know more about what’s going on in the family than any specific family member. I’ve seen the family office go out and create a newsletter of current events in the family — who has graduated from college, some news about the family business, the portfolio, the foundation. I’ve seen that work because, at the end of the day, it helps inform the family about what the family office is doing for them.”
- Facilitate family gatherings: “You could also incorporate a family retreat once a year with a curated agenda. Have the family build it out and you facilitate it rather than saying, ‘Here’s what you’re going to do.’ That creates buy-in.”