|
Frequently Asked Questions
for
Family Business Owners
What is the Family Business Assessment?
The Family Business Assessment is the only simple and inexpensive strategic
and succession assessment tool available to family business owners
and their professional advisors. Back to top
Who created the Family Business Assessment?
A multidiscipline team of professionals with over 50 years of combined
experience assisting family business owners created the Family Business Assessment. The development team used input from experts in the areas
of business & marketing strategy, business management, finance,
organizational development, corporate law, estate planning, taxation,
psychology, and conflict resolution. Back to top
What can the Family Business Assessment do for my business?
It vividly points out specific issues where your firm is vulnerable,
as well as strengths you can leverage to improve your strategic
and succession readiness and growth. It also clarifies those areas
where there is significant and potentially crippling disagreement
amongst family owners and members. Back to top
What makes the Family Business Assessment so unique?
The Family Business Assessment is the only readily available, easy to
use on-line tool that enables you to get a clear and comprehensive
view of the strategic and succession issues unique to your business,
based on broad base input from all family owners via an on-line
questionnaire. It can be administered as a self-directed study or
with the assistance of a trusted professional advisor. Back
to top
What does the Family Business Assessment actually measure?
This assessment tool measures sixteen key factors that have repeatedly
been demonstrated as critical for strategic and succession advantage.
These sixteen factors cover four broad areas that account for family
business success: Family Relationships, Ownership Structures, Management
Structures, and the CEO's Succession Readiness. Back
to top
When should the Family Business Assessment be used?
The Family Business Assessment is ideal for assessing your firm anytime
you are experiencing or anticipate
- Significant
transitions in leadership, ownership, management,
- Exit or entry
of family members, or
- Threats to
the well being of the family or value of the business.
Firms with the 'best practices' anticipate major
events such as succession five to ten years in advance. Back
to top
Who uses the Family Business Assessment?
Anyone in the family business can start the process simply by registering
on-line for a Family Business Assessment. Family business consultants
and professional consultants (including attorneys and CPAs) are
also encouraged to use the Family Business Assessment in their consulting
process and can register a new assessment for a client. Back
to top
How does the Family
Business Assessment work?
Each family member and/or owner completes a simple True/False online
questionnaire at his or her own convenience. It takes most people
approximately 25-35 minutes to complete. Partially completed questionnaires
can be saved and completed later. When all the participants have
completed their on-line questionnaire, the Solution Sage System
automatically analyzes the combined input from the various participants
and generates a 15-page Solution Sage Report. Back
to top
Why was the Family Business Assessment created?
After assisting numerous family owned businesses in wrestling with
succession and strategic issues for many years, the developers realized
that the majority of family owned businesses grapple with and must
resolve the same core set of wide-ranging issues. The Family Business Assessment grew out of their efforts to create a simple, consistent way
for family owned businesses to assess their specific situation from
a multidisciplinary perspective. Back to top
How many people
can participate?
There is no limit to the number of participants you can include
in your self-study. You pay the same for two or twenty participants.
You will need at least two participants--the maximum is determined
by the size of your family and firm. Read
more / Back to top
Can I test the Family Business Assessment before using it?
Yes. Click here to try a free online demo of the actual questionnaire--you'll
also receive a "first impression" memo that summarizes
how your specific responses were analyzed by the Solution Sage System.
Keep in mind that the first impression memo is only a brief summary
based on your answers to the questionnaire--the regular Solution
Sage Report requires registering your company for the assessment
and having at least two participants complete the questionnaire.
Or, you can also click here to view a short slide show about the
questionnaire and a sample report. Back to top
Is help available
for using the Family Business Assessment?
Yes. Extensive documentation is available in the Family Business Assessment Knowledgebase, or
you request specific help via e-mail.
Still have questions? Call the Institute's toll-free at 1-800-952-2324.
Back to top
Do I have to work
with a consultant to use the Family Business Assessment?
No. It is designed to work as a self-directed assessment. We recommend,
however, that at a minimum you share the results with key trusted
advisors, such as your CPA or attorney. Back to top
In some cases, a consultant you have retained will
recommend using the Family Business Assessment as part of an engagement.
In these cases, the Family Business Assessment enables the consultant
to quickly understand key issues and more effectively and efficiently
develop the solutions for which they were retained, resulting in
you receiving greater value at potentially less cost than without
the Family Business Assessment. Back to top
What happens
after we use the Family Business Assessment in our business?
You will receive a Solution Sage Report. We encourage you to:
- Distribute a copy of the report to each
participant in your self-study, as well as providing a copy to
your corporate and estate attorneys, the firm's CPA, and any other
advisors with whom you work closely.
- Set up an initial meeting of family members
using the report as a starting point for the discussion. Click
here for tips on 'Running A Family Meeting Back
to top
Main menu
|
