These practices are not recipes to execute — they're experiments to run in your family's unique context. They create conditions in which renewal capacity can develop. Start with what feels familiar.
Before discussing governance or strategy, invite family members to share the stories that shaped them. Connection precedes accountability; belonging enables difficult work.
Deliberately practice perspective-taking — articulate how situations look from another generation's vantage point.
Create explicit space for those who don't naturally speak first or loudest.
Pursue learning experiences where no generation holds expert status — new contexts where all discover together.
Bring unspoken patterns into awareness. What remains unnamed retains disproportionate power.
Distinguish between values form (historical expression) and values function (underlying protective intent).
Before resolving disagreements, step back from 'what should we do?' to 'what does this mean?'
Establish rituals where the family examines core values annually: which energise, which constrain, which inspire?
Transform commemorations from backward-looking tributes into forward-facing renewal ceremonies.
Practice holding family identity as a living question each generation interprets.
Shift from 'What will happen?' (prediction) to 'What does the future need from us?' (contribution).
Create shared aspiration by having each family member write a letter from ten years in the future.
Create 'learning capital' — resources dedicated to experiments where failure teaches.
Deliberately expose the family to perspectives from outside its usual context.
Before evaluating a new idea, genuinely engage with it. Earn the right to assess by first understanding.
Establish contribution timeframes (5-year, 15-year, generational) that contextualise succession.
When complexity concentrates on one person, moment, or decision, deliberately redistribute it.
Use intentional silence to create space for emotional integration and prevent reactive fragmentation.
Build individual capacity to stay whole under pressure. Family coherence begins with personal coherence.
Recognise when renewal capacity is functioning as an integrated whole.