Amy Hart Clyne, chief knowledge and learning officer at Pitcairn, offers these recommendations for educating NextGens about business stewardship and family wealth:

Do:

Tap your resources. Give the NextGens space to learn outside the family structure and to benefit from experienced professionals who have demonstrated this unique competency.

Set family and individual learning goals. Develop personalized SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely) goals. Don’t be afraid to include some stretch goals. For example, a reasonable goal for a 21-year-old family member might be to build a personal budget for 2020. A stretch goal might be to create a personal economic mission statement.

Make it engaging and fun. Provide a variety of flexible formats. Meet NextGens where they are (which means taking time to understand where they are and what they want to know). If they are old enough and mature enough, enlist them in building their own learning experiences. These experiences should be relevant and current. Don’t just tell them how the world works; show them.

Be intentional about communication and inclusion. Find ways to share experiences in order to build relationships and family cohesion. Parents need to tell their heirs their plans. Find ways to support the individual and ways to support the family. Intentionally bring in-laws into the conversation. Let the younger generations in.

Budget for these experiences. Set aside money to cover the cost of the learning programs — it’s an expense often overlooked. Set a policy that spells out how the budget will be administered and what qualifies as a family learning expense: grad school tuition, conference fees, one-on-one learning sessions, coaches, etc.

Don’t:

Impose. Don’t be dogmatic or prescriptive. Don’t impose a plan without seeking input from the intended participants.

Assume. Don’t presume your NextGens will learn what they need to know in school. Make sure the advisers you engage have the necessary competency and experience. Don’t presume family members will be able to learn the responsibilities of a role by osmosis. Don’t assume one size fits all.