# Impact management for family businesses > Pass on what your business stands for, from one generation to the next Source: https://narrate.works/with/family-businesses Language: English (Nederlands: https://narrate.works/met/familiebedrijven) Publisher: Narrate (Narrate B.V.), https://narrate.works For Family businesses # Continuity and impact for family businesses Keep your values alive across generations, prepare for succession and show what your business contributes, without losing what makes it a family business. Organisations we work with Also: Militex · Vogel's · Sollas Holland · Textaafoam · AVIA Marees · Van der Valk Avifauna We met some of them through [Impact Hub Amsterdam’s Food Chain Accelerator](https://narrate.works/programmes/food-chain-accelerator) and [ABN AMRO’s Impact Nation](https://narrate.works/programmes/impact-nation). ## What you get ### Values the next generation can carry forward We help you make shared values explicit, so they can survive a change of leadership ### Succession with substance Impact and stewardship as part of your succession plan and family charter, not as an afterthought ### Long-term thinking, made concrete A short list of indicators the family and management review each year, to see whether you are on course for the long term ### Ready for questions from customers and banks Clear answers when customers or lenders ask about sustainability, in proportion to your size ### A neutral sounding board An outside view that helps family members move from opinions to shared choices Photo: [Adam Patterson](https://unsplash.com/@adampatterson?utm_source=narrate&utm_medium=referral) via [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=narrate&utm_medium=referral) ## Why we do what we do Read the film as text 1. We all want to know 2. our place in the world. 3. Thin grey lines join dots into a web. 4. We like to believe that what we do is part of something larger. 5. It is. 6. Together we make our surroundings, our brands, our communities. 7. We shape the work of others, as they shape ours. 8. The web grows dense. 9. We live in one web of cause and consequence. 10. Each path tells a story, part of a larger narrative. 11. A system of meaning. 12. So what is our impact? 13. Whose lives do we touch? 14. What changed? For whom? How much? And what part was ours? 15. Intended or not, for better or worse. 16. Knowing that changes what you do next. 17. A dark line draws a path through the web. Impact management helps you see it, steer it, and use it. 18. A large word: Lead. A purple path runs through the web. Lead with purpose, and fund your mission. 19. A large word: Improve. A green path runs through the web. Learn what doesn’t work and design for better. 20. A large word: Engage. A blue-green path runs through the web. Share your story, and bring others into it. 21. A large word: Account. A blue path runs through the web. State your claim, and prove it. 22. A large word: Discover. A yellow path runs through the web. Find your next impact before it happens. 23. “How do you measure impact?” 24. It sounds hard. 25. It isn’t. 26. It’s not about the how. 27. It’s about 28. Portraits of people fill the screen. 29. A large word: Who. 30. About rights-holders, whose lives are touched. 31. And stakeholders, whose choices shape them. 32. The people stand side by side, at the same height. A wave of colour runs through the web. Every voice, every perspective, equally weighed. 33. The web turns many colours. Pluriform and equivalent. 34. Who determines what. 35. And what determines how. 36. That’s it. No more, no less. 37. We count what can be counted, and listen to the rest. 38. Coloured paths wind across the web. We find the stories that connect the dots, and make sense of the whole. 39. We love our craft: 40. to ask the questions, 41. to measure what matters, 42. and narrate what works. 43. One dark path remains. Let’s reveal your path. 44. The word narrate, with the line: impact in numbers and stories. ## What we often hear “Our children want to modernise, and my generation is afraid of losing what the business stands for.” We facilitate conversations that put words to shared values and connect them to concrete choices, so both generations can move forward together “Succession is coming, but nobody has written down what must stay and what may change.” We help you set out commitments on people, region and environment that can be included in the family charter or succession plan “Customers and the bank ask more and more sustainability questions, and I’m not sure what we should do.” We work out with you which questions are coming your way and what a proportionate answer looks like, including whether the VSME is useful for you “In the family we think differently about investing in sustainability. Decisions stall.” We bring facts and options to the table, so the conversation is about choices and consequences rather than positions “We do a lot for our people and the region, but nobody outside sees it.” We help you capture your contribution in an honest story with evidence, for your employer brand, customers and partners ## What you may be wondering Isn’t impact management something for big companies? No. We start with what you already do and who is asking about it. A short list of indicators is often enough. Will an outsider meddle in our family? We guide the conversation, the family decides. We put facts and options on the table, not judgements. Do we now have to deal with the CSRD? Probably not: since the Omnibus, the CSRD only applies to very large companies. Questions from customers and the bank remain. We answer those in a way that fits your size. ## To read - [The system rewards not measuring](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/system-rewards-not-measuring) Two organisations apply to the same funder. One measures nothing and tells a good story. The other measures, and sees what falls short. Who gets the money? - [Your customer sends a sustainability questionnaire. Where do you start?](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/customer-sends-sustainability-questionnaire) A large customer wants figures about your company, with a deadline. This is how we approach it: answer honestly, and keep the work for the next customer. - [Why slowing down first gets you there faster](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/slow-down-to-speed-up) A pilot is under pressure to show results quickly. So measuring often starts too early and thinking too late. On slowing down as a way to speed up, and what the private sector already knows about it. ## Start with a scan of what you already do We talk to the people involved and list who is asking what: family, bank and customers. Afterwards you know where you stand and which next step makes sense. [More about Impact maturity discovery](https://narrate.works/solutions/discovery) ## Explore how we could work together The collaboration explorer is already set up for family businesses. Answer a few short questions and see which forms of collaboration fit, with a rough price level. ## Thinking about the next generation? Book a call about continuity, values and impact in your family business.