In 10 minutes, Chris Lidel received almost instant insight into his family business.

As he and his brother, Todd, compared their answers to an online family business checkup, “we could see the discrepancies and have some talking points,” he said.

Lidel, the fourth-generation leader of Lidel Construction, found out about the opportunity through his Prairie Family Business Association Affinity Peer Group.

“I thought to myself it would be a good thing to try out with myself and my brother to see where we’re at as far as the business is concerned,” he said. “I think the value of it is you do it on your own time, we didn’t do it together, so there was no influencing each other, and it probably took only 10 minutes.”

The online tool asks questions in areas such as family relationships and family business structure, business and strategic planning, leadership development, HR-related issues, ownership, succession planning and use of outside resources.

For Lidel, “the biggest takeaway was just that as family members we needed to have more frequent meetings and discuss issues,” he said. “We’ve done that, and I would say it’s had a positive impact and given us more clarity.”

The free resource is available through the Prairie Family Business Association’s website to member and nonmember family businesses.

“We’ve had an excellent response,” executive director Stephanie Larscheid said.

“Any family who could benefit from data and a tool to enhance communication can benefit from the family business checkup. From our perspective at Prairie Family Business Association, any family in any stage of transition or succession planning can benefit from this complimentary resource.”

The time required to take the quiz “is worth the value that it can potentially bring your family,” Lidel added.

Once the checkup is completed, the family receives an overall score broken down into three categories: family, business and ownership.

“We’ve had families who have worked with Prairie Family Business Association for years or decades take the tool and find value,” Larscheid said.

“We strongly encourage families who are new into membership to take the checkup as part of their new-member experience.”

Once multiple members of a family take the checkup, the Prairie Family Business team can facilitate a conversation with the family members about their score and offer insights into improving their results in family, business or ownership.

In the case of Lidel Construction, the family opted for a free family consultation in early May following the Prairie Family Business Association’s annual conference.

“They offered that with a facilitator, and it was the first time we’d ever sat down with my brother and sister-in-law and my wife and myself and hashed out a business meeting as a group of four,” Lidel said.

“It was great. It was really helpful and served as an ice-breaking session.”

They concluded it would be valuable to develop a family business constitution, spelling out what it looks like for family to come into the business and exit it.

“We’re in the process of doing that now,” Lidel said. “It got us thinking about the next generation and our potential exit. Everyone at some point will be done in business, so to have those discussions before they need to happen is really valuable.”

Ready to get started? Visit fambus.org/family-checkup and take the checkup. You’ll receive your score immediately!