Family Business Governance
A constitution is a document. Governance is a behaviour.
Most family enterprises do not lack governance documents. They lack agreed decision rights, a working escalation route and the behavioural discipline to hold both under pressure.
Family, ownership and management decisions are being made in the same conversation, by the same people, with no separation.
Authority is inherited or assumed rather than defined, so disagreement becomes personal.
Documents exist but are ignored the moment a decision becomes uncomfortable.
The Family
Values, entry, conduct, expectations, communication, education and the terms on which the family engages with the enterprise.
The Ownership
Shareholding, dividend principles, capital allocation, exit, and the authority owners exercise over the business.
The Business
Strategy, management appointments, performance accountability, delegation and the board's operating mandate.
Role–Right–Responsibility™
Every seat answers three questions: what am I accountable for, what am I authorised to decide, what outcomes must I deliver.
Behavioural Governance™
Converting stated expectations into observable operating norms — how disagreement is handled, how authority is exercised, how conflict escalates.
How the engagement runs
- 01
Map how decisions are actually made today, not how the org chart claims they are.
- 02
Separate family, ownership and business decisions into distinct forums with distinct mandates.
- 03
Draft decision rights, entry rules and escalation protocols with the people who must live by them.
- 04
Run the forums with the family until the rhythm holds without us in the room.
What this practice delivers
- Family governance architecture
- Family councils
- Ownership councils
- Decision rights matrices
- Governance forums and calendar
- Code of family conduct
- Family constitution
- Family employment policy
- Dividend principles
- Conflict escalation protocols
- Entry / exit policies
- Shareholder alignment
A written, agreed decision map covering family, ownership and business
Forums that meet on a calendar rather than in a crisis
An escalation route that is used before relationships break
Role–Right–Responsibility Framework™
Clarifies accountability, decision authority and deliverable outcomes for family members, promoters, siblings, shareholders, next-generation members and professional management.
Explore the frameworkBehavioural Governance™
Converts behavioural expectations into operating norms: how decisions are made, how disagreement is handled, how authority is exercised, and how founder influence is managed.
Explore the framework