Family, Ownership & Enterprise
Family Governance
Good family governance separates the conversations that family, owners and managers need to have.
WHAT IS FAMILY GOVERNANCE?
Family governance is the set of forums, policies and behaviours through which a business family manages its relationship with ownership and the enterprise.
Ownership questions enter operating meetings
Family employment decisions lack criteria
The constitution is rarely used
Difficult issues have no legitimate forum
Boundary confusion
Family, ownership and management rights are treated as interchangeable.
Paper governance
Documents exist without behavioural adoption.
Avoided conversations
Sensitive choices remain informal until pressure forces them into the open.
- Unclear authority
- Perceived unfairness
- Weak professionalisation
- Higher transition risk
- 01Clarify ownership intent
- 02Design distinct forums and mandates
- 03Create usable family policies
- 04Embed behavioural governance in meetings and decisions
What is the difference between family governance and corporate governance?
Family governance manages the family’s relationship with ownership and the business. Corporate governance directs and oversees the enterprise itself.
What is a family constitution?
It records agreed principles and policies. It becomes useful only when forums, authority and behaviour make those agreements operational.