Your family is your team, and your biggest asset.
When owners are informed, involved and committed, everyone contributes to the success of the enterprise. We show families how to accomplish this through a combination of education and structures designed to keep owners engaged. The result – better business outcomes and healthy relationships.
We identify the biggest opportunities for establishing agreement on key business issues. And we see where education will best equip shareholders to be effective stewards of the family’s legacy.
Family Meetings
Family meetings are an important tool to ensure continuity of the family business.
Regular family meetings remain one of the most important methods for creating an ongoing, open dialogue in the family around family business issues. They provide a way to plan for the future in a constructive way, while smoothing difficult transitions and avoiding conflicts. The social interaction in meetings can strengthen relationships and encourage better communication about business and family matters.
Productive meetings are a mix of business-focused activities like information sharing, planning, decision making and education, as well as time for family and fun. We help facilitate energetic, impactful and fun family meetings that make family members feel more engaged and connected.
When moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, and second cousins learn together, something special takes place. Trust builds. People unite. Pride in family grows. Anything can happen.
Family Education
Learning together strengthens the bonds between family members.
The more informed family members are about their roles, the easier it is to make better business decisions as a group. Each becomes an asset to the business. Family education also instills pride in the business, the family and its values, keeping the family centered as it grows larger and more diverse.
Each family’s education program is unique. We can help with custom program planning, creating age-appropriate curricula, skill-building activities, facilitation and workshops. Our consultants also work with the next generation to ready them for a future of effective management, governance and ownership.
Family Governance
Find common ground, then build a solid foundation for the future.
Put simply, family governance is the process of formalizing family decision making – considering how the family relates to the business, and how the business relates to the family. It could include regular family meetings and structures like family councils and constitutions. Every family is unique, so the right approach to governance looks different in every family enterprise.
We help families understand complex ownership and continuity issues and put appropriate governance structures in place. Then they can anticipate future issues more easily, discuss them as a family, and make collective decisions in everyone’s best interest.
Family Councils
Create a framework to align the family for the greatest good.
Family businesses eventually outgrow conversations around the kitchen table. Establishing a family council can help manage the complexities of a growing business and family, from generation to generation. Together, the council finds consensus on matters important to the family, as well as create a shared sense of identity and mission.
We meet families where they are – whether establishing their first council or revamping an existing one to adapt to changing needs. We provide guidance on charter creation, family employment policies, decision-making methods, rules of conduct and family constitutions.