Management Consultancy · Service
Family business governance
How the family decides — not what it signs.
At a glance
What it is
“How the family decides is operating design. What it signs is legal work. We are clear about which side of that line we are on.”
A principal, Kaelo Management Consultancy
What’s included
Four areas of scopeForums and their design
Which bodies exist, who sits on each, what each decides, and how often they meet. Most family governance difficulty is a forum problem before it is a relationship problem.
Decision rights across owner, board and executive
The three roles blur in family enterprises, and the blurring is usually the source of the conflict. Separating them on paper is the beginning of separating them in practice.
Family employment policy
Entry criteria, external experience requirements, review process and exit. Written before it is needed, because writing it during a dispute is not possible.
The charter as a process artefact
A family charter is useful as a statement of values and an agreed way of deciding. It is not a substitute for the constitutional documents, and treating it as one causes serious difficulty later.
How the work runs
Listening round
Individually, privately, before any group session.
Forum and decision design
What bodies, what rights, what cadence.
Policy drafting
Employment, entry and review — as process, not as legal instrument.
First cycles run alongside
Governance holds when it has been practised, not when it is written.
When to come to us
- 01 A second or third generation is entering the business.
- 02 Ownership and management decisions are being made in the same conversation.
- 03 You need a family employment policy before the next hire, not after.
What we do not do
- Advising on the enforceability of a charter against the constitutional documents — the constitutional documents prevail, and any claim about enforceability is legal advice.
- Shareholder agreements, trusts, foundations, wills or succession instruments.
- Tax residency or structuring of any kind.
- Investment mandates or investment policy statements.
Common questions
