FAMILY GOVERNANCE

PAIN POINT

Family business between the second and third generation as the latter starts taking over the business. They identified some problems such as the lack of clear rules, the lack of experience of some owners to hold board positions, the lack of accountability and the need to design a succession plan to identify potential leaders.

SOLUTION

We carried out a SWOT assessment through the four pillars that define SUCCESS | ON (Alignment, Rules, Communication and (H)abilities), and we detected paths for improvement, which we addressed in governance workshops with the family.

As a conclusion of these, the Family signed a Family Constitution and a Family-Owners Agreement and defined a decision-making process for each of the four different governance rooms (family, owners, directors and managers). A family Office was set up to assist the family in achieving all these goals.

IMPACT

The family is much more aligned and has clear expectations about access to career opportunities. In addition, as they feel more comfortable with the decisions made at each room, they identify an improvement in the relationship between cousins and siblings. Finally, The Family Office is making things happen while improving the Financial Education of the whole family.

PAIN POINT

Family business that is going through a board deadlock, with a conflict between brothers who are also partners. The brothers are also the heads of different areas of the business and bring management issues to the meetings of the board, pushing strategic issues to the back burner. In addition, internal conflicts between the brothers are paralyzing different operational issues. The president asks us for our help in both resolving the blockage and enable them to make decisions.

SOLUTION

We started a series of individual and group interviews with the siblings/partners, directors and managers of the company. After identifying some conflicts from past situations, we encouraged the family to express their concerns in a safe and constructive way. At the same time, we also identified structural situations within the company that give rise to conflicts of interest that generated distortion and a lack of alignment when it comes to decision making. We showed the family the urgency of reaching agreements to save the company and negotiate changes in the management and in the Board of Directors.

As a consequence of our action, a reorganization of the board is carried out with the resignation of an independent director and changes in the ownership structure of the companies and departures from key positions are arranged over time in order to professionalize the company.

IMPACT
The brothers signed a commitment through a shareholder's agreement that included the change of ownership, new compensation schemes, the departure of some family executives and the appointment of an Executive President with full powers to take control of the operation. The family continued to be resentful for a while, but everyone accepted that the changes had saved the company and the family.

PAIN POINT

A second generation family business, where the next generation is fully committed with their respective successful and international careers outside the family business. The patriarchs are worried about the business succession due to the lack of clear rules and the mis appealing that the available jobs of the company have on the next generation of the family business.

SOLUTION

We analyze the organigram of the company, salaries and promotions in the business. We identified different career paths for entry positions for graduates and post graduates family members. The leaders of the family committed to explore initiatives and to entrepreneur in new projects that could be leaded by the most prominent family members that would take the seven years family business career path. We call it the PANTERA® program.

A nomination and compensation committee, with independent counselors, took responsibility of the assessment of new entries and the mentoring of the PANTERAS.

IMPACT

A few family members become interested in to apply for the PANTERA career path and even coming back to home. All the family feel comfortable with the program as they recognize the meritocracy of the program, avoiding any undesired outcome of leadership succession.