As families move from founder-led to multi-generational leadership, governance shifts from informal decision-making to structured collaboration. This July Masterclass explores what families actually need to build governance that works and how advisors can guide that evolution.
Many families discover that legal documents and financial structures alone don’t solve the real challenges of shared decision-making. True governance is an ecosystem: agreements, policies, structures, events and practices that work together to let the family function as a thriving community. Building this ecosystem is fundamentally different from the informal, paternalistic model that worked when one founder made the decisions.
During the masterclass, Dennis Jaffe, Rebecca Meyer and Pat Armstrong will examine the triggers that prompt families to formalize governance, what an operating governance system actually looks like and how advisors support families through this transition.
What You’ll Explore
The session addresses the practical questions advisors encounter: What signals that a family needs structured governance? How does governance mature across generations? And what first steps create early wins without over-engineering?
You’ll work through:
- Why second-generation families pursue formal governance, and why this is a different need than their founding generation had
- The guiding principles that shape effective family governance: meaningful, inclusive, flexible, fair and fit-to-purpose
- The core elements families need: values, decision-making structures, communication practices, conflict resolution approaches and policies around wealth and employment
- How families actually get started, including real examples of the triggers, first meetings and early decisions that build momentum
- How to engage the rising generation as builders, not just participants, in the governance work
The session is interactive, with polling questions and time to discuss how these frameworks apply to the families you advise.
Members can register here.
Meet the Facilitators:
Dennis T. Jaffe, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher and Author
BanyanGlobal Family Wealth Advisors
Rebecca Meyer
Partner
Relative Solutions
Pat Armstrong
Family Wealth Consultant
Family Leadership Development