The roles of the chair are numerous and sometimes, industry specific. However, some general and pivotal roles include:

Knowledge of the Core Business
The days of appointing individuals with a good heart and no skill as chair of a board are long gone!!! The chair must have a functional knowledge about the core business of the organization. Staying current and informed on factors that could impact the organization through networks, memberships and subscriptions across a wide range of areas, will assist the chair in leading and contributing contemporary knowledge to the decision making process.

Meetings
He prepares for and presides over Board Meetings. He ensures the agenda for each meeting is robust and allows for discussions in relation to the organization’s culture and its drivers; staff presentations, client stories/ testimonials, site visits, surveys, reports on turnover and complaints etc.

Managing Conversations
The chair handles and undertakes difficult conversations on areas that could affect the business of the company. For instance conversations on performance evaluations of the CEO or a board member; conversations between various stakeholders and the differing interests they represent etc. This is a difficult, but significant role of the chairman and his ability to function without bias aids in his discharge of this role.

Training
He guarantees the effectiveness of the Board by ensuring that induction trainings are conducted for new directors as well as continuing education trainings and workshops for all other directors

People Management
The chair manages and draws on the diversity of the board, for the benefit of the organization. He does this by exploiting the individual strengths, experience and know-how of all directors. This allows for quality decision making as issues are explored through multiple perspectives.

The appointment of the chairman of the board is a pointer to the overall success or otherwise of the organization.

This story exemplifies the dual reality every family member operating a family business faces. There is a constant tussle between balancing decisions that positively affect the family business and maintaining a cordial relationship between family members.

When non-family business partners commence operations, the issue of corporate governance is readily brought to the fore so as to formalize the governance process; usually not so when the business is owned by a family. However, due to the proliferation of family owned businesses, the need for such businesses to adopt a tailored and effective family business governance mechanism arises.

Family Business Governance refers to a well structured and balanced process that governs decisions made around the family, the business and the intersection of the two.

Family businesses come in different forms and sizes, from small mom-and-pop stores (such as small or medium sized businesses owned by a husband and wife, siblings, extended family members etc) to global companies (such as  Walmart, Johnson&Johnson, the Henry Ford Motor Company and the Dangote Group), and these businesses account for a significant share of the economy in the jurisdictions where they operate.  Job creation for family members and other employees, source of revenue for suppliers and governments, and general economic stability of the host communities, are some of the ways the family business supports the ecosystem. Hence, the  failure of these enterprises can have cataclysmic implications on economic growth, especially in developing economies

Just like we see generally in businesses, disagreements envenom relationships and could be fatal to the life of a business if no effective resolution is found. It therefore means that families in business can benefit from establishing a sound operating model. Principle 9 of the UK Institute of Directors Corporate Governance Principles for Unlisted Companies states that family run companies should establish family governance mechanisms that promote coordination and mutual understanding among family members as well as organize the relationship between family governance and corporate governance.

Here are some established best practices for families to consider as they evolve and formalize their family business governance practices:

• Clarify the overarching business priority. That is, whether to build a great business, maximise wealth or put the family first by creating and securing opportunities for the current generation and the future ones.
• Anticipate and provide solutions for flash points that can derail the success of the business and jeopardize family harmony. Such issues include leadership choices on who handles what aspect of the business, resolution of disputes, wealth sharing among family members etc.
• The family members should have a working understanding of the ownership structure (current and future). Every member should know who owns or is entitled to what.
• Establish a family council that is saddled with the responsibility of making decisions on policies that pertain to the intersection of the family and the business, including family employment, liquidity, succession, promotion, conflict resolution and communication policies.
• Determine the disciplinary/corrective actions to be applied to family members in the event of misconduct.
• Partnering with trusted professional advisers (such as corporate lawyers) with relevant experience can help avoid common pitfalls and imbue best practices into the development process. They can act as an independent sounding board for strategic business considerations. Another very important function of these trusted advisers is to facilitate the very difficult and sometimes raw conversations about succession planning, remuneration/profit sharing among family members, roles and involvement of various sections of the family in the business, disciplinary measures etc.

Regardless of where the family and the business are in their progression, implementing governance is always a worthwhile exercise.