A Crisis Management Framework for Family Offices
Crises arrive on their own schedule. A framework prepared in calm conditions is what determines whether the office responds well or improvises poorly.
Key takeaways
- —Pre-define crisis tiers and the response playbook for each.
- —Decision rights during a crisis often differ from normal-operations rights.
- —External communications need a pre-approved spokesperson and protocol.
- —Annual tabletop exercises surface gaps that documentation alone misses.
Crises in a family-office context cluster into a small set of types: a principal's sudden incapacity, a market dislocation that threatens liquidity, a public event that draws media attention, a security incident, a regulatory or legal action. Each type needs its own playbook because the right response, decision rights, and external communications differ sharply. Improvising response in the moment is expensive — for the family, the office, and the wider stakeholder ecosystem.
A working framework names the crisis tiers, defines decision rights for each (who acts, who authorises, who is informed), pre-approves external communications channels and spokespersons, and tests the framework through annual tabletop exercises. The exercises matter — every framework that has only been written, never tested, contains gaps that emerge under stress. The cost of a tabletop is half a day a year. The benefit shows up the first time a real event hits.
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