05 · The Programme Governance Grid
A six-cell grid that pins the decisions on a multi-year programme to the people who own them. Three rows across the principal, the committee, the desk, and the advisors, and two columns across strategy, structure, and operating cadence. Used to keep a programme legible from year one to year five.
The trigger,
in plain words.
Once a mandate moves from one-off engagements to a multi-year programme: a structural build, a generational transition, or a new venture on the family balance sheet. Re-opened each year at the policy review.
The artefacts
the desk writes.
- A six-cell grid mapping decisions to named owners.
- A working version of who has approval rights over which line, written in the affirmative.
- A reference for the new joiner, the new committee member, and the new advisor.
- A short annual review that updates ownership where the family has changed.
The shape of
the working document.
A six-cell matrix, written once and re-signed at the annual review. Rows are the principal, the committee, and the desk; columns are strategy, structure, and operating cadence. The row-by-row reading sits below the schematic.
| Cell | Owner | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | A six-cell grid mapping decisions to named owners. |
| 02 | 02 | A working version of who has approval rights over which line, written in the affirmative. |
| 03 | 03 | A reference for the new joiner, the new committee member, and the new advisor. |
| 04 | 04 | A short annual review that updates ownership where the family has changed. |
The rows of
the working matrix.
The grid is a method, not a bound document. The list below is what the desk writes into the grid on a multi-year programme, in the order the principal and the committee read it. The named owners, the cadence, and the trigger categories are mandate-specific; the rows themselves are not.
- Row 01
The principal, in the room and on the record
What the principal decides alone, what the principal decides with the committee, and what the principal is informed of rather than decides. The grid is the place these are written in the affirmative, before any season opens, so a new joiner can read it on day one and not have to reconstruct the room from precedent.
- Row 02
The committee, on the cadence and in the exceptions
What the committee confirms, what the committee amends, and what the committee declines. The grid names the cadence the committee reads against (quarterly, half-yearly, or annual), the quorum that turns a meeting into a decision, and the exceptional convening that brings the committee in ahead of the cadence.
- Row 03
The desk, between the cadence and the corridor
What the desk acts on between cycles, what the desk reserves to the committee or the principal, and what the desk escalates before the cycle. The grid is read alongside the Treasury Corridor Map and the IC Pack: the desk acts inside what the map and the pack have already opened, and refers upward for what they have not.
- Row 04
Triggers for an extraordinary convening
The conditions that bring the principal, the committee, or both, into the room ahead of the cadence. A trigger is named in posture, not in figure: a corridor breach, a counterparty event, a structural life event, a change in the family, or a new venture on the balance sheet. The grid does not try to enumerate every trigger; it names the categories and the convening path for each.
- Row 05
Cadence across the programme year
The annual cycle the grid runs against: the quarterly committee read, the half-yearly policy check, the annual review, and the extraordinary convening. Cadence is written in the grid so the calendar can be built from the grid rather than the other way around. A cycle the grid has not named is a cycle the desk does not run.
- Row 06
The annual review and the version of the grid
How the grid is re-read and re-signed each year. The annual review updates ownership where the family has changed, records decisions reserved to a different level, and re-issues the grid in the same shape so the new joiner reads the same document the previous joiner read. A grid that has not been re-signed in a year is, by writing, expired.
The grid,
not the pack.
The IC Pack is the quarterly operating instrument. It is written on a fixed cadence, every cycle, on a retained operating mandate, and it carries the same twelve pages in the same order, regardless of what the season has done. The pack is read by the committee in the room, against the cash and the FX, the lines in motion, and the manager and counterparty reviews.
The Programme Governance Grid is the long-arc governance instrument. It is written once, re-read each year, and re-issued on a structural change. The grid is read by the principal, the committee, the desk, and the new joiner, against the rhythm of the programme, the ownership of decisions, and the path for an extraordinary convening.
The pack is the work inside the cycle. The grid is the work across the years. Pair the two: the pack reads the grid in the background and acts inside what the grid has authorised; the grid is signed once, then re-read in the same shape, so the pack can be written against a stable reference. A pack without a grid has no horizon. A grid without a pack has no cycle.
The grid is
the long arc of the practice.
The grid pairs with the Operate and Oversee engagement shapes on the practice. Operate is the cycle inside which the desk reads the grid; Oversee is the independent read that re-issues it. The grid is signed once, re-read in the same shape, and the work that flows from it is auditable from the first working session to the next annual review.
If this framework
is the next room,
We maintain a small number of retained mandates and open new mandates selectively. Write to the private office. We reply with care, and without obligation.
For how the framework is run on a mandate, see the practice.