What does a handover session with both generations look like?

A handover session is one facilitated meeting, two and a half to three hours, with the successor, the parent and anyone the family chooses to include. The successor speaks first. The session then settles which decisions move and when, how the two generations disagree, how the parent steps back and how the change is announced. It ends with a one-page Handover Charter, written in the room and signed by both.

In the Second Chair™ program, the handover session closes the six months. It comes at the end of month six, after the successor has spent the program preparing for the rooms that matter, including this one.

Why hold a separate session at all?

Most families talk about the handover many times before it happens: over dinner, after board meetings, in the car. They often believe they agree. Then a specific decision comes up and it turns out each generation had a different picture of who decides.

A dedicated session changes the conversation in three ways:

• It has a beginning and an end. The family sets aside a few hours for one purpose, rather than returning to the subject in fragments.
• It has a facilitator. It is hard to negotiate how you will disagree while you are disagreeing. A neutral person keeps the conversation on the questions that usually stay unspoken.
• It produces something written. The session does not end with a feeling of agreement. It ends with a signed page.

Who is in the room?

The successor and the parent, always. Beyond that, the family decides. It might be a spouse, a sibling who works in the business, or a family member whose agreement matters for the handover to hold.

The session is in person where possible. Otherwise it is held on Zoom.

How is the session structured?

The session runs in six parts, in a fixed order.

1. Opening (15 minutes)

The successor speaks first. This is deliberate. It sets the tone that the session is a conversation between two leaders, not a briefing from parent to child. The successor has rehearsed what they will say in the final session of the program, so this is not improvised.

2. What changes and when (45 minutes)

The longest part. Which decisions move to the successor, which stay with the parent for now, and the dates. The aim is precision: not “you will run operations” but the specific decisions, the specific meetings and the date each one changes hands.

3. How they disagree (30 minutes)

Disagreement between generations is normal. Disagreement in front of the team, the board or the family is costly. This part agrees the rule for how the two of them will handle it, so that a difference of opinion does not become a question of who is in charge.

4. How the parent steps back (30 minutes)

What the parent’s new role will be, and how they support the successor without overriding them. Founders who know what they are moving towards tend to step back more easily than those who are only told what they are leaving. How a founder steps back without disappearing covers this in more depth.

5. The announcement (30 minutes)

Who tells the company, the board and key partners, and in what order. The order matters, and so does who speaks. How to announce a succession sets out the principles.

6. The Handover Charter (20 minutes)

The agreements from the previous parts are written down on one page, in the room, and signed by both. It is not a legal document and does not replace the shareholder agreement or the governance structure. It records who decides what, from when, and how.

What is the Handover Charter?

A short written agreement between parent and successor about how leadership actually passes between them. It covers what changes and when, what stays with the founder and for how long, how the two of them disagree, the founder’s new role, and the announcement. The Handover Charter explains each section, and there is a free printable template for families who want to see the page itself.

The charter matters most after the session. When a decision is disputed later, the question becomes “what did we agree?” rather than “who is in charge?”.

How does the successor prepare for it?

The handover session is the last step of six months of work, and several parts of the program lead directly into it.

• Hard conversations with the parent. A session on saying what the successor needs from the handover without sounding ungrateful.
• Siblings and the wider family. Roles, fairness and who decides what.
• Designing the family meeting. The agenda, the decisions needed and the ground rules for the handover session.
• A family meeting simulation. A recorded role-play with the hardest objection planted.
• Handover session preparation. A final rehearsal of what the successor will say.

By the time they sit down with the parent, the successor has practised the conversation that most families never prepare for.

How is the parent prepared?

The parent is involved throughout, though not in the successor’s sessions. They have a private intake in week one, a summary of the diagnostic in week two and a thirty-minute briefing each month on progress, upcoming events and how they can help. The handover session is the point where both generations sit at the same table and agree the next chapter together.

What the successor has said in their own sessions stays private. The handover session is not a report on the coaching. It is a working session about the future.

What if the family is not ready to agree everything?

The session is structured so that every part produces something written, but agreements can include dates and conditions. A decision can stay with the parent for another year, as long as the charter says so and says when it will be reviewed. What undermines a successor is not limits. It is limits that appear without warning.

Can a family hold this conversation without a facilitator?

Yes. The template is free to print, and some families will write their charter on their own. The guidance on the template is the same as in the facilitated session: set aside two to three hours, let the successor speak first, work through the sections in order, keep it to one page, sign it and set a date to review it. A facilitator helps most on the parts where the family is likely to disagree, particularly how the two generations will handle disagreement itself. How to run a family meeting about succession offers further guidance.

In short

• The handover session is one facilitated meeting of two and a half to three hours, at the end of month six of the Second Chair™ program.
• The successor, the parent and anyone the family chooses attend, in person where possible.
• It runs in six parts: the successor’s opening, what changes and when, how they disagree, how the parent steps back, the announcement, and the charter.
• It ends with a one-page Handover Charter, written in the room and signed by both.
• The successor spends the final weeks of the program preparing for it.

The method shows how the six months build towards this session.