When referring to family business succession planning nothing good happens accidentally. And this obviously includes the likelihood of having succession planning head in the right direction. Having a team of experienced counsellors in place to assist you is great and I'm hoping you could have the best counsels and accountants cash can buy, but that will not be enough.
It is these advisors, if they are well selected, who can answer the query what is succession planning - not just from a technical perspective but from a human point of view also. And acting like you are actually ready to cooperate with the rest of the family when looking for creative solutions for your family business succession to the new generation may not basically fool anyone either, they have seen this strategy before.
Really, are they that gullible? Is this the first time you have all started down this road before only to lose steam quickly? If this is your initial attempt at family business succession planning great, it is possible to get it right the 1st time. And if business succession planning, up to a point, has become just about a full-time job without any success so far, perhaps there is a reason.
It's like when you turn off the fire under a pot of boiling water. It'll instantly start cooling down and in a short while the steady boil will be just one or two bubbles then nothing. However the water is still hot and prepared to boil quickly when you light the fire next time. Every successful family business succession plan we've seen, ones that have moved from the concept stage to ideas, to systems, to the creating of the various legal documentation - all the way to implementation there is one constant.
Someone had been put in command of seeing to it that things get done. Someone that will keep the heat on all of the time. This isn't the task of the counsellors. They will each sit back till the cows call it a night, waiting on the other advisors to do something.
These professionals aren't ever going to take the bull by the horns and call you up either - asking you what you believe, what you need them to do next, and reminding you that the ball is still in your court. And pros who do do something are commonly mistrusted by their peers. They are looked upon by their fellow professionals as forceful or worse, assertive even. Never mind that being forceful is often critical to get folks off the mark and moving forward. If you are the senior generation this role, the one we call "planning coordinator" is not for you.
If you were actually pushing the family business succession planning forward, calling your barrister and accountant every alternative day asking them what's taking so long, pulling your spouse into the bank to discuss the trust, and setting training goals for your successors, there would be no necessity to read this article - you'd already have your succession plan in place. So , if somebody must be put in charge to keep mom and pop in the loop, keep the counsellors moving forward, and keep an eye out for successful succession secrets being employed by their peers for concepts that work - who should it be?
The planning coordinator's job is to pose questions, assemble information, talk with everyone concerned, for example. Decades back that is what we probably did. That is what helped our customers basically move seamlessly through the family business succession planning. Later we helped business owners appoint somebody who was involved directly in the business, a relation who had a vested interest in getting and holding on to the family business succession planning moving.
Who has more interest in family business succession planning than the delegated leader of the following generation? I have personally seen how well this has worked for many dozens of associations. This was and is the strategy of choice for thousands of you today. There is an alternative choice, hire a family business coach. They will do all the things a member of the family would do and they will not be thought to be allies of one side of the family or the other.
The final analysis, whoever is chosen to be the planning coordinator - they've got to be actively asking the questions, pushing until the answers are given, and coordinating the affairs of everybody involved, and everyone will be involved if you need your family business succession planning process to achieve success.
It is these advisors, if they are well selected, who can answer the query what is succession planning - not just from a technical perspective but from a human point of view also. And acting like you are actually ready to cooperate with the rest of the family when looking for creative solutions for your family business succession to the new generation may not basically fool anyone either, they have seen this strategy before.
Really, are they that gullible? Is this the first time you have all started down this road before only to lose steam quickly? If this is your initial attempt at family business succession planning great, it is possible to get it right the 1st time. And if business succession planning, up to a point, has become just about a full-time job without any success so far, perhaps there is a reason.
It's like when you turn off the fire under a pot of boiling water. It'll instantly start cooling down and in a short while the steady boil will be just one or two bubbles then nothing. However the water is still hot and prepared to boil quickly when you light the fire next time. Every successful family business succession plan we've seen, ones that have moved from the concept stage to ideas, to systems, to the creating of the various legal documentation - all the way to implementation there is one constant.
Someone had been put in command of seeing to it that things get done. Someone that will keep the heat on all of the time. This isn't the task of the counsellors. They will each sit back till the cows call it a night, waiting on the other advisors to do something.
These professionals aren't ever going to take the bull by the horns and call you up either - asking you what you believe, what you need them to do next, and reminding you that the ball is still in your court. And pros who do do something are commonly mistrusted by their peers. They are looked upon by their fellow professionals as forceful or worse, assertive even. Never mind that being forceful is often critical to get folks off the mark and moving forward. If you are the senior generation this role, the one we call "planning coordinator" is not for you.
If you were actually pushing the family business succession planning forward, calling your barrister and accountant every alternative day asking them what's taking so long, pulling your spouse into the bank to discuss the trust, and setting training goals for your successors, there would be no necessity to read this article - you'd already have your succession plan in place. So , if somebody must be put in charge to keep mom and pop in the loop, keep the counsellors moving forward, and keep an eye out for successful succession secrets being employed by their peers for concepts that work - who should it be?
The planning coordinator's job is to pose questions, assemble information, talk with everyone concerned, for example. Decades back that is what we probably did. That is what helped our customers basically move seamlessly through the family business succession planning. Later we helped business owners appoint somebody who was involved directly in the business, a relation who had a vested interest in getting and holding on to the family business succession planning moving.
Who has more interest in family business succession planning than the delegated leader of the following generation? I have personally seen how well this has worked for many dozens of associations. This was and is the strategy of choice for thousands of you today. There is an alternative choice, hire a family business coach. They will do all the things a member of the family would do and they will not be thought to be allies of one side of the family or the other.
The final analysis, whoever is chosen to be the planning coordinator - they've got to be actively asking the questions, pushing until the answers are given, and coordinating the affairs of everybody involved, and everyone will be involved if you need your family business succession planning process to achieve success.
About the Author:
Most successful firms put off management succession planning till it is too late. They fail to appreciate the way in which the process focuses their energies and those of everyone around you in a typical centered direction. When they are concentrated on the goal they are more likely to take the actions important to take them where they really want to be. The perfect succession planning process answers the age old question about what is succession planning more clearly than any paid pro confidant.
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