Family business succession and planning for the long haul future is for sure a never-ending process that what was asserted during your first conversation with your spouse or another member of the family can take place weeks even months before you share what was debated with your advisors.
If you do not write down what is said, in an order that makes accurate recall possible your communications will be like those described by Lewis Carroll, "I know you suspect you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you understand that what you heard isn't what I meant" in Alice in Wonderland.
Writing down what people say when they are saying it's really important, because in the end what you are endeavoring to achieve and create is a type of "relationship agreement" that spells out how you and all of them see the future together. Maybe what comes out of these family business succession planning conversations is a collection of relationship agreements on easy issues as well as your mutual ideas for the big ones.
Whenever several folks are involved in a long-term interdependent relationship there is likely to be argument. And these disagreements often sidetrack answering the key question of what is succession planning and why is it urgent if the business is to succeed over the long run.
In a family business these conflicts are frequently more acute because they're never just about business - they are always colored with something private, everybody has a history and a future that gets lumped into whatever transgression of the code is noted by the others.
Succession and planning for the business's future is a superb time to reveal these sore spots and create agreements on how they ought to be handled in days to come. This is the time when everybody will have their opportunity to set it straight and provide their input into how things should be in days to come.
Writing it all down is crucial. Each party to the procedure , and that should be each one, will come away feeling that their point of vies has been heard. Nothing makes us feel better than having our say and understanding that it's been noted for significant consideration!
Your advisers will be the ones who create the legal documents and contracts, that isn't your job and nothing any of you write down should be considered "binding" on anybody.
The answers to the questions do however offer a framework of understanding around which the documents your advisers will be making. Plus these notes will "ping" your advisers about matters they might never have worked out all alone.
To make certain what's debated and afterwards written down you'll need the questions. Non-judgmental, fact and feeling seeking questions engineered to get everybody talking about the same critical things overtly and honestly. Questions for everybody that search for "What's important?", "What's the situation today?", "What do you/I / we need it to be?", and "What's possible for us to achieve?"
The solutions to these questions, perhaps asked by the planning coordinator (an insider whose role is to keep the method moving) will be written down and shared with your firm's advisory team of executives.
Usually, primarily based on the experiences of Lewis Carroll above, the planning coordinator will return to ask, "How did you mean that exactly?"for the clarification your advisors need to do their job more successfully.
When you note down the agreements, incrementally step-by-step by step, as you move thru the method of family business succession you are not only adding bricks to the wall which will make your family's future relations better and more profitable - you are providing the exact info creative advisors can utilise to aid in making your picture of the future a fact.
As you can clearly see, family business succession planning is a technique, one that doesn't need to be complex unless you make it so.
The fact is that you and only you have the capability to make the succession and planning choices mandatory, you alone have the authority to make the choices required and you alone are accountable for the result of your succession and planning process, whether or not they are the result of thoughts, conversations, and negotiations or by luck or bad luck.
If you do not write down what is said, in an order that makes accurate recall possible your communications will be like those described by Lewis Carroll, "I know you suspect you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you understand that what you heard isn't what I meant" in Alice in Wonderland.
Writing down what people say when they are saying it's really important, because in the end what you are endeavoring to achieve and create is a type of "relationship agreement" that spells out how you and all of them see the future together. Maybe what comes out of these family business succession planning conversations is a collection of relationship agreements on easy issues as well as your mutual ideas for the big ones.
Whenever several folks are involved in a long-term interdependent relationship there is likely to be argument. And these disagreements often sidetrack answering the key question of what is succession planning and why is it urgent if the business is to succeed over the long run.
In a family business these conflicts are frequently more acute because they're never just about business - they are always colored with something private, everybody has a history and a future that gets lumped into whatever transgression of the code is noted by the others.
Succession and planning for the business's future is a superb time to reveal these sore spots and create agreements on how they ought to be handled in days to come. This is the time when everybody will have their opportunity to set it straight and provide their input into how things should be in days to come.
Writing it all down is crucial. Each party to the procedure , and that should be each one, will come away feeling that their point of vies has been heard. Nothing makes us feel better than having our say and understanding that it's been noted for significant consideration!
Your advisers will be the ones who create the legal documents and contracts, that isn't your job and nothing any of you write down should be considered "binding" on anybody.
The answers to the questions do however offer a framework of understanding around which the documents your advisers will be making. Plus these notes will "ping" your advisers about matters they might never have worked out all alone.
To make certain what's debated and afterwards written down you'll need the questions. Non-judgmental, fact and feeling seeking questions engineered to get everybody talking about the same critical things overtly and honestly. Questions for everybody that search for "What's important?", "What's the situation today?", "What do you/I / we need it to be?", and "What's possible for us to achieve?"
The solutions to these questions, perhaps asked by the planning coordinator (an insider whose role is to keep the method moving) will be written down and shared with your firm's advisory team of executives.
Usually, primarily based on the experiences of Lewis Carroll above, the planning coordinator will return to ask, "How did you mean that exactly?"for the clarification your advisors need to do their job more successfully.
When you note down the agreements, incrementally step-by-step by step, as you move thru the method of family business succession you are not only adding bricks to the wall which will make your family's future relations better and more profitable - you are providing the exact info creative advisors can utilise to aid in making your picture of the future a fact.
As you can clearly see, family business succession planning is a technique, one that doesn't need to be complex unless you make it so.
The fact is that you and only you have the capability to make the succession and planning choices mandatory, you alone have the authority to make the choices required and you alone are accountable for the result of your succession and planning process, whether or not they are the result of thoughts, conversations, and negotiations or by luck or bad luck.
About the Author:
Most successful corporations 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 common centered direction. When they are focused on the goal they are more likely to take the actions necessary to take them where they want to be. The best succession planning process answers the age old question regarding what is succession planning more obviously than any paid pro advisor.
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