Awareness and acceptance are ONE of the necessary preconditions to successful succession planning in the family owned business.
Awareness and acceptance.When the issue of succession planning is raised or discussed the founder-owner-manager invariably adopts one of the following postures:
- does not listen;
- listens but does not hear;
- hears but is not persuaded;
- is persuaded but does not act.
The forces of inertia are such that little will be done about succession; after all, it is spending time now, thinking about a time in the future when one will no longer be at the centre of the action.
Overcoming succession planning inertia.To overcome inertia and set the succession planning process in motion, the first and most important element is awareness. It starts with the realisation by the owner-manager that there is, or there can be, another perspective than "I am the business/the business is me". That perspective is: "The business I have created or I am managing is separate from me and can outlive me."
Once that idea is accepted, then the natural resistance to succession planning can gradually be overcome.
Business continuity planning.Often, it is preferable to approach the process as one of business continuity planning rather than succession planning since the owner-manager is best served when options are developed and preserved. The underlying rationale for business continuity planning is maximising the value of the business, whether the ultimate outcome is a sale of the business or passing it on to one's heirs and successors. Each of these options has two further sub-options for the owner-manager: staying in the business in some capacity or leaving it completely.
Able and willing successors.If the business is to be kept in the family there must be heirs and successors who are both willing and able to take over the reins and do what is needed for the business to grow and prosper. That too is a process which requires some planning.
Given the above background, business continuity or succession planning, at its simplest, can take the form of the classic: 'I am here', 'I want to get to there', 'This is how I am going to do it.'
Letting go.The 'here' is 'I am the business and the business is me.' The 'there' is 'The business can/should go on without me.' The owner/manager then gradually moves from being the principal 'doer' in the business to other roles: planner, coach, mentor...creator of a legacy. The process of letting go can start.