Succession planning is a need that many family businesses have.  Instead of dealing with the situation, many family businesses simply ignore the issue.  Speaking from experience, it can be much better to have a plan for issues like that.  When people are forced to deal with the death or serious illness of the owner of a family business, they have two choices.  Implement a plan that was created when cooler heads were talking the situation through, or simply react.  Which would you rather do?  

Obviously, you know my answer.  Under stress, people can make decisions.  The decisions may be made based on pure emotion,  rather than a careful evaluation of the facts.   This is why the best decisions may not be made by people when they are under stress.

And, by the way, I don’t make my best decisions under stress.  That is why I’ve been at my family’s business (shown to the left) for the last few days ”kicking rocks around” with my family’s business.  Instead, my best decisions are made by understanding what is to be accomplished, defining goals, considering possibilities, identifying risks, and planning.  From there, it is just a matter of execution and, from time to time, revisiting the plans to be sure that they are still accurate.  Such approaches result in better outcomes, less frustration, identification of different possibilities, and a stronger understanding of all stakeholders’ goals.

A lot of people seem to think that a plan has to be very fancy.  At the end of the day, a plan can be as simple or as complex as a person wishes to make it.  Regardless of the complexity of the plan though, it really just answers eight questions which are: 

1. Who is responsible?
2. What is to be done?
3. What constraints apply?
4. When is it to be done?
5. Where will it be done?
6. Why is it to be done?
7. How will it be done?
8. How will success be determined?

Think about what would happen if business people took a minute to write down the answers to these questions.  It usually leads to stronger business relationships, better allocation of resources, and better results.  In light of this, why do people hesitate to create a succession plan for family businesses?

Filed by Coleen Davis at 9:23 am under About Coleen Davis, Business Tips, Planning Tips