Frequent questions from business families:
Whether you are a newer business or a long-standing, multi-generational enterprise, you need a transition plan. A plan ensures the stability and continuation of the family business in the event of a crisis such as the untimely death of a founder or leader. The benefits of doing so are critical to the ongoing stability of the business and family members.
The benefits include:
- Identifying a successor to lead the business in the future.
- Removing uncertainty for the younger generation(s) as to their future in the family business. A transition plan allows them to prepare to have a rewarding career – whether that will be within the family business or not.
- Giving the founder(s) confidence their legacy will be successfully carried forward in the future.
- Reassuring employees that the business will continue to be well managed and their contributions acknowledged and rewarded. Good transition planning means better employee retention.
- Reducing anxiety of customers and suppliers about the business’s future stability. A good transition plan reduces the risk of flight of customers and suppliers at a time of crisis.
- Alleviating concerns of financial institutions about the future viability of the business and thus their risk exposure in dealing with it.
Business family transition planning can include a wide spectrum of tools and processes. For example, a business family could benefit from any number of the following solutions:
- Family council
- Advisory board to the board of directors
- Values clarification
- Family policies, including educational and experience expectations for family members of the business
- Family off-site retreats
- Family business history
- Family genogram
- Detailed transition plan with an implementation schedule
Because each business family is different, so too is the definition of success. Together, working with Paul, you will decide on the desired outcomes and best tools and approaches to achieve them. Paul’s approach is collaborative and customized for each business family’s situation and needs.
Again, it will depend on the business family. It could be as simple as a values clarification that will help you make future business decisions, or perhaps the family is ready to transition the running and ownership of the business to the next generation.
Whatever the need, Paul ensures the process is consultative, fair and transparent to all involved.
Through Paul’s research and years of hands-on experience, he has found that business owners define “succession planning” as passing the family business to the next generation.
“Transition planning” is a broader concept. It involves consideration of any number of alternatives, including for example:
- Selling to a third party
- Management buy out
- Winding down the business
- Transferring the business to the next generation
Once a decision is made on the mandate, Paul works with the family to establish goals, deliverables and timelines.
Paul’s approach is highly collaborative – with the family and its advisors. Paul will consult with your external advisors and exchange information, as necessary and with the family’s permission, to support a successful transition planning process.
Paul has a wide international network of professional advisors and consultants with whom he works to meet his clients’ transition planning needs. These include therapists, addiction counsellors, business coaches and mentors, tax specialists, lawyers, accountants, financial planners, insurance providers, family business consultants and philanthropic advisors.
Paul delves into the business family’s interpersonal relationships as they exist at the point of his engagement. Every family dynamic is distinct. Through a process of initial interviews, Paul develops an understanding of the business family’s unique dynamic. Working with the family to articulate and document their particular dynamic is a departure point for assessing its transition needs and developing the best solutions for those needs.
