FAMILY BUSINESS SUCCESSION - ATTENDING TO THE PEOPLE-SIDE

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Traditional ways to think about succession exclusively rely on legal, accounting and insurance techniques. And to be sure, these are important elements for transitioning a family from its current generation to the next one. But, there is one more element for family business succession that most people don't know about but wish they did.

That element: transitioning the business to the next generation in a way that considers the thoughts and feelings of the people involved. This involves working with a family business psychologist.

Is this necessary all the time - no. But, in a number of family business situations, there are strong feelings, misunderstandings and even conflicts that all can conspire to ditch even the most no-brainer succession scenario.

The fact is, the current generation might not face the task of succession but once - when they are getting ready to move out of owning and operating the family business. Naturally, they don't have the skills to do it. And when succession should be proceeding smoothly and it doesn't, the current generation feels blindsided. For you, your current advisory team won't have all the expertise to help you get past that point.

My clients seek me out for three reasons:

1.  Family businesses need something different from what their external advisors can offer - people-side succession expertise and tools: Many families try to do succession using their current external advisors - in my experience, sometimes multiple times. But it hasn't worked because the family needed an expert who could create a structure for having the hard discussions and if at all possible, everybody involved coming out whole on the other side.

What I do: I create a structured process allowing the family to reach agreement on the succession steps (often difficult ones) to move their succession, ahead. Additionally, I bring the tools and techniques unique to the people-side of succession, including succession roadmaps and family councils.

2. Family businesses need someone who understands the difficult feelings that come with family business succession: Yes, your current advisors can listen to your succession challenges. But, they don't know the steps for helping your family constructively understand and get past them (it's much more than listening with a sympathetic ear). Without family members being heard and their input impacting the succession process, they can become unnecessarily disenfranchised. The family needs a guide who has been there before to help them move past these obstacles common in family business succession.

What I do: My process begins by hearing from and clarifying what the current generation is trying to accomplish, what the next generation needs, what has and hasn't worked, and come up with a process to move succession forward.

3.  Family businesses need a process geared to the family and the overall business: Family businesses need a professional who can customize a succession process that meets the family's goals, the business' needs (including important non family employees) and understands both family business dynamics as well as how organizations function in general. All of those need to be integrated together to make the smoothest and most productive succession.

What I do: With decades of well developed expertise coaching executives and measuring their leadership skills, as well as expertise in developing organizational cultures, I help family businesses put their succession into a larger context. I'm not a "one-trick pony" - I am an expert leadership coach and organizational development expert. This expertise will benefit you because commonly, succession identifies a successor but the current generation isn't sure if that person has the skills and sensitivities to be a top leader (and whether they need development for their leadership skills gaps).. Additionally, family businesses use my expertise to help their heirs transition into their new roles and the current generation transition to their next roles (inside or outside the family business). Lastly, family businesses need expertise involving (if, when, how) nonfamily employees.

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If you're interested hearing me talk about how I work with family business, Michael Palumbus, founder of Wealth Family and Legacy, did a podcast with me earlier this year that will bring everything I wrote above, alive. Go to this URL and scroll down four lines to the podcast, Episode #72: "The Deep Psychology of Family Business":

https://www.familywealthandlegacy.com/family-biz-show