Loyd Rawls

8 Steps for Achieving Your Succession Goals: Part II (5-8)
June 28, 2007

My last posting focused on the first 4 steps of a succession planning process that will help you stay on task, make it manageable, and make you successful. If you missed my last posting and would like further explanation on the first 4 steps, please visit the prequel: 8 Steps to Achieving your Business Succession Goals: Part I (1-4)

Let’s continue on to the last 4 steps of the succession planning process:

5. Get the help needed to implement your succession plan. Based upon your assessment of your succession assets and liabilities you should recognize that you will need experienced help that could include: attorneys, accountants, management facilitators, estate planners, leadership facilitators, strategic planners, team facilitators, family facilitators, etc. Realistically draft the talent for your planning team based upon the performance you expect.

6. Communicate and initiate your exit strategy. Recognize that the biggest challenge to succession is the confirmation that your successors can successfully operate the business. You will never be sure until you step aside and allow your successors the same opportunity that you had: to become a success based upon the failures they learn from.

7. Remain engaged with all succession issues. Just keep telling yourself that “the difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little time.” If you diligently and continually engage even the most perplexing business succession issues the answers will eventually drop into your lap. Reciprocally, if you currently feel inclined to sweep tough, gut grinding issues under the rug, you can be sure that when they are uncovered they will have grown into ugly problems with unavoidable collateral damage. Problems are only the issues that you are unwilling to address.

8. Plan to stay engaged at some level for the long term. Do not assume that you can address your succession planning in a few months and then find the totally relaxed life. Business succession is a life quest. It is never fixed. If you are endeavoring to perpetuate your business legacy you will always be emotionally invested in the succession process. This may involve staying at the helm longer than you expected, serving on a Board of Directors, being a creditor. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment by thinking that there will be a day when it is fixed. The only realistic approach to Succession Success_sm is that you are a work in progress.

Posted by Loyd Rawls on June 28, 2007 | Comments (0)