Dan Schneider

Peace of Mind Succession Planning
November 22, 2007

“Well, what do you think? Did I get it right?” The tone of voice and the look of concern on his face told me that Aubry had some questions about what he had done with his succession plan. “I don’t want the same problems my parents had when they split up their estate. I want my children to still be talking to each other after we’re gone. I want my grandchildren to have opportunities we didn’t at their age.”

If you haven’t asked those questions yourself, you’ve probably got a spouse or a friend or know someone who has. The truth is, for all the wisdom of a lifetime, no one can ever tell. What you can know and experience, however, is the peace of mind that comes with believing that you’ve done all you can to do the right thing the right way.

There are several steps we recommend to achieve this state of succession planning nirvana. As always, they are things people generally know or wish they would do; but, for whatever reasons, they put them off. Here are the basics:

1. Define success in your own terms. Make sure your advisors and consultants know and understand what you want to have happen.
2. Identify the challenges and obstacles that can block your succession success. Be brutally honest about them, and don’t explain them away. It may be family members; it may be business partners; it may be something altogether different. But whatever it is, admit that it’s out there.
3. Develop options that overcome the obstacles. If you’re having difficulty developing potential options or solutions, suspend disbelief and ask yourself “If it could be solved or overcome, what would have to happen?” 
4. Do an alignment check on the most appropriate options. Make a check sheet that has several columns. The far left hand column is for “identified options.” The remaining columns are for you to indicate whether or not the option is consistent with your vision, personal values, family goals, business goals, etc. 
5. Communicate with those who will be affected. They may have some input that will help you in the next step. Some of the potential obstacles that cause you concern are probably not as important to others as you may think.
6. Make a decision and take action. More actions are delayed than decisions made. If circumstances change, and some probably will, so can the decisions made about the succession plan.

Succession planning isn’t rocket science. That’s why it’s so hard. There’s a lot of emotion involved, and we look for ways to rationalize the decisions we’ve made. Follow the steps outlined above, and you’ll find the peace of mind that puts emotional unrest to bed.

Posted by Dan Schneider on November 22, 2007 | Comments (0)