Succession Planning

The Success of Your Company Depends on its Succession Plan

Invest in your company’s future with a strong succession plan

Succession planning is one of the most important decisions for any family business, yet it is often the most daunting. Business owners face difficult questions about the future and complex family dynamics that further confuse the process of succession planning.

Fortunately, Atlantic Consultants understands the unique demands of creating a succession plan and has created a facilitated program to help family business owners overcome the challenges of choosing the right successor.

Our facilitated succession planning retreats will help make this transition easier and more successful. The goal of the succession planning retreat is to help the business owner identify the best people for each position and develop a long-term succession plan to develop each candidate so they will easily transition into their new position.

The result of the succession plan will be a practical plan to groom the successor of the business to easily take over the business in a manner that will not disrupt the growth of the company. The purpose of the succession plan is to make this process fluid and easy.

Our Succession Planning Retreats Will:

• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate
• Create a plan that includes training, mentoring and management
• Create a program that helps leaders transition into their new position

Succession Planning in the Family-Owned or Closely Held Business

Succession planning in the family-owned or closely held business is vitally connected to the strategic plan. The plans for succession need to be in alignment with the vision of the future company. The days of progenitor succession based on birth position are beginning to fade as companies realize that their financial fate is tied to the capabilities, passion, and commitment of the successor. How do you choose a successor if you have a cadre of waiting siblings or cousins in the wings?

10 Steps to Choosing a Successor

1. Have a Strategic Planning Retreat that includes your Senior Management Team and potential candidates.
2. Once you have identified the vision, mission, values, and strategic focus of the company, make sure that at least one of the goals includes professional development and succession planning.
3. Identify the ideal timeline for the succession plan.
4. Identify the qualifications candidates must possess to best lead the company through the next generation.
5. Identify the professional development process and the steps for grooming the candidate including training, coaching, and mentoring.
6. Identify other key positions that will be available.
7. Consider other entrepreneurial initiatives that may be part of the strategic plan and look for leaders in those lines of business.
8. Dedicate part of the strategic planning process to relationship management that is concomitant with this process.
9. Choose an advisory board that is a resource to the enterprise and can advise on succession and other important business issues.
10. Keep the doors of communication open. Hold regular family business meetings at which everyone can provide input on the necessary capabilities, passion, and commitment of the successor.

Coming Soon to Our Website

Benefits of a Succession Planning Facilitator

Succession Planning Retreat Outline

Succession Planning Testimonial

Succession Planning Articles

• Succession in Family Firms: Opportunities and Challenges, January 2004 – Success Strategies
• Succession Planning in the Family-Owned or Closely Held Business, February 2003 – Success Strategies