Communication Is the Lifeblood of Business Transitions 

As Transition Strategists, we talk frequently about hats; primarily knowing when to wear them and which one to wear. 

No, we’re not teaching proper hat etiquette. Instead, we use hats as a metaphor for the roles individuals play in a family and in a family business. 

Two Hats 

Owners / parents wear at least two hats: parent and owner. An owner’s adult child also has at least two: child and successor or non-successor. The trick is knowing when to put on each hat and shelve the other. 

Once owners and successors master that trick, the next challenge is to communicate effectively with each other. And that, friends, is the topic of this article. 

Communication Is the Lifeblood of Business Transitions. 

Great communication is absolutely critical when a topic is as important — and often as emotional — as a family business transition, and you’ve spent a lifetime caring for the people involved in that transition. The way we communicate in any relationship, see the world, and prioritize issues all relate to how we are wired. 

But just as every home’s wiring is unique to its architecture, so is the wiring in each individual. By understanding our own and others’ wiring, we can be intentional about our interactions and achieve the communication results we want. 

The iMAP Assessment 

At the beginning of every transition engagement, we ask owners, possible successors, and sometimes an owner’s other children (both active and inactive in the business), and other people who are key to the success of the transition to take an iMAP Assessment. This assessment measures temperament, impact style, work-related values, and the role a person prefers to take in a project. 

As Transition Strategists, we know that understanding one’s own —and others’ — natural wiring and behaviors especially during business transitions: 

• Improves the likelihood of achieving one’s goals. 
• Creates appreciation, positive interactions, and minimizes conflict. 
• Helps the parties understand how to interact effectively with and influence others. 

Let’s look at an example. 

The iMAP results for “Roger,” the owner of a group of car dealerships, indicated that he was creative and a futurist, and while he processed decisions internally, he was not an introvert. Roger simply didn’t feel a need to consult with others before making decisions and rarely shared the reasons behind his decisions with others. 

These elements of his temperament and impact style served him well for years yet would threaten the successful transition of his business to his two sons, “Blake” and “Larry.” 

Blake’s and Larry’s iMAPS did not align entirely with Roger’s. Blake was skilled at process development, so when Roger decided that the current employee bonus program wasn’t getting the results he wanted, it was Blake who dug into the research, consulted an employment attorney and identified a bonus structure that he thought could be most effective. As soon as Blake explained the reasons for his choice to his brother, Larry began to suggest ways to make the process even better and figured out the mechanics of the program, e.g. the size of the bonuses as a percentage of the difference between a car’s sticker and sale price, the timing of the bonuses, etc. 

When Blake and Larry told Roger that they were prepared to share their ideas about the bonus program with him, Roger told them that he’d already decided how a new program would work. In Roger’s mind the meeting was over. 

Blake and Larry, however, thought the meeting had only begun. They peppered Roger with questions about why he’d picked the new program, and how he expected it to work. Roger quickly grew annoyed with his sons but not because he felt they were questioning his authority. Instead, he just didn’t see why he needed to explain “every little thing.” 

During the first six months of our engagement, Roger and his Transition Guide worked to achieve two goals: (1) identify a mode of communication that was acceptable to Roger and his sons; and (2) get Blake and Larry to go into every conversation knowing that their father loved and trusted them and wanted them to succeed. 

Blake and Larry preferred to communicate with Roger through text messages and email. Roger hated both modes complaining that “We never have a conversation!” The ultimate compromise was that when Roger wanted to talk with his sons, he would text them to ask when they could talk. 

Once Blake and Larry truly acknowledged that their father loved them, they realized that Roger never intended his occasional sharp comments to hurt them. Once all three learned that they were wired differently, Blake and Larry better understood why it annoyed Roger to provide the level of detail they needed, and Roger began to appreciate his sons’ frustration. 

A Happy Ending 

No transition of a business from one generation to the next is without its hiccups, and success is never guaranteed. One critical element in the success of this transition was the owner’s and successors’ willingness to learn about each other’s wiring and follow three basic rules of engagement. 

1. Always assume the other party has the best of intentions. To keep lines of communication open, ask questions when you don’t understand why someone does something.  
2. Be honest and never accusatory. Dishonesty and accusations are the fastest way to torpedo any type of business transition. 
3. Be playful. Don’t leave your sense of humor at home. Humor, positivity, and lightheartedness can help smooth even the roughest waters.  

Everyone deemed the transition of this family business to be successful because the business was left in capable hands, and at the end of the journey, all parties involved were living their greatest Next Adventures™. Just as importantly, their transition journey was one of the most meaningful episodes in this father-sons relationship. 

The Stakes Are High. 

Communication is the lifeblood of business transitions, and the failure to communicate effectively causes the people who matter to wonder and worry about their future. It deters others from joining owners on the transition journey and turns what should be a wonderful experience into a one-person slog.  

Go Far Together. 

As Transition Guides, we are firm believers in the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Every day we help owners and their successors to understand their communication wiring and use communication to build bridges rather than roadblocks. If you’d like to learn more about how we do that, please give us a call. We’re always happy to share what we’ve learned from the owners and successors we’ve had the privilege to call “clients.”