Are you a business owner nearing the end of your career? Even if you’re not quite ready to retire but are thinking about what’s next, you might wonder what are the steps in business succession planning? We’re so glad you asked. The Transition Strategists help owners and their businesses through key transitions, especially succession. It’s okay if you aren’t familiar with the steps in a business transition. We are.
Understanding the Steps in Business Succession Planning
In our practice, business succession planning begins with identifying the personal and professional relationships that are most important to you. Our goal is to help you protect and enhance those relationships. Any succession plan that puts strain on any of those relationships, especially within your family and close circle of friends, is not the right plan. We know from experience that no transition is perfect but we craft plans that achieve your most important goals, protect your relationships, and create the most important wins for the people you care about the most.
As you start thinking about your succession plan, try to define your goals for yourself, your company, successor, and family. By gaining clarity about your intentions and destination at the outset, you are more likely to navigate any challenges or dilemmas successfully.
The Transition Strategists Roadmap
Vison, direction, timeline, and action: our Transition Roadmap DeveloperTM helps you clarify vision, set your direction and timeline, and take action. Every Roadmap is unique to each client because everyone has different goals, time frames, and options, yet every Roadmap is a result of an orchestrated set of steps.
We begin by asking you questions that help you identify the direction in which you want to move and vision of the future. Next, you establish a timeline that sets milestones to meet on the way to achieving your goals. You also decide the pace of the transition. Once you have clear vision, goals, direction and timing, you can start taking action. We’ll help you get started with a detailed action list that indicates whether you’re meeting your goals and helps hold you and others accountable.
Just like estate planning, it’s never too early to begin your business succession planning. Starting early will give you more runway – more time, options, and opportunities. While your plan might change over the course of time, it’s always a good idea to have an initial plan in place. If you want to know more about the steps in business succession planning, we can walk you through them to make the process less overwhelming and more empowering. Give us a call today for a complimentary consultation.
Read our book: It’s A Journey – The MUST-HAVE Roadmap for Successful Succession Planning. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.
Elizabeth Ledoux is a co-author of the award-winning It’s A Journey: The MUST-HAVE Roadmap to Successful Succession Planning, as well as Accelerate Your Entrepreneurial Flight and Understanding the Growth of the Entrepreneur. She frequently speaks to organizations and business owners about challenges and opportunities in private and family business transitions, business and individual growth, and the business succession journey.
