Succession Conversation Guides
Guidance for tough family business conversations.
How do you talk about succession? In our work, we’ve found that the family businesses who fail in transition do so because they’ve never mastered the art of communication. These conversation guides help owners and successors work through the most challenging conversations surrounding succession. In the end, clear communication becomes the foundation of a smooth transition.
For family businesses that are short on time or resources, a conversation guide is your solution for immediate help with a difficult conversation. Guides cover Succession Alignment, The Owner’s Decision, The Successor’s Decision, Performance Management, and Exiting the Business. Confidently navigate the toughest family business conversations with advice to course-correct if things don’t go as planned.
Guides For Outgoing Leaders
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Are you at the start of your succession journey?
This guide walks you through the initial exploratory conversation that needs to occur between the outgoing leader and the intended successor.
It covers:
Gauging interest in the business.
Authentically discussing in a way that strengthens the relationship.
Foundation Conversation
Owner’s Decision
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Even the cleanest approaches to transition can get messy as soon as a new successor is announced.
In this guide, we help outgoing leaders tactfully communicate the succession decision in a way that helps both the successor and your employees steer clear of troublesome ambiguity.
It addresses:
Typical resistance and how to address it
Instilling a sense of confidence in stakeholders who may be concerned
What new role(s), if any, will the owner/ outgoing leader now assume
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Successors know they have big shoes to fill, especially when their skills & expertise differ from that of the outgoing leader.
This guide will help you clarify and plan for a gradual transition in which the outgoing leader helps the successor “ease in” to his or her position.
It helps navigate:
How to establish clear authority structures
What to do if additional expertise is required
When to hand over full control to the successor
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Not everyone is up to the task of senior leadership.
In this guide, we help the outgoing leader gracefully communicate this to your intended successor without hurting them or their continued ability to contribute to the family business.
It helps navigate:
Dealing with the negativity of rejection
Protecting relationships between outgoing leader and rejected successor
Tactfully communicating the new change in direction to all involved.
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Sometimes, rejected successors have no choice but to leave the organization.
This guide will helps leaders wade through this complicated and painful scenario in a way that preserves the relationship and protects the company’s narrative story from negativity.
It helps with:
Preserving the relationship between the owner and departing employee.
Finding ways to provide support to the departed successor.
Co-creating a positive story around the succession decision.
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When the internal talent pool is exhausted, leaders have to turn outside.
In this guide, we help you learn how to communicate to employees—many of whom were passed over for the position—that an outsider will be coming in to take over the company.
It addresses:
Gauging rejected individuals’ feelings and their potential risk.
Defining roles for the incoming successor.
The best options for the rejected individual’s role going forward.
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Some family businesses are blessed with an embarrassment of potential successors.
This guide helps leaders narrow the field down to the most qualified candidate without alienating the rest.
It addresses:
How to objectively evaluate each candidate regardless of personal relationship
What to do about conflict between potential successors
Handling unqualified or under-qualified successors.
Performance Management
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Sometimes, two (or more) successors are better than one.
In this guide, we’ll help you clarify roles between incoming successors and ward off any hint of jealousy or infighting.
This guide addresses:
Discerning individual capabilities
Defining responsibilities for successors
Distinguishing innovative and traditional leadership approaches
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The best defense against underperformance is a carefully delineated set of standards and corrective actions.
In one of our most popular guides, you’ll learn how to forge consensus on those expectations through clear communication before, during, and after transition.
It addresses:
What to do when key stakeholders are unhappy with the successor.
How to correct flagging business performance
When to intervene and how
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For departing leaders, nothing is more difficult than watching a successor come in and execute a vision that runs counter to your own.
In this guide, we help owners and successors learn to come together in a way that protects the owner’s legacy without sacrificing necessary change.
It addresses:
How to flesh out the successors’ motivation for change
Ways to deal with the sensitivities surrounding the owner’s legacy
Determining the bounds of the successor’s creative freedom.
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Family business uniquely blurs the boundaries between home and work life.
In one of our most popular guides, we help owners and successors work together to find necessary balance.
It addresses:
Dealing with feelings of overwhelm from family overexposure.
Addressing intrusive behavior
Working together to create balance between work and personal lives.
Exiting the Business
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Succession may not always be the answer.
In this guide, we help leaders communicate with tact and empathy the difficult decision to either sell or close the family business.
This guide covers:
Dealing with the emotional impact of this decision on the family.
Addressing the potential impact on the family, workforce, and community.
Guides For Next Generation Leaders
Foundation Conversation
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Are you at the start of your succession journey?
This guide walks you through the initial exploratory conversation that needs to occur between the outgoing leader and the intended successor.
It covers:
Gauging interest in the business.
Authentically discussing in a way that strengthens the relationship.
Successor’s Decision
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It takes two to tango, and not every successor is eager to take the baton.
For unwilling successors who wish to remain with the company, it’s important that current leaders understand why they don’t want the top spot in order to take the next best step.
This guide will help you do just that. It addresses:
How to uncover your chosen successor’s motivations for rejecting the position
Ways to prepare your employees for leadership at a later date
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In some cases, successors will reject your offer and the company altogether.
In those scenarios, it’s crucial that owners understand the employee’s perspective and take appropriate corrective action if necessary.
This guide will steer you through those complex and contentious waters.
It addresses:
Discovering the true nature of a successor’s rejection
Maintaining a positive and healthy narrative around the transition
Proactively addressing any potential “scandal”
Performance Management
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Most successors will need significant coaching and support, especially in the early stages of transition.
In this guide, we’ll help incumbents discern successors' relative comfort levels and establish structures for ensuring they receive the support they need.
It addresses:
How to prepare successors to navigate informal communication channels
What successors can do to establish themselves as an authority
The reality of ‘imposter syndrome’ and how to combat it
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When owners linger too long into and beyond transition, they create a complicated and confusing scenario for successors.
This guide will help owners and successors develop expectations surrounding authority, decision-making, and the owner’s eventual departure.
It addresses:
What successors can do to let former leaders know their presence is creating problems
How successors can ensure the previous leader does not challenge their authority
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Research shows that those family businesses who survive into the second generation and beyond are those who’ve learned how to innovate their way through transition.
This guide will help owners and successors discern how best to weave innovation into the company’s culture.
It addresses:
Innovation and the company’s heritage
How to “fix” a business that isn’t broken
Creating and communicating a culture of innovation
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Family business uniquely blurs the boundaries between home and work life.
In one of our most popular guides, we help owners and successors work together to find necessary balance.
It addresses:
Dealing with feelings of overwhelm from family overexposure.
Addressing intrusive behavior
Working together to create balance between work and personal lives.
Exiting the Business
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Sometimes owners need a little help seeing the writing on the wall.
In this guide, we help stakeholders encourage owners to consider whether selling is the best option.
It addresses:
Evaluating the options
Weighing the owner’s wishes against those of the stakeholders
Preserving the relationship between both parties
Family Business Conversation Guides
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