2. Continue your business legacy with the right people
Who will be the steward of the business that has for so long been an extension of your own identity? Critical to the future success of any business is the quality and commitment of the people involved in management and ownership. The candidates you select should meet a number of qualifications including like-minded attitude, industry knowledge, management experience, innovative thinking, team-building, and overall potential as a leader.
Planning with your best people in mind provides a host of benefits:

  • Bench strength. Valuable corporate memory is preserved by grooming talent and keeping them in reserve.
  • Better career development. Proactive career development compels an employee to go the extra mile when they have a path for growth and success.
  • Time savings. Taking advantage of market opportunities requires the right people – right now.
  • Cost savings. Finding and hiring new employees is expensive in today’s competitive talent environment.

3. Create long-term career opportunities for family members
Your family members and key employees have career and compensation aspirations that should be addressed. Family members will need to make a living and find a career they enjoy whether or not they join the family business. It is important to be clear on the opportunities that exist and those opportunities that don’t exist. Family participation in the business should have ground rules for compensation, advancement, reporting structures, leadership, and should also include policies for those family members working outside of the family business.


Your business will take care of you, if you take care of it,
by setting it up to succeed when you leave.

You need to lay the groundwork if you want your offspring to consider the family business as a career. Communicate the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities that lie ahead, as well as the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Joining the family business is an option and privilege with its own set of rewards and limitations. A family member’s potential contribution to the business should be the most important consideration: ask not what your family business can do for you, but what you can do for your family business.

 

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