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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