When you start your own business, you hardly ever fast forward ahead to ask yourself: How do I transition my business to the next generation? And when the time is right, probably about 20-30 years down the road, most small business owners don’t have a clue as to the right way to go about handing the keys to the castle over to the new leaders…possibly leaders that you are related to…your children, the next generation.
Jack Mencini and Adam Sonnhalter, coaches with Maximum Value Partners (MVP) www.maximumvp.com and cohosts of the revered weekly radio show/podcast: Dirty Secrets of Small Business have found that with over 15 years of coaching small businesses, many of their clients usually approach this transition in one of three ways.
“You would be amazed that some owners we know said that their adult children could follow them around for about six months during the work days to get the hang of things and be ready to take over,” said Jack. “Adam and I call this the Osmosis Approach in that the owner believes that this next generation will breathe in the air around them and miraculously know what to do. It is a little like the old legend of sleeping with your text books before the big final and hoping that the knowledge on the pages would miraculously find its way into your brain. Everyone knows this doesn’t work and yet, the Osmosis Approach is alive and well, even though most folks know it doesn’t work well, when it comes to the young ‘uns successfully taking over running the business.”
The other factor in dealing with transition is called the Death Factor. Unfortunately, many owners feel that if they avoid the transition of power long enough, nature will take its course and they will die. When this happens, it won’t be their problem of how well their children are capable of keeping the business going successfully. This is not really a conscious choice, but we’ve heard some folks use the phrase “if” when talking about their eventual death vs. using the phrase “when”.
Maximum Value Partners feels that the third option is really the only one if you want a successful transition of your and that is the Planned Approach Factor.
In their 15 plus years of coaching small businesses, Jack and Adam have a stellar record of providing insight, direction and good counsel in helping business owners plan for the day that they shake hands with the new leader, give a goodbye salute to their team and walk out the door knowing that the company is in good hands. They also know that from planning with MVP, they have taken the multitude of necessary steps, which include the 7 Keys to Success http://maximumvp.com/7-keys-to-success/ in preparing and working with the next generation over a period of time to share the knowledge and insights on all nuances of the business.
The answer to how to transition is knowing that planning, preparation and open communications with the new leaders to be and including the entire team at your business are critical to the profitability and success when the new leaders take over and the original owner is no longer on the scene.
For the entire overview on how to transition your business successfully to the next generation, including how to deal with situations where multiple children are involved, listen to the January 23rd podcast. Access all the Dirty Secrets of Small Business podcasts on iTunes or at http://maximumvp.com/dirty-secrets-small-business-radio-show-podcast/
Do you have any How Questions of your own to email to Jack and Adam? Do it by sending your questions to radio@maximumvp.com or submit a question on their website at http://maximumvp.com/how/.
If you have a success story or a question you would like to share, email or call (radio@maximumvp.com or 877-849-0670). You can also call in during the show each week at noon (EST) – 1:00 pm on WINT 1330 AM, call 440-946-9468 to ask your question to the Maximum Value Partners’ coaches!
The post How do I transition my business to the next generation? appeared first on Maximum Value Partners.
The post How do I transition my business to the next generation? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.
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