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Running A Family Business? Here’s Why You Need A Succession Plan

Running a family business is a nice way to keep the family together. The business itself becomes addictive to everybody and all want to make sure that it succeeds. However there is always a leader in the group and eventually after a long time that leader is either going to pass away or step down. After years and decades with the same leader you need to plan a succession plan in order to ensure smooth transfer of leadership. Most families don’t want to think of this because they don’t see themselves as a corporate body, who is ready to dispose of anybody, so they are reluctant to plan for it. However there are good reasons why even in a family organization you need to have appropriate plans in place. These plans need to start well before hand, here’s why.

Clear Pathway

Having a succession plan in place means everybody in the organization is clear of what will be happening. If your leader is clear to everybody that he or she will be stepping down in the near future and has somebody in mind to take over then you can put any doubts away. The last thing you want in a family is uncertainty.

Customer Relationships

A lot of family run companies know that their customers are a valuable assets. These customers are willing to buy products from you because they know who the family are and they trust the person who is running it. If there is a sudden change they too would feel shocked. Any business valuers Melbourne would say that an abrupt change in leadership can cause instability in a business which could then be reflected onto the customers. So make sure that these customers know there somebody who is second in command or a familiar face that they can relate too.


For a long time the employees would have known how the business runs and would comfortable with it. Just like big corporations keeping your employees uninformed about what the succession plans are will create problems and could lead to less productivity and efficiency. There is a different business succession planning advice set when a new leader comes a long which can offset your employees.

Create an Outline

Make sure that everybody knows exactly what their role is in the company and have handbook in place for that specific role. So if there was any turnover during the new leadership the company can quickly train its new employees. If both, new leader and new employees have no clue what their roles are supposed to be this will hurt you in the long run.

Mixing business with family is tricky and even hard to manage. As a family you try your best to avoid any conflicts. That’s why having a succession plan in place makes things a lot easier because everybody from the beginning knows what they are joining and what it will look like in the future.

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