Preparing your business for growth or sale is a multi-step process designed with one goal in mind – maximizing the value of your business at exit. Even if you’re not wanting to sell your business now, it’s important to create a business that is “built to sell.” Business owners leave a lot to chance and will not get the most value out of their business if they’re not ready for prime time.

Your best approach to adding value in your business is to gradually implement key changes to your business to maximize its value. Basically, anything that increases transparency, efficiency, revenue or profitability, or decreases risk or costs, should be considered.

1. Set some time away from the day-to-day.
2. Start early…(now!)
3. Bring your family and key team members into the process.
   More here on the process of gathering data
   • People. Increase the value of your business through partnerships with your family, key team
   • Process. Identify, document, and streamline your systems and processes, and support with the team and end in mind
   • Leadership. Develop the talent for key leadership positions with the right people to ensure continuity
   • Sustainability. Drive and maximize the value of your business.
   • Legacy. Preserve your legacy.
4. Partner with the right experts.
5. Don’t stop once the planning is done.

A Model for Succession Planning for your Business

What is the state of your succession plan?

If you have a blank look when asked this question then you are not alone. 65 percent of you have had a 55th birthday on or before 2021 but only 12% of you have that plan.

Why?

Is it because you don’t know where to start, or you don’t know who to ask?

If there was a planned approach, a proven model that will allow you to take the chaos out of your succession, to allow you to have a plan and allow you to be control rather then having to leave things to chance when a calamity arises, would you consider it?

The fact that succession planning is usually unspoken and that there is really, very little focussed thinking about this other than on the late night drives back from the field, doesn’t get around the fact that your large, well planned, well run and expanding business also needs an innovative, comprehensive, systematic, and dedicated series of planning activities to develop this part of your business.

We’re not getting any younger, but we can start now and take a different look at things.

It is time to think about succession from the standpoint that the founder-owners of businesses who have earned a retirement plan. As with everything, help from qualified and trusted advisors will set you up for success. Although there seems to be a tremendous growth of consulting services throughout the country, there doesn’t seem to be a complete focus on the overall succession from a business approach. Plans might arise from conversations with another specialty like accounting or law firms which may not have the complete business perspective.

A team-based consultative approach will allow you to see your business through a variety of lenses. Clarity for the future of your business is the only goal of this approach. You will be invigorated as your interests, your thoughts and hopes for succession will be brought forward. Your values, your vision, mission, and goals will be clearly defined and everyone will know of the succession path your business will take. The creation of your succession plan will reduce the risk of an unknown event causing havoc in your future.

It is important to provide your legacy to the next and next-after-next generation to allow them to continue careers in your business. As the Founder, you must have engagement of all of the people integral to your business. They will be your investment into the future.

A succession plan doesn’t have to be complicated and shouldn’t take long to develop. This is the development of the plan. Implementation, or those bits of work to line up your business to prepare for a success, could, and maybe should, take months, if not years. Your business is complex and you want a thoughtful approach to change. This will take time.

For this succession planning process to be most impactful, you will set a limited number of focused priorities encompassing business effectiveness and succession.

A team of qualified and trusted advisors will help by applying the tools and techniques to formulation your recommendations for the positive outcomes of your business succession. Throughout the process, you will gain insights on developing people, improving processes, and increasing your team’s leadership capacity so that their business can grow and thrive.

If you would like to “take care of the company so that it takes care of you” we couldn’t agree more! We can use this as guiding principle when cultivating, nurturing, and fulfilling your vision in sustaining a positive legacy.

By applying a well-defined and proven process, we help our clients design a plan that takes a whole-system approach that identifies your key business elements. It is also concise and easy to communicate to your potential successors and your key advisors.

Doing the right things in a planned approach will increase the likelihood that your succession will be a success so that you can control and contribute to your own successful and rewarding outcome.

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Context

A BC-based, founder-led and family-owned cidery and farm to table restaurant was at an important junction — they had grown their business rapidly and needed to take the time to plan for next steps to ensure the long-term sustainability of their labour of love. SuccessionReady is the result of a partnership of three expert consulting companies: Wirk Consulting, Catalyst Strategies and Mandate Consulting. The founders brought in SuccessionReady to engage in their simple, effective, and real-world approach to succession planning for founder-owned businesses and to work alongside them and their family members to develop a Succession Plan for the future of their business — to grow and scale in a structured way, transition to the next generation with intention, and leave a legacy that endures.

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Approach

Reviewed relevant background information provided by client and conducted research to inform subsequent planning. Conducted interviews with key stakeholders including the founders, family members, and professional service providers. Facilitated a series of workshops with the founders and their family members to develop a Succession Plan Framework and accompanying Tactical Plan (in progress).

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Outcome

Clarity and a shared understanding about the future for the founders and their family members.
Input from professional service providers who will be integral in helping the founders implement their Succession Plan. A clear and effective Succession Plan Framework and accompanying Tactical Plan (in progress).

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FLEXIBILITY, INNOVATION AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Mandate Consulting has a number of resources that can be available to provide management consulting, project delivery and change management guidance. The coalition of partners within Mandate Consulting is very experienced; resources can be brought in to solve individual problems or deliver on key initiatives to address specific engagement needs. Ongoing and continuous learning and development is a hallmark of Mandate Consulting resources.

THE VALUE PROPOSITION

The key differentiator that Mandate Consulting brings is its service focus. To support clients independent from all other sales and service providers and to ensure the business needs of the clients are foremost in all of our efforts, is extremely important – There are no hidden agendas for additional sales of products. Mandate Consulting has had a rich history in assisting clients in the delivery of key business objectives and will continue to provide excellent guidance and project delivery in all engagements.

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MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Mandate Consulting has a number of resources that can be available to effective organizational management of change. Business transformation is a big deal. It is a large effort, it affects peoples’ lives, those of your staff, your customers and your management team.

Managing change must be planned.

Client: “YOU CAN RATE OUR CHANGES WHATEVER COLOUR YOU WANT BUT WE’RE ONLY SHOWING THE BOARD GREEN.”

But……What if your change readiness scorecard was like this? What would you do?

What should we do?

Business change impacts both staff and customers. Let us partner with you to build a plan to develop an understanding of the impacts of your business change, to initiate knowledge transfer plans for your team and manage the change from planning to implementation through to an effective and accepted transition to your new operation.

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