Succession Planning

The most difficult time of form a succession plan is when it is most needed: the unforeseen loss of a key family business member.

Failure to plan and manage succession is one of the greatest threats to your family business.

Family-owned businesses make up 80% to 90% of all businesses in the US yet less than 35% have survived the transition to the second generation and a paltry 12% to the third (J.H. Astrachan and M.C. Shanker, "Family Businesses' Contribution to the U.S. Economy: A Closer Look" September 2003). While lack of a succession plan can destroy an otherwise vibrant business, a well-managed succession process revitalizes and builds your business.

Silence is more dangerous than death and taxes
Many families find succession planning distasteful and avoid the topic all together. After all, who wants to think about death and taxes? Unfortunately, this silence does not prevent family members from forming expectations about distribution rights, leadership, and rights to ownership. Nor does this silence help you make critical decisions for the health of your company. For many family businesses, not talking about succession simply sows the seeds of litigation.

Dodging the "succession issue" is just not possible: if you don't do it, lawyers will.

Galliard can help you create a success plans that reach far beyond death and taxes, into a strategic planning process that creates a brighter future for both the current CEO and the business as a whole.

Galliard consultants can take you through simple planning exercises that help CEO's create fulfilling personal plans, estate plans for you and your spouse's financial security, and leadership development plans that ensure effective management of the business far into the future.

Just like your strategic business plan, marketing plan or financial plan, a succession plan is an essential tool to chart the best course of action now and into the future. Putting a succession plan in place today will help you negotiate the problems that are inherent to governing a family business over time.

Start Today
Call Galliard now at (208) 433-9353 for a no-obligation discussion or send us an email and tell us when it is convenient to contact you.