Succession communication
A planned process for informing the family, managers, employees, customers and banks about a generational change or a change at the top.
Succession in a family business is a legal, financial and personal decision, but it is also a communication process. It often runs into difficulty not in the documents but in the people: things left unsaid within the family, employee anxiety, a bank's doubts or gossip in the local community.
A sound succession communication plan begins with agreement within the family and then sets the order in which people are told: senior managers, employees, the wider circle. The most important relationships, with key customers and the bank, should be handed over in person, ideally at joint meetings of the founder and successor.
- a consistent message: what changes, what stays and why,
- visible, public support from the founder for the successor,
- a plan in case the news leaks early.
For owners and boards, this is a rare opportunity in a company's history: a moment that can be planned well ahead. Lawyers and advisers prepare the legal and financial side; the communication side deserves equally careful preparation.
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