Business Transitions Letter

The Current Business Transitions Letter

The primary obligation of owners of a business is to provide the direction or the strategic plan for the business – to set the goals, provide for the execution of action plans, and accomplish the goals of the business. Where more than one person owns the business, there will be conflict among the owners unless there is a good conversation among the owners about the goals, and, for the most efficient communication, the goals and the plan should be in writing (the strategic plan).

This process starts with a good conversation. A good conversation is where the participants share their points of view by articulating values-based thinking about the business and listening to what other participants say. Values-based thinking and articulation is an accurate reflection of the participant's thoughtful review of that participant's personal values as applied to the business. Most owners will be only vaguely aware of the standards and concerns that compose their personal value systems. Most unthinkingly embrace an array of normative standards to which they assume most caring and intelligent people adhere. Few have consciously attempted to resolve the tension that inevitably arises when those standards and concerns conflict. If a participant’s value system is to serve effectively as the framework for the formulation of a conversation, the participant must first clarify and prioritize its components.

To bring clarity and order to the owner’s personal value system, the owner should reflect on the circumstances and experiences that have informed and shaped the owner’s hopes, fears, and perspectives. The product of this reflection should be memorialized in writing. The writing should be reviewed and altered from time to time to reflect changing circumstances and perspectives. Applying this definition of personal values to the planning of the business will create an awareness and will foster an articulation of how personal values apply to the business. Where this articulation occurs there is no posturing, spinning, or manipulation; rather there is a direct communication of the participant's thinking.

In my experience with businesses with multiple owners, often planning does not occur because the owners cannot have this kind of good conversation. There may be issues of trust or credibility. Sometimes an owner does not wish to think about core personal values as they relate to the business, and, for that reason, cannot engage in a good conversation. Most of the time owners are capable of having good conversations that lead to effective planning, but they must learn the skill of having these conversations and have not given that necessity much thought.

The skill of having a good conversation about planning includes abilities to anticipate an important conversation and prepare for it, to listen patiently to all the other owner has to say, to have defined personal values so that the articulation of these values can be done effectively when it is that owner's turn to speak, and to control emotions so that inflammatory messages, often involving assumptions or fault statements, are not sent. If, as a business owner you do not have these abilities, you should make every effort to acquire them.

The result of a good conversation is often a resolution of the conflicts that exist in the personal values of the owners. If these conflicts are not resolved in planning, they will cause conflicts at a later time when the manifestation of the conflict will have much more serious consequences.