A Strategic Thinking Coach focuses on bringing new perspectives to clients. With an understanding and appreciation of the past, the strategic thinking business coach helps shape the future of the client and his or her respective business. Strategic thinkers are always looking at opportunities and challenges from a long-term point of view. We know the future does not just happen. The future can be and must be built with a plan and this is especially true regarding succession planning.

Many business people detest thinking about succession planning, let alone actually doing succession planning. It becomes another one of those items to be done “tomorrow.” The enormous risk in putting this off is that without a succession plan in place, the continuity of the business and its future direction could be totally lost. And it is important to impress upon you that succession planning is needed earlier in your life of your business, not later.

So let’s hear it out there. Do you or don’t you have a succession plan? And if you do, is it written down somewhere so it can be found? Or is it in your mind and no one else has any idea of what your succession plan looks like or where to find it? And if you cannot find it do you know what to do?

In many instances, people have great difficulty in handing over the controls of their business and it is very painful to do so. However, if you use good solid strategic thinking and planning you can develop a well designed succession plan. Time after time I see and read about an owner getting very sick, injured, dying or plain “burned out” without any system in place to see that the business continues and the owner’s family is taken care of in the future.

Based upon my recent readings and my business coaching practice experiences, there is some solid advice available for what to do for your succession planning. Here are my eight (8) strongest recommended actions to take if you do not have or cannot find your succession plan.

Action #1: Start now, not later, to think about and begin your succession planning.

Action #2: Develop a clearly focused vision of your goals for succession planning.

Action #3: Seek guidance from someone skilled in the succession planning process.

Action #4: Gain a clear understanding that great tax planning and great succession planning have different focuses. Tax planning focuses on the financial and succession planning focuses on the future ownership and leadership of the business.

Action #5: Develop alternate scenarios for the ownership succession transitions and rank the scenarios based upon your vision, goals and other preferences and constraints.

Action #6: Develop a business plan with the selected succession scenario.

Action # 7: Consult with an outside advisory firm with a strong reputation and solid experience with succession plans.

Action #8: Inform your family, management team and employees that a succession plan exists and share whatever level of information about the plan that is appropriate.

Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, “Glenn’s Guiding Lines – Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach” and has published more than 225 articles on business.