Expert Responses

I think we need to make the distinction between the succession planning process and putting in place a succession plan. The question about barriers to the succession planning process suggest to me the decision to plan for some form of succession has already been made; whereas perhaps 'What are the barriers to the implementation of a Succession Plan? would elicit a different set of answers.

However, whichever question it is, the basic question to first ask is 'Succession to What'?

Is it succession to management and or ownership, or is it succession to power, control and relationships or the more tangible issues like suppliers, customers, employees. Succession to management of a family business is relatively easy, whereas succession to ownership often causes the real issues.If we take the generic question as posed,' What are the barriers to the Succession Process, I would say first and foremost; the biggest barrier is not understanding the complexity of the process and not understanding the very nature of 'process'.

I also think having a full understanding of the expectations of all the key individuals is important assuming there is a number of family generations involved in the process and also keeping the process transparent. Having an unrealistic view of the timeframe could also be a barrier; as would underestimating the difficulty of 'giving up' position, power and control.

If you couple this with the technical, financial and legal issues involved in any transfer from one generation to the next, one begins to understand that there are many barriers to the process that have to be explored and understood before real progress can be made.