This is Part 2 of a series of posts on closely held businesses and transition issues.

If you’re the founder:

• Create a formalized plan for the company, and include your potential successor in the process (if they’re coming from inside your business.) You will have the opportunity to incorporate your years of knowledge into the plan, and will be able to define specific steps to prepare the new leaders and yourself for the transition.
  
• If you will be selling your company, create a plan that determines the steps of marketing the business, your wants re: exit timeline and level of involvement after the sale. Consult with your attorney and your accountant – they can be valuable resources on the topics of estate planning BEFORE you finalize your plan.
  
• Develop the key staff that will be running the company once you’re gone (if you’ve decided not to sell it to an outside party.) This might include coaching and/or training, or might consist of special projects that develop their skills in new and/or broader areas.
  
• Start determining what your life after work is going to look like. I know a founder of a business who said she wanted to retire, but who kept pushing the date back. It was hard for her to turn her “baby” over into the hands of someone else, and to compound issues, she didn’t have outside plans pulling her away from daily business issues.
  

If you’re the heir apparent:

• Absorb as much information as you can from the founder. Even if you heartily disagree with their style of leadership, or even with their strategic direction, you can benefit from what worked well for them all these years.
  
• Give yourself an observation period once you’re in the top block on the org chart so you can evaluate the business from an all-encompassing perspective before you act. Take your time implementing sweeping changes. You might be surprised at how different the business will look to you.
  
• Incorporate goal planning into your leadership methodology. Beyond its value to prevent you from wasting energy on impulses or projects du jour, goal plans can be effective tools to communicate your intentions with your staff, and/or with the founder (if the transition has them continuing some limited involvement.) Buy-in is greater (and they take more action) when they understand your intentions, and it’s even greater than that when they have a say in the planning.
  
• Engage a developmental coach. If you want to speed up your ramp-up time work with a neutral outside party who will help you with more than transactional issues. They can help you leverage your strengths to transform into the leader you have the potential to become.
  
• Connect with other leaders. You might join a Mastermind Group, a Vistage group or Young Presidents’ Organization where you can continue to learn among a group of non-competing peers. Or consider forming an advisory board of business leaders with whom you can test ideas and be accountable for results, and from whom you can receive input.