Succession and continuity in family business requires strategic planning. Most family businesses start with an entrepreneur and an idea. Your business tends to develop in reaction to the day to day demands of providing your products and services to clients in a competitive, ever changing environment. The resulting business structure can result in a management mode of putting out fires, i.e. being reactive. This may be successful in the short term but such management soon “burns out” the managers and can well take the family business down.

Furthermore, often there is resistance to strategic planning in family businesses. A history of success associated with certain people doing certain things can be compelling. However, there are real and unavoidable limits to non-strategic management. People tire, quit or pass on. Being ready with a plan may not always be comfortable but wisdom calls for exactly that readiness.

Aspen Partners and Associates bring strategic succession and continuity planning to your business. Instead of being reactive, together we help you shift to a proactive mode. This relegates reactivity to its place as what we do when events outside our risk planning intrude into our business activities.

Aspen’s experience brings you a human way to move toward succession and continuity planning. We help with mapping out current business activity and with you build a process of moving to a clear, objective plan for taking your management beyond its current state. This will include lining up future family business leadership from among family members or from outsiders. Your succession and continuity plans will be based on your family’s vision and values.