Family Business Matters       01/07 05:22

   Succession for the New Year

   Form new habits and toss out old ones to help with management transition. 

Lance Woodbury
DTN Farm Business Adviser

   Understanding how habits are formed gives us the power to change our lives 
for the better. By implementing new behaviors and shedding bad habits, we can 
improve our health, our relationships and even our family businesses.

   In the last few years, several best-selling books have been published about 
habits and habit formation. Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit," James 
Clear's "Atomic Habits" and BJ Fogg's "Tiny Habits" are some of the most 
popular.

   The authors all suggest there are at least three common elements in habit 
formation. The first element is a cue or anchor, something that triggers the 
second element, which is a behavior or routine. The third element is a reward. 
For example, your phone dings (a cue), you pick it up (a behavior) and your 
reward is the brief feeling of excitement a new message generates. A bad habit 
might be alcohol abuse. The cues might be stress or certain social 
environments, the behavior is drinking and the reward is a short-term feeling 
of intoxication.

   If you hope to develop good habits, you should plug in a new routine or 
behavior after a current cue, then find a way to reward yourself immediately 
for the good habit. All of the authors encourage you to start small, as minor 
habits compound to result in major changes over time.

   These books made me wonder if the science of habit formation can be applied 
to family business succession, a notoriously difficult process to navigate. If 
you make little changes to how or what you communicate, can those habits 
compound to make the succession process go more smoothly? Consider the 
following simple ideas and whether you could adopt some new behaviors to help 
the family business in transition.

   BETTER COMMUNICATION

   Every family business struggles with communication. What if each family 
member in the business, when he or she pours coffee in the morning (cue), sends 
a group text message with the top three things on their to-do list that day 
(behavior).

   The reward could be a dollar allocated daily to each person who 
participates, with the payout at the end of the month. The longer-term benefit 
will be a sense that everyone has a better feel for what is happening in the 
business and less guilt that you are not having more meetings.

   FASTER KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

   Another challenge in a family business is helping the younger generation 
become acquainted with key landowners and advisers. What if every time the 
senior leader of the business emails, texts or receives a message (the cue) 
from a landowner, the lender, the accountant or the attorney, the leader simply 
copies or adds a member of the next generation on their message (behavior)? The 
reward could be a tally mark on your list of key business relationships. 
Multiple tallies will generate and sustain a feeling of accomplishment, and 
provide a sense that you are making a true handoff.

   STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS

   Family members working together often take each other for granted and can 
feel unappreciated. What if every evening at dinner (cue), you say or make note 
of one thing you appreciate about a family member that day (behavior)? 
Verbalizing your appreciation for a loved one will generate a good feeling and 
introduce a positive tone for the rest of the evening. Over time, it will 
result in more confidence about the pending transition.

   Forming new habits is hard, but a benefit of working in a family business is 
the support you get from family members. Try introducing some small, new 
behaviors that will advance your succession goals for the coming year.

   **

   Write Lance Woodbury at Family Business Matters, 2204 Lakeshore Dr., Suite 
415, Birmingham, AL 35209, or email lance.woodbury@kcoe.com.




(c) Copyright 2021 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.