Consultancy expertise in the Munich region
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
TEAM DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SUCCESSION FAMILY BUSINESS
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SABINE WALTER
Full-blooded entrepreneur - experienced manager - executive coach
authentic - clear - humorous - structuring - strategic
We advise family businesses in the SME sector.
CONSULTING EXPERTISE
IN THE MIDDLE STATE
- Construction industry
- Kitchen and building technology
- Management Consultancy
- Trade
- Pharmaceuticals and orthopaedic technology
bwp Burggraf + Weber, Munich
Sabine Walter has been overseeing a generational change in our company for three years now. She does this with the highest level of expertise, clear objectives and consistent implementation. I am very pleased that I decided to give her this mandate. Without her support, we would certainly not be where we are today. She always justifies the trust I place in her.
Hansjörg Burggraf, Managing Partner
Blanc & Fischer Group, Oberderdingen
Cultural transformation, executive coaching
Read one aspect of our advisory services in the article "Leadership culture in transition".
POHLIG GmbH, Traunstein
Agile transformation, employee and leadership development, executive coaching
Mediaprint Group, Mering
Trusted sparring partner and executive coach for the management in the context of a strategic reorganisation of a business unit.
Personality development
Coaching and counselling for managing directors, young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs
- Dissolving blocking beliefs and personality patterns
- Further development of leadership skills
- Expanding the power of persuasion
- Development of clear and authentic communication
- Strengthening personal effectiveness
Team development
Development of management teams, committees, project and employee teams
- Strengthening a trusting relationship
- Skills development as part of training programmes
- Advice on team structures, roles and responsibilities
- Conflict resolution
- Strengthening team effectiveness
Organisational development
Reorientation of family businesses in line with their affiliation
- Support for generational changes
- Supporting change and transformation
- Advice and support for reorganisation processes
- Strengthening the culture of trust
- Further development of the management culture
Succession planning in family businesses
CLARIFICATION OF THE
SUCCESSION PLANNING
- Would the young entrepreneurs like to take over?
- Do the parents' generation trust their children to succeed them?
- When should the process begin?
- When must it be completed at the latest?
DEVELOPMENT OF A
TRANSFER PLANS
- How can the handover be organised in the aforementioned framework conditions?
- Which milestones define the process?
- How are the interests of all stakeholders reflected in the process?
ACCOMPANIMENT OF THE
HANDOVER PROCESS
- How is a trustworthy handover guaranteed?
- What needs to change in the company so that it fits the new generation?
- What does it take for young entrepreneurs to find their feet in their new role?
CONFLICT RESOLUTION &
COMMUNICATION
- Which fears come to light and need to be resolved?
- What conflicts arise and how can they be resolved?
- What communication is needed throughout the process?
Sabine Walter
As an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs
Transferring a family business from one generation of parents to the next brings with it many challenges - for the parents, for the children, for the roles and relationships that have developed in the family system, for the company, its employees and its business partners.
As a management consultant, I have specialised in supporting medium-sized family businesses in precisely such processes.
Arrange an initial consultationFrequently asked questions from family entrepreneurs
1 | Clarification of the succession plan
How do we ensure that we make the right decision by handing over the company to the children?
In order to be able to answer this question independently of children and parents, I first of all hold bilateral discussions with the entrepreneur and the young entrepreneurs.
Individual dialogue with young entrepreneurs
- Do I really want to continue the family business?
- What skills do I need for this?
- What would I do if there was no family business?
Individual dialogue with parents
- Do I trust my child/children to run the company?
- Am I ready to let go?
- What are the alternatives if my children decide not to take over the family business?
After these individual discussions, we hold a joint meeting to formulate a clear decision as to whether you as parents and children want to go down this joint path of handing over the business and what it takes for you to go down this path in confidence.
When should we start succession planning?
There is no general answer to this question. If the young entrepreneurs are not yet working in the company, my recommendation is to plan for at least 5 years before the parents' generation finally leaves the company.
What skills do I need to continue our family business?
Managing a company requires a broad range of skills.
When supporting entrepreneurial families in succession processes, I experience that a large focus is placed on learning specialist skills.
My experience is that in our current times, personality, leadership skills, the ability to communicate convincingly and moderate different opinions as well as digital and IT skills play a greater role than specialist expertise in most industries.
How do we ensure that the expertise of the parents' generation is not lost when they leave?
Ensuring this transfer of expertise is an element of a handover plan and the multi-year handover process.
In doing so, we also consider which part of this expertise is already available elsewhere in the company or which expertise may play a subordinate role in the future due to changes in the business environment, technology, structures and processes.
2 | Development of a handover plan
How long does such a handover process take?
There is no universal answer to this question. For the companies I support, the process usually takes 5 years.
What is the best role for my son/daughter to take on in the company?
This question is discussed extensively, and sometimes controversially, at the beginning of the process. Two questions should be answered before a decision is made:
- What does it take for young entrepreneurs to be accepted by the workforce in their future role as managing directors?
- In what role or context can young female entrepreneurs demonstrate that they have entrepreneurial competence, strategic foresight and leadership expertise?
How can I ensure that I am accepted by the workforce as the new boss?
Acceptance arises when the workforce trusts. Trust is based on two factors: competence and character. Since in many cases competences still need to be built up, the focus is increasingly on character at the beginning.
- How authentic is your demeanour?
- How honest and honest are you?
- How attentively do you listen?
- What questions do you ask?
- How convincingly do you convey your ideas and thoughts?
You can (further) develop aspects of this before you join the family business.
How will my role as a "former managing director" change?
In the course of the handover, your role will evolve from decision-maker to mentor. Three behaviours help with this role change:
- Ask targeted, open questions
- Attentive listening
- Provide constructive and regular feedback
3 | Supporting the handover process
The process of letting go, accepting and reshaping confronts everyone involved with themselves, their values, worries and fears. This makes it all the more important to have an experienced counsellor accompany you through this process.
When is a good time to change the company so that it suits me as a young entrepreneur?
It is not uncommon for the next generation of entrepreneurs to have different ideas about how the company should be managed than the parents' generation. The process of generational change is therefore often associated with a strategic and organisational realignment of the company.
In addition, a different personality will take over the management of the company and therefore requires different structures.
Questions I can advise you on are, for example
- How up-to-date is the management culture? What needs to be changed to enable modern leadership?
- What values characterise the corporate culture? To what extent does it suit the generation of young entrepreneurs?
- How up-to-date is the organisation of the family business? Which systems, structures and processes need to be changed in order to make the organisation fit for the future?
How can I ensure that my ideas are heard by my parents' generation?
Whether ideas and suggestions are heard and supported or implemented in the second step depends on various factors. The following key questions will help you to put your ideas into convincing words:
- What entrepreneurial goal does this idea contribute to?
- Why is it important to realise this idea?
- What happens if the idea is not realised?
- Why is it important to approach the topic at this point in time?
- What are the basic design options for your idea and why did you decide in favour of the path you are proposing?
How can I best support my children as they grow into their new role?
In my opinion, the three most important things you can give your children when you are about to take over the family business are: Love, trust and the freedom to be themselves.
Specifically, you can do the following:
- Explain how you prepare decisions
- Introduce your children to customers and business partners
- Speak with one voice in the company
- Resolve existing conflicts within the company before your children start working there
- Have an external coach or mentor accompany the development of your children
How much should we involve employees in the further development of the company?
The generational change in family businesses is a drastic change for everyone, including the employees. This makes it all the more important to utilise the power inherent in such a change to strengthen the company's competitiveness.
Employees have ideas. One way of giving these ideas space is to organise a future workshop.
4 | Conflict resolution and communication
How do we get through the process without damage?
It is not uncommon for both sides to want to throw in the towel in the middle of the process.
The reasons for this are various fears, too little space for communication away from the day-to-day business and a mixture of different roles (parent-child with entrepreneurial roles), which bring existing conflicts and personality patterns to light.
The handover process of a family business is successful if both the young generation of entrepreneurs and the parents' generation are prepared to develop further. It is important that emerging conflicts and fears are recognised and addressed in good time in the hope of finding a solution.
I see it as part of my role to create spaces for you to reflect, to open up shared communication spaces or to accompany your further development as part of regular personal coaching sessions.
How do we manage to separate family and work?
The separation of family relationships and roles from professional interaction is one of the most challenging aspects of the succession process. It affects two areas: professional togetherness and private togetherness.
At this point, I am only looking at the profession. It is crucial that there is transparency, especially in conflict situations, as to which role is being spoken from and which of the relationship levels may be part of the conflict.
The more the parent and child generation succeed in releasing personal trigger points and blocking beliefs and restrictive personality patterns, the lower the risk of the different levels and roles overlapping.
How do you manage to put up with different opinions and make joint decisions?
The opportunity of an orderly handover process in family businesses also lies in developing the company further and making it the company with which the young generation of entrepreneurs identifies.
The challenge of this design process is to perceive different experiences as enriching, to express different opinions and to listen to them without judgement in order to then make a decision that serves the company.
In practical terms, this design process is full of conflicts. These need to be recognised, addressed and resolved. I also see this as part of my process support.
How do we deal with the situation when we realise in the middle of the handover process that an internal family succession is not an option after all?
Should the situation make it necessary to end the family succession process after all, you can limit the damage for all parties involved if this separation process is also structured and accompanied by an experienced advisor.
- Why do you want to end the process?
- What can an orderly handover to another successor look like?
- What does the communication surrounding this change of successor look like?
- What does it take to avert personal or family harm?
There are many questions that need to be clarified. It is therefore all the more important that there is sufficient time for this and that doubts about the family succession are addressed at an early stage. The sooner these can be dispelled or the necessary decisions can be made, the better.
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Entrepreneurs in dialogue
Hansjörg Burggraf and Alexander Weber talk business
Hansjörg Burggraf and Alexander Weber are managing partners of bwp Weber + Burggraf, Beratende Ingenieure GmbH, based in Munich. Sabine Walter met them both for an interview.
Entrepreneurial talk with Sabine Walter
"Why not interview the woman who initiated this format?" thought Tomislav Bodrozic, Managing Director of Fabula Games GmbH, during his entrepreneurial talk. He thus gave Sabine Walter the chance for a change of perspective.
Entrepreneurial talk with Peter Haberl
"Transformations only succeed when managers and entrepreneurs are not afraid of the dent," says Peter Haberl, Managing Director of SSE Software GmbH in Augsburg. In an interview with Sabine Walter, the experienced manager talks about his way of leading and shaping, about what drives him.