Someday we all will have to face transition in our business life- to everything there is eventually an ending. The big difference in determining if you will call your business transition a success when it comes is the degree that you have anticipated and planned for this major life event. So you may well ask: what will constitute”success”?

Most of us instinctively answer with what we can easily see as “Being Important”. Success for the seller is getting the greatest amount of money out of the deal. It is good tax planning to maximize how much you keep out of the taxman’s hands. It is finding a buyer who resonates with your business vision and investment philosophy. It is selling to someone who will take care of your clients with a much care as you do; who will take honor the fears and dreams of your staff during this period of uncertainty and upheaval. All of these factors are how we usually define “success” in our business transition.

But there is something much deeper and more personal that will really measure the success of your business ownership transition and that is how you react to your transition opportunity. Speaking as an engineering type (back before I became a financial planner), I know how tough it is for most of us to acknowledge that our emotions can play a major part in our rational numbers-driven lives. We’re good at numbers, facts and rational thinking- that’s why we’re good financial planners.

But the ticking time bomb in any transition is how well you deal with the powerful emotions that will be generated. As William Bridges says in his book The Way of Transition, “Transition is not just a nice way to say change. It is the inner process through which people come to terms with a change, as they let go of the way things used to be and reorient themselves to the way that things are now.”

How well do you understand and deal with the difference between “changes” and “transitions” in your life? Change happens all the time; it is the only constant factor in nature. When we do have to accept that change has happened, we rush to find something else to replace it, to fill the void and take the place of what we are missing. Instead what we should do is recognize that “letting go” is the first step in the process. We need to fully experience the disenchantment, disorientation and disengagement that will occur and then at the right time, give ourselves permission to go into a “time out” phase. We need, as A. A. Milne puts it in his children’s poem “Halfway down the Stairs”, to go sit for a while and just listen.

When you starting thinking about selling your business, remember to leave space & time to honor your transition process. Don’t rush off to start a new future. Letting go of the past comes first, then pause to “sit on the half-way stair”. Sure you need to do the “Important” stuff – but don’t forget to take care of yourself in the transition process.

Posted in Triage Stories, Uncategorized

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