For Santiago Solis, the question of culture is all important in working with family-owned businesses.

The AltoPartner’s member in Colombia has been part of two succession planning exercises - one with a large financial services group, which is a second-generation family-owned-business and one with a 120-year-old company with fifth-generation family leadership.

However old the company is though, he says a succession process should begin with the company’s board, building a profile of the organisation’s culture.

“Culture is important - you need information on experiences, competencies, personal traits, and cultural affinity. The family is responsible for the continuity of the culture of the company. And if you’re going to have somebody running the company who is not part of the family, you have to make sure that that person really understands the culture of the organisation to keep it going on,” he says.

The culture of a country is also important. He says companies he works with usually find the person they want in Colombia (as opposed to internationally) - or they find a Colombian who has worked abroad. “People from other places take time to adjust to how the country works.”

In common with other AltoPartners experts, he says it’s important to understand that succession planning takes time and patience. In Colombia, he says, many organisations do not put in the time. “The only companies in Colombia that are really implementing plans like these are the large family-owned organisations; medium-sized organisations don’t have this going on.”

In that scenario, he says he’s seen many organisations lose their CEO and then spend months searching for a replacement. In fact, he says, succession planning must be done to replace the current CEO - and CEOs down the line.

In addition to culture, courage is important. “I have seen this process fail many times if the founder is not ready to hand over to someone new. The CEO needs to be ready to change - after all, they are going into a situation of shared leadership.”

In his role as executive coach he says: “You need to give courage to the former CEO to let go, to let the new person do their job.”

He speaks from personal experience. Solis’s company is itself a family-owned business, of which he was the founder. And yes, they do have a succession plan and he is no longer the manager.

Santiago Solis Arias, Partner at Executive Connection S.A.S / AltoPartners Colombia and AltoPartners Global Operating Committee Member

READ AltoPartners White Paper on succession planning in family-owned businesses