Dementia proofing for Businesses and Boards - Dr. Moira Somers, PhD. C.Psych

As a member of the Purposeful Planning Institute, I have access to an incredibly rich treasury of weekly webinars with thought leaders from across North America on a wide range of family business and family wealth transition related topics. Though I'm often not able to listen to the "live" version, members have access to recordings. Today I listened to a very valuable discussion on dementia proofing for business and boards. Our thought leader was Moira Summers. I will attempt to summarize her many profound and helpful thoughts and "Best Practices" based on her decades of work as an executive coach and neuro-psychologist. I hope I have captured the essence of her wisdom in the points below.

• Plan for succession with longevity challenges in mind. Family business transition advisors typically focus on succession planning related to new family members coming in to the business and the succession itself. But dementia can wreak havoc on a family business so it's important to get ahead of trouble well in advance by establishing protocols.
• In addition to subtle signs of memory loss (poor problem solving, attention deficits, spatial deficits, impaired reasoning, problems finding words) watch for other less subtle behaviours that start to occur (angry outbursts, hallucinations, agitation, paranoia and confusion).
• Early signs include memory difficulties that result in situations where business decisions are made and then forgotten. A prior decision then may be reversed in a subsequent meeting causing confusion, lost time, mistrust and a stalling of key company initiatives.
• If you are a business owner or board member it is important to be aware of these realities; you are likely NOT going to be immune to decline in cognitive functioning of the founder and senior members of the board. With increased lifespans and retirement dates being pushed out, this presents challenges for family owned businesses as cognitive decline will eventually show up somewhere and affect work performance and work relationships.
• Moira recommends a protocol of robust and early neuro-psychological testing to establish a base-line long before there are any issues (ideally in someone's 50s). If you wait too long, the individual experiencing cognitive decline will lose the insight that their declining capacity could pose problems for the business. A baseline done early on, along with protocols being put in place, provides a framework for difficult discussions and decisions to occur in a compassionate, proactive and reasoned way. Insist on follow-up cognitive competency testing - even in the absence of evidence of decline - at a minimum of every five years after age 70.
• Ensure there is access to enhanced health benefits for all employees to keep them healthy and push back the onset of dementia. This should include funding for psychology screening and neurological testing.
• Establish clear written agreements - ahead of time or when a diagnosis shows mental decline is in a mild stage - to set out protocols as to what will happen when... so that timely, rational and pre-emptive, albeit wrenching, steps can be taken.
• Where owners have had prior personal experience with such situations (e.g a parent, sibling, etc.) they are often keen to get protocols in place for their senior executive team and the board to support individuals in these key positions when major mental health or substance abuse challenges arise.
• Create detailed job descriptions for ALL positions in the company or board. Decline does not happen all at once, so it may be that in early stages the person may still be able to fulfill 85% of their job description. However, the other 15% of the job requirements that they can longer fulfill may be putting the business at risk. Detailed job descriptions are also helpful when moving any family member (say a younger family member) out of a position due to their inability to function capably for other than cognitive reasons.
• If the Chair of the board feels extreme loyalty to the founder who is no longer capable of functioning at the office, it may be extremely difficult to meet their fiduciary obligation to make the tough decisions that need to be made. Insist on rigorous feedback with objective markers to "speak truth to people in senior positions". Often external executive coaches or HR companies are brought in to assist.
• Board retreats can be a good opportunity to raise these concerns and establish protocols. Make part of the agenda a discussion around the risks of longevity in the overall succession plan. Make training and education available to the board so they are clear as to their duties re succession and other mental health, addiction or gambling issues that can imperil businesses.