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Succession in financial planning businesses done well
Helping you to get to grips with the hardest part of succession
Most financial planning practices put a lot of effort into succession. They focus on the ownership structure, the timelines, the client handover and the valuation. What tends to receive less attention, until it becomes a problem, is the relationship at the centre of it all. That’s the relationship between the founder and the successor, and more specifically, the quality of conversations they’re having in order to make decisions for the future of the business, the people in it, the clients.
Why succession conversations are harder than they look
For the founder, perhaps:
– You’ve built something from nothing and now face an identity shift that no financial plan accounts for.
– Letting go, even willingly, isn’t as straightforward as you thought it would be and there isn’t a space, place or opportunity to surface feelings that come with it, about legacy, purpose, and what comes next.
For the successor, perhaps:
– You’re stepping into a leadership role and feeling the pressure of proving yourself in a practice shaped by someone else, often without the space to develop you own voice, style or confidence.
– You’re facing the task of building confidence in your own ability to take on the business.
Underneath both of those is a relationship that needs to function well through one of the most significant professional transitions either of you will face.
When the conversations between you stay surface-level or get avoided altogether the effects ripple outward. Teams become uncertain. Clients sense the ambiguity. The transition that was meant to secure the future starts to create its own risks.
What actually helps?
In my experience, what makes succession work isn’t just planning, it’s thinking. The kind of independent, unhurried thinking that allows everyone involved to get clear on what they want, what they’re afraid of, and what they actually need from the other.
That’s what I help create by drawing on Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment principle and over 20 years working alongside financial planning practices. I work with both the founder and successor, separately and together, to make it possible to have the conversations that matter.
My aim, for both of you, is that by the time we finish working together you feel the business and everyone in it is genuinely in safe hands.
Three ways of working together
1. Stepping out: For the founder
Is this you?
You’re a business founder and….
– You’ve built something you’re proud of and you want to see it thrive beyond you.
– You’re thinking seriously about succession, probably with at least five years to your exit, and ideally with a clear successor already in mind.
– You’re purpose driven and you understand that there’s more to this transition than the financial outcome.
– You have the courage to look honestly at your own role in how things are going, and you’re open to examining the behaviours and assumptions that might be getting in the way.
– You’re not looking for a quick fix, but a genuine space to think and support in having the conversations that will make the difference.
This probably isn’t for you if you’re looking for someone to validate decisions you’ve already made, or if you’re not yet ready to look honestly at what stepping back will really mean for you.
What you get
You’ll get six 90-minute coaching sessions, focused entirely on you and the transition you’re navigating. This is your space to think, to process and to prepare for what stepping back actually means, beyond the paperwork.
How it works
We work through what you want your life and your legacy to look like once you’re no longer at the helm. We explore your values, your personality, and the behaviours that have made you successful and the ones that might now be getting in the way. We talk honestly about what you need to confidently hand the business on and how to have the conversations with your successor that will make that possible.
2. Stepping up: For the successor
Is this you?
You’re a successor and…
– You’re driven and capable, and you’re either already in the process of taking more responsibility in a business you can lead one day.
– You could already be working in the practice, or have been recruited specifically as a successor. Either way you have a genuine commitment to what the business stands for.
– You want to grow into leadership with confidence rather than uncertainty, and you recognise that finding your own voice and style, while navigating a relationship with someone who built the business from the ground up, takes more than good intentions and technical ability.
This probably isn’t for you if the succession hasn’t been agreed in principle, or if you’re not yet sure the role is what you want.
What you get
You’ll get six 90-minute coaching sessions focused on your leadership development, plus a place on the two-day Time to Think Foundation Course, giving you both the self-awareness and the practical tools to lead well from day one.
How it works
We work on you as a leader: your style, your values, and the behaviours that will serve you and those that might hold you back. We explore your personality in depth so you understand not just your strengths but the situations and patterns that can trip you up, including how these show up in the conversations you’re having with the founder. We also work directly on those conversations: what makes them difficult, what you need from them, and how to have them with greater clarity and confidence. Alongside this, the Foundation Course equips you with the principles and practices of creating an environment where your team thinks independently and works at its best. When immediate challenges arise, I bring practical experience to bear and you won’t be navigating them alone.
3. Stepping on together: For founder and successor, as a shared endeavour
This is a one-year programme for both founder and successor that is available as soon as a successor is agreed or when a succession relationship that started well has become strained and needs a reset.
What you get
You get everything covered in Stepping out (1) and Stepping up (2), plus two days of training and facilitation with your wider leadership team, and four further days of facilitation through the year.
This is the most complete version of the work designed for practices that want succession to be genuinely shared, not just managed.
How it works
We begin with the individual coaching for both the founder and successor, running in parallel. From there we bring in the leadership team, working together to establish the culture, values and ways of working that will carry the practice forward. Quarterly facilitated sessions provide structure and accountability through the year, giving both parties the space to work through challenges together as they arise rather than around each other. By the end of the year, succession isn’t something that happened to your practice. It’s something your practice built together.
When to start
The best time is before it feels urgent. Succession benefits most from time: time to think, time to develop, time to have the conversations that rarely get to a solution first time but through deep thinking together, do reach the best possible outcomes.
That said, this work is equally valuable when a transition is already under way, or when a succession relationship that started well has become strained and needs a reset.
If you’d like to explore whether this is the right support for your practice, the best place to start is a conversation.
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