Andrea loves the TV series “Downton Abbey”.  It was a no brainer that when the latest Downton Abbey movie was released, I was “dragged” along to see the movie.

In the movie I resonated with the speech by Lord Grantham where he opined about the struggle, he was having to pass control of Grantham estates to his daughter Lady Mary, even though he recognised that it was time to pass that control to the next generation.

Lord Grantham captured the emotional truth – the difficulty of letting go – which I hear from business owners when our conversation turns to discussing the succession plan for the business.

As I reflected on the film, I was reminded of a conversation with a client early in my coaching career on this very issue.  After 30+ years, my client had recently sold his successful financial services business.  However, he was struggling with letting go as he felt the new owner was not providing the same level of client service he had provided over his many years in the business.

In response, I asked him a simple question:

“ What are you and your wife going to do now that you have sold the business?”

 The response was short & simple – they were planning to move to a seaside town!

In that moment it was clear he was struggling to let go because he had no plan for what the future will look like for him and his wife.  Given this I sent him home with a piece of homework – in consultation with his wife design what the next phase of your life together will be.

I checked in with him about two months later to see how he was going.  The change could not have been more stark – he let me know he and his wife had designed what living in a seaside town will look like including visits by family & friends, travel plans for the year, volunteering for local community groups and participating in local sporting groups such as playing golf and bowls.  As for the business, my client was now visiting a day a fortnight while he happily implemented the next phase of his life.

Here is my lesson from this story which I regularly pass onto business owners struggling to let go – change will only happen when what you are going to create is more important than what you are leaving behind.