Selling or stepping out of your business is never an easy decision, but with the right succession plan in place, you can protect value and empower your team for the future. At E.L Blue, we have over two decades of experience as succession planning consultants, building a better future for your business. We take a people-focused approach, so your ownership isn’t just successful on paper but sustainable in practice.
Is Your Business Prepared for the Future?
Across Australia, we can see that a generational shift is underway, and the vast majority of businesses do not have a succession plan in place for when they retire. According to the NAB 2025 report, more than half of business owners are over 50, with 22% nearing retirement age, and 46% are looking to work past 67 due to financial roadblocks and unclear succession pathways.
The high costs of Inaction
The longer you wait, the more expensive the problem becomes. Poor or late succession planning can lead to leadership voids, high turnover and key person risk. Here are the top reasons early succession planning matters:
Sale price
Buyers discount businesses with people risk.
Deal certainty
Unplanned handovers stall or fall over in due diligence.
Team stability
Poor comms triggers employee retention.
Legacy
Culture and client relationships can break down without a clear handover.
Our People-First Approach to Succession Planning
At E.L Blue, we take a people-first approach to succession planning consulting. As your embedded HR outsourcing partner, we work alongside your accountant and lawyer to ensure the transition is smooth and safe for your team. Here is how we support your organisation:
Identify & Mitigate Key Person Risk
As expert workforce planning consultants, we identify critical roles, holders and dependencies and map out a leadership development plan to replace those roles. Reducing key person risk ensures that business continuity and valuation are protected.
Build a Robust & Secure Talent Pipeline
To ensure a continuation of talent, we help identify high-potential employees who could help close the skill gap and become ready successors for leadership roles.
Develop Future Managers & Leaders
Working closely with your organisation, we implement individual development plans for phased responsibility handovers and workplace training to set your employees and business up for success. This co-lead strategy helps your successor gain confidence while you maintain oversight, smoothly transitioning them into leadership.
Secure Your Employees' Future
We plan communications and people logistics to maintain morale and retain key staff. We also coordinate with your legal advisors to manage obligations around notice, entitlements and possible redundancies during a sale or transfer, so changes are fair and compliant.
Our Comprehensive Succession Planning Process
Step 1: Vision & Discovery
We work closely with you to map out your personal goals and your non-negotiables for your employees and business continuity.
Step 2: Talent & Business Assessment
Once we have identified your unique goals, we assess your current employees in leadership roles as well as external potential successors to identify key role coverage, culture markers and capability gaps through structured interviews and assessments.
Step 3: Structuring for Success
We align your HR strategy for your employees with your business financial goals and legal structures to ensure you and your employees are protected throughout the transition.
Step 4: Communication & Training
As business succession planning consultants with deep expertise in HR strategy, we manage communication and training to minimise disruption, support your people, and protect revenue throughout the transition.
Step 5: Post-Transition Support
We go beyond succession planning, providing your organisation with support and leadership coaching, culture health checks and employee retention strategies to ensure your business’s new leadership model is protected.
Client Success Stories
The team that runs our Human resource function are very knowlegable.
It is great to have an HR input that really contributes to our company's success and profitability
Ready to Secure Your Legacy?
Our team of succession planning consultants are here to support your organisation throughout this transition with hr alignment services that set your business up for success. Whether you need support in discovering key talent or protecting business continuity, our team of experts are here to help.
Take Your First Step Towards Succession Planning Today!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between succession planning and exit planning?
Succession planning focuses on people and leadership continuity (who steps up, how we prepare them, and how we retain staff). Whereas exit planning looks at the broader transaction of legal, tax, valuation and timing. We partner with your advisors to cover both processes.
When should I start succession planning?
Ideally, 2–5 years before you step back, as starting early safeguards value and gives you the most options.
How long does the succession planning process take?
Discovery to handover can commonly take up to 6–12 months (faster for small teams; longer if building an internal successor). We’ll outline the timelines up front and stage the work so you are across every part of the transition.
What is the role of HR in succession planning?
HR strategy helps mitigate key-person risk, prepares successors, retains critical staff, aligns roles and incentives, and guides compliant employee transitions. If it is done well, it protects valuation and continuity.