How to Get Partners to Work as a Team

Source: Partner Insights

Following are excerpts from August Aquila’s article on partner unity. First, here is what partner unity means:

• Agreement on the firm’s mission, vision and core value.
• Genuine openness with one another—authentic trust.
• Willingness to engage in passionate debate of ideas.
• Holding each other accountable.
• Focusing on accomplishing key firm objectives.

Creating partner unity

Management programs such as the Balanced Scorecard, Pay for Performance and Strategic Planning don’t create partner unity. They certainly help manage the firm, align compensation with firm goals, and allow partners to grow personally and professionally in the firm. But you should forget about these programs until you have gained real partner unity.

Here are five steps to take

1. Partners are in business to achieve more together than they could by themselves. That’s why partner unity begins with a real mission, vision and core values that are lived in the firm. A mission tells everyone why the firm exists (and it’s not to be the best firm in the marketplace). Vision lets owners and staff know where the firm is headed and what it means to them when it arrives there. Core values identify specific behaviors that are acceptable in the firm.
2. If partners are to achieve more together than by themselves, they must create an open environment with one another. You know your firm has this when partners openly ask each other for help, admit their mistakes, focus on important issues, not politics, and look forward to working together as a group.
3. If partners don’t feel they can openly and passionately debate issues, there is no unity. This usually translates into boring meetings because key or controversial issues are not discussed. Partner groups that have unity aren’t afraid to put critical issues on their agendas.
4. Accountability is an overused word in the profession today. Everyone will tell you that partners need to be accountable, but they don’t tell you what that means or how to get it. For firms with partner unity, accountability is easy to achieve. For these firms accountability means that any and all partners are willing to call their peers on performance or behavior that is hurting the team. It’s the team that holds one another accountable. Partner goals are known by every partner and progress reports are issued quarterly. In this environment, underperformers feel pressure to improve.
5. Finally, you need to focus on results and not merely activities. Many partners are very busy during the year, but produce few results. Firm leadership must set the tone here. Obviously a pay for performance program is a key to helping firms focus on results.

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From Partner Insights, Aquila Global Advisors, LLC, April 8, 2008, www.aquilaadvisors.com.

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