Can Partners Change?

Source: Partner Insights

The following includes excerpts (reproduced with permission) from an article by August Aquila:,
The answer to the question is yes according to August Aquila. Here are some ways to motivate partners to change:

Weight Watchers™ is perhaps one of the best companies that have developed a change process for those who want to lose weight. Let's see what we can learn from their process.

• Follow a plan. Just as people on Weight Watchers follow a plan, accounting firms should not leave the individual partners to create their own change processes, but should have a plan for its partners to follow.
• Partners must want to achieve the firm's vision and plan.
• Develop competency tables for every position in the firm. Knowledge workers yearn for new skills so that they can grow. They want to know what it takes to get to the next level in the firm.
• We cannot force someone to follow the change plan; they must want to do it. We can encourage them and even provide them rewards, but they must have the discipline to follow the plan.
• Continual learning is key in today's world. Firms are beginning to have book clubs for their employees in addition to the regular CPE classes.
• There is accountability in the Weight Watchers™ program. Every week people in the program weigh in. We need to create the same type of accountability programs in our firms.
• Change is something that we do every day, not just at the end of the year.

For the complete article, click here.

From Partner Insights, Aquila Global Advisors, LLC, December 15, 2009, http://www.aquilaadvisors.comwww.aquilaadvisors.com.