Working With Problem Partners

Source: Partner’s Report for CPA Firm Owners

Symptoms of problem partners include:

• Low energy.
• Declining billable hours.
• Arriving late and leaving early.
• Failure to attend partner meetings.
• Failure to attend business development meetings.

Clients and staff won’t ignore problem partners. They must be dealt with by either helping them become productive or terminating them.

First, face the problem. Identify whether the problem is personal or work-related. The root of the problem is often:

• Drugs or alcohol.
• Mental or emotional problems—depression, burnout, etc.
• Illness in the family.
• Divorce.
• Incompatibility—sometimes because of changes in the firm, its client base, etc.

Next, adopt a course of action:

• Personal problems can be helped by providing emotional support, and sometimes by sabbaticals.
• Consider alleviating the problem partner’s workload, including billable time, for a while.
• Also consider a change in the partner’s job. Getting involved in new work can help lessen the pain of dealing with personal problems.
• Loans are sometimes warranted. But they can aggravate a gambling or drug problem.
• Incentives can sometimes solve the problem. Bonuses or increased pay for performance may motivate the partner to retain his or her former level.
• If changes in the market require the partner to switch to some other niche, the firm should be prepared to support the move financially for a time. But if the partner insists on holding on to the old niche and refuses to change, termination may be the only solution.

One approach is the internal peer review. Here is how it works:

• Partners prepare a one-page report on their skills and their plans for the year.
• The managing partner or department head distributes these reports to the other partners in the firm or the department.
• Each partner prepares evaluations of his or her peers.
• The managing partner or department head edits the evaluations, making sure they are tactful and helpful.
• Each partner meets with his or her superior.
• Problem partners are generally noticed by the time all these steps are completed.

Problem partners generally struggle with their reports. The peer reviews may help them.

To read another article on problem partners from our archives, click the following link:

From Partner’s Report—the Monthly Update for CPA Firm Owners, February 2007, p. 1. For subscription information contact Institute of Management & Administration, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, 30th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5902. One-year subscription $399. 212-244-0360, [email protected].