Providing a Path to Partner
Source: ConvergenceCoaching, LLC Inspired Ideas
The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, of a blog post by Jack Lee. Lee outlines three reasons why firms don't have an official path to partnership.
- They don't understand the need for a path to partner.
- They don't understand what is required to have an effective [path].
- They recognize the need for a clear path to partner but are fearful or unwilling to provide one.
Is a “path to partner” really important? Developing your firm's partner track is essential to long-term sustainability from both a retention and succession standpoint.
What does an effective path to partner look like? It starts by defining the key skills, experiences, and behaviors expected of your current partners. These must be detailed for all performance levels in your firm, including goal setting to move from one phase to another.
Three reasons for the apparent “dread” around providing a path to partner, along with a more hopeful “flipside”:
1. Fear of exposure – Current partners are not performing at the level expected for new partners and don't want to make this evident by providing clear expectations in their path-to-partner documents.
Hopeful flipside – Trusted leaders lead by acknowledging their need to get better and demonstrating their leadership in doing so.
2. Fear of falling short – Current partners are afraid of providing a path to future partners and of not being able to follow through.
Hopeful flipside – Laying out the path to partner provides a foundation for the development of your people, not a guarantee of partnership.
3. Fear of being pushed out.
Hopeful flipside – What about having no one capable to replace you, and no one to care for your clients and sustain the firm into the future?
For the complete post, read “Lead, Follow, Or …”
From Convergence Coaching, LLC Inspired Ideas, http://blog.convergencecoaching.com, November 2, 2011.