growth and mergers didn’t make the cut, so what did?
by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library
i recently updated my research on the role of the managing partner. how better to do this than to poll great mps from across the country? so that’s what i did.
more: partners: when to speak up and when to shut up
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i received responses from 17 mps: three from firms with revenue exceeding $50 million; five firms were $20-50 million; six firms were $10-20 million; and three firms were $5-10 million. as i expected, i received very eloquent, powerful and somewhat diverse advice.
the group cited five main areas, not listed in any order.
make the partners effective. the common thread was this: as the partners go, so goes the firm. this is not to say that staff are unimportant because nothing could be further from the truth. but like any great organization, success emanates from leadership and the partners are the firm’s leaders who drive success.
old-school thinking might have said, “we’re partners. we don’t need to be managed. we know our job is to drive the firm and we know how to do this on our own. we don’t need or want help from anyone. in fact, we resent it if someone tries.”
new-school thinking says, ”hogwash! everyone can improve their performance. sure, some partners are excellent performers on their own. but the majority of partners perform better when they are accountable for their performance and behavior. partners are not entitled to an automatic waiver from oversight and guidance on their performance.”
our managing partner group feels that making partners effective is a critically important part of their job.
- build a cohesive partner group. if the staff see the partners working together, they will work together as well.
- help partners achieve their goals.
- hold people accountable and make them feel good about it.
- get the partners to understand and accept their roles; this way, they perform better and have a better chance of succeeding.
- don’t get too far ahead of your partners; if you do, they won’t follow.
build great staff. firms today often say their staff is just as important as their clients … but only the well-managed firms actually walk the talk. sure, developing great staff involves the hr department and the mentoring of partners and managers. but, it starts with the managing partner who must be active and visible in the firm’s staff-building efforts. here’s what our mp cadre said:
- be transparent; project excitement about the profession and the firm’s ability to thrive.
- demonstrate effective listening – show the staff that you find their thoughts meaningful.
- ensure that the staff understand their paths.
- teach leadership throughout the firm. give staff great training in soft skills.
- emphasize effective college recruiting to get the right people on the bus.
- make everyone feel good about doing their job; create job engagement.
communications. not only making sure people at all levels know what’s going on in the firm and what’s ahead. it’s also saying it in the right way.
- transparency in communications creates trust; it must come from the top.
- be the face of the organization – the master communicator.
- be able to say no to people and not have them walk away mad.
- manage expectations.
strategic planning. it was wonderful to see this show up so strongly in the response. poorly managed firms often see strategic planning as something to do in your spare time. this attitude usually leads to poor implementation and accountability. but our managing partner group clearly sees strategic planning as integral to the firm’s success and are highly committed to it.
- think strategically: long-term thinking vs. short-term.
- innovate and keep the firm relevant; challenge the status quo.
- look forward and identify problems and opportunities not yet on the radar.
- take risks and be ok with failure.
- conveying the vision throughout the firm is a great way to build consensus.
management style. every managing partner has a unique style. what works for some may not work for others. we received an array of comments that i decided to group under the category of “management style.” here are the group’s pearls of wisdom:
- delegate duties; avoid the trap of the mp getting involved in everything.
- make decisions crisply.
- you can never talk about quality too much (i love this one!)
- ability to make important decisions without knowing 100 percent of the facts
- passion
- ability to lead by example; the face of the firm
- be humble and have thick skin.
- take none of the glory and most of the blame.
- be a servant leader.
what wasn’t mentioned – and this surprised me
- succession planning – doing things today that ensure the firm will succeed into the next generation. building future leaders. this was cited by only three managing partners.
- mergers – this year’s survey shows that one-third of cpa firms’ revenue growth came from mergers vs. organic growth. mps across the country are clearly devoting a substantial amount of energy on mergers, yet it was cited by only one managing partner.
- driving the firm’s growth. cited by only two managing partners.
my interpretation of these “surprises” is this: clearly, these areas are very important and most mps are addressing them. but the five areas with the heaviest responses are more overarching, foundational and penetrating.
perhaps these three areas with the low number of mentions are seen as operational items and as such, aren’t seen on the same level as the five heaviest items. another possibility is that managing partners see these three areas as subsets of the top five. in all fairness, i instructed the mps to keep their responses short and sweet. they listened!