partners

who should participate in a retreat?

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overhead view of five businesspeople discussing something at a table with an open laptop nearbyinclude the relevant folks – but no more than 15 unless you plan on breakout groups.

by marc rosenberg
cpa firm retreats

what to discuss at a retreat is important, but so is who will be doing that discussing.

firms naturally tend to limit participation to key people – the partners, plus professional staff such as the coo, firm administrator, marketing director and hr director – so that sensitive and confidential issues are more easily discussed. also, keeping the group small lends itself to better group participation and more fruitful discussions.

more on retreats: retreat logistics: how long, what kind? | what should cpa firms discuss at retreats? | why do cpa firms conduct retreats?

on the other hand, there are benefits to involving others in the firm beyond the key people… if the objectives include five key items:
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how will you choose your next managing partner?

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business people having meetingtwo questions to consider.

by robert j. lees, august j. aquila and derek klyhn

the role of managing partner is just too important and too complex to leave the selection of the appropriate candidate to chance.

more on leadership: four key questions for managing partners | research, but also be ready to act | leader training is time well spent | managing partners must remember partners’ needs | 5 questions about your firm’s direction | like herding cats: partners must ‘walk together’

with the scale of the challenges firms are facing, no firm we know can afford not to identify and develop a group of partners with the ability to successfully take on the role of managing partner in the future. read more →

mirror, mirror on the wall

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11 weekly self-assessment questions for successful professionals.h

by august aquila
the effective partnership

when’s the last time you talked to your partners about the “mirror questions”? we all know that it’s easy to kid ourselves about how well we’re doing. but when we have to look ourselves in the mirror, well, it’s another story.

rather than giving the partners the questions they should answer, we suggested that they come up with their own self-assessment. specifically, we wanted them to devise questions they could ask themselves each week to evaluate how well they had performed. in the end, we came up with 11. read more →

seven reasons why it’s time to start holding the partners accountable

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especially in these trying times, partners must show leadership by accepting the consequences of their actions — or their inaction.

aquila

accountability is the essence of your success, according to management consultant august aquila, ceo of aquila global advisors.

aquila is co-creator of the firm growth and succession program, creating the effective partnership, which includes the research-based guides how to engage partners in the firm’s future, and leadership at its strongest.

“i don’t think that the average partner takes accountability seriously,” aquila says. “if they did, they would take their individual goals more seriously and not let their fellow partners down.” read more →

the four keys to creating a firm vision that unites and mobilizes

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and the eight ways to give core values real business value.

by robert j. lees and august j. aquila
how to engage partners in the firm’s future

when we talk about having a compelling vision, we don’t just mean the simple, well-crafted statement you find in a lot of firms.

for a vision to be compelling, for it to persuade the partners that they want to play an active part in making it a reality, a vision must have four elements: read more →