Planning Your Partner Retreat: Essential Decision-Making Questions

Have you thought about your next partner retreat recently? For some accounting firms, they’re enjoyable and useful, for others they’re more like an extra-long, extra-painful partner meeting. That “long-and-painful” type often shows up when the following factors haven’t been considered or well-implemented before the event.

3 Successful Retreat Factors

1. Planned discussion topics are relevant and impactful.
   Someone has taken the time to identify and prioritize the key issues and opportunities facing your firm and has built a thoughtful agenda based on this information.
2. You have buy-in from attendees to participate in discussions on these topics.
   Each partner is bought in and believes the time spent will be useful, the group will get something done, and they will learn new perspectives and share their own.
3. You know how your group will make decisions or move forward.
   Knowing what you plan to discuss is a prerequisite, but identifying what the end result is (a decision or other forward action) is the real outcome you’re after.

Before you settle into the over-air-conditioned banquet room at that nice hotel that you just might be lucky enough to go to later this year, or the epic Brady Bunch Zoom/Teams session, it’s good to think more about the decision-making process and its role in your retreat to make efficient use of your time.

Not Everything is a Decision

Chances are your retreat consists of many different components. You may include a social event (or two, or three), sharing a meal (or five), updates on the practice or departments, or a special guest speaker.

Often, a critical action of a CPA firm partner retreat is to brainstorm ideas and/or hear new perspectives on a problem. It may not be feasible to engage in a great brainstorming or dialogue session and have enough time to come to a conclusion in the same meeting.

Instead, an individual or committee can take over after the retreat, do additional work on the topic, and present a shortlist of potential solutions to the partner group at a later date. Or, if they are empowered to do so, they can decide themselves and oversee the initiative from there. The latter represents a more corporate style of operation which is more efficient and effective for partner groups willing to delegate authority.

CPA Firm Retreats: The Do-It-Yourself Guide helps firms organize effective retreats. Chapters include ►ground rules for participants ►alternative retreat formats ►logistics and ►how to implement retreat ideas.  The book provides specific discussion questions the facilitator can use to stimulate conversation in topics such as ►profitability ►managing staff ►mergers ►succession planning ►marketing ►partner accountability ►firm governance ►partner compensation and ►partner buyout plans.

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4 Decision-Making Questions

When decisions do come into play, here are four questions to consider as you plan your retreat

1. What decisions need to be made?
   Getting clear on this in advance helps with the buy-in part of the equation. It also helps partners prepare mentally and do any advanced preparation necessary to feel ready to engage in decision-making.
2. What information do we need to decide?
   Providing information to be reviewed in advance of the retreat means the use of meeting time can be focused on dialogue and discussion instead of reading and analyzing for the first time. As you plan for decision-making at your retreat, consider what information is relevant to the process and get it in the hands of attendees well before the event.
3. Who is responsible for making the decision?
   Knowing who owns decision-making rights can also expedite the discussion, especially when these rights rest with a committee or individual smaller than the full-partner group. Here are some common decision owners:
   • Full Partner Group (or Equity Partner Group) – if voting, what % is required
   • Empowered Committee
   • Managing Partner
   • Other Individual or Group
4. What are our expectations of group members in supporting decisions, even if they would have preferred a different outcome?
   For many firms, this is understood as a required role-of-the-partner. That is, to support firm initiatives and not undermine their effectiveness by going rogue on a new practice or voicing disagreement to non-partners. Being clear on these expectations and holding partners accountable as a part of their role in the firm goes a long way to building partners and firm unity.

If you’ve had a successful retreat in the past, what planning steps had a big impact?