Do You Really Need a Partner Retreat?

In those fleeting moments after key deadlines have passed for your firm, many leaders plan or consider the idea of a partner retreat. For some, this can be easy to push off. Too many lingering “things to do,” much-needed vacations to be taken (nothing wrong with that!), hours of sleep and family time to be made up.

But partners that commit, as a leadership group,  to spending meaningful time working on their business together will head more confidently into their future, including the next busy season.

The most important issues facing a firm cannot be handled well in the margins of a regular partner meeting. Using a retreat to dive deeper affords you the space and time to evaluate priorities, address issues, and make meaningful changes. Without the distractions of day-to-day operations, a partner retreat is a springboard for firm success.

Defining the Purpose of a Partner Retreat

For a retreat to be effective, the objective must be clearly defined.

As much as you like each other, there’s no need to spend more time in a conference room than you need to. Meetings spent drifting around, following endless tangents, and failing to make decisions or set direction are a waste of everyone’s time. Plus, no one will want to be a part of it again next year. If everyone can’t answer “why are we here?” with a quick, consistent response, the retreat is already off track.

Start your planning by clearly identifying the type of retreat you need to have. Here are some common categories:

(1) Strategic Planning – determine your big picture objectives: revenue and profitability targets aligned with your mission and vision, plus the drivers and initiatives required to get there.

(2) Single-Topic Retreats

• Governance – update how decision making and accountability works at your firm; often this involves streamlining and improving effectiveness of meetings and teams.
• Succession Planning / Talent – plan for the future of your firm, starting with today; acknowledge the retirement plans of leaders (even the young ones – best guess is OK); and determine what talent you need and when to develop future partners.
• Partner Compensation – refine how you allocate income to your partners so that it’s supportive of your firm’s goals; partner comp should serve to motivate and reward partners for doing what the firm needs them to do.
• Partner Retirements / Exit Strategy – develop or redesign a plan for the financial and ownership transition of your firm. Evaluate market conditions, next gen talent, owner objectives, and firm economics to determine the optimal retirement plan or other exit strategy.
• Thorny Issue Resolution (or Advancement) – take the time to tackle that big-ticket item, the one that is weighing everyone down and hasn’t seemed to resolve itself.

If it’s not listed above, name it and get down to business.

(3) Multi-Issue/Potpourri Retreat – work on several different areas, if they are not individually cumbersome. For example, spend a half day on strategic planning, half a day on talent and recruiting strategies, and a half day on your retirement plan.

Being clear on what you want to accomplish within your chosen topic(s) is an essential starting point. From here, there are several planning steps to make sure you get done what you set out to do.

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

Purchase your copy today!

How to Plan an Effective Partner Retreat

(1) Develop an agenda with timeframes

If you do nothing else differently at your next retreat, create an agenda in advance, with specific timeframes. Devote the energy to determining what you need to accomplish and how involved the work needs to be to reach your outcome: this sets the stage for a productive meeting. Need to redesign your partner compensation system? That might take a whole day, or more. Need to finally take a stance on an updated list of employee benefits? Maybe that’s a half day, or it could be a 90-minute segment, if information for review has been provided in advance.

I like to say that if an issue should only take 15 minutes to resolve, there’s no need to have it on a retreat agenda. Take care of those at a routine partner meeting. Save your retreat for items that need at least a quarter of a day (1.5–2 hours) for healthy dialogue, exploration, decision making, and next steps planning. This is the time for diving deep into the matters that need big, creative thinking, perspective taking, debate and thoughtful decision making.

(2) Choose the right facilitator

Stay on time and on track by choosing a skilled facilitator. This can be someone in-house or an external resource. Your meeting leader should feel comfortable navigating the topics on the agenda, the personalities in the room, and driving the conversation toward your intended outcomes. Avoid the person who can’t effectively use a parking-lot system to table important but “not now” discussions, or one who rarely elicits input from the less-vocal but critical voices around the table.

For high-conflict situations, an outside leader often lowers the temperature in the meeting. Old habits of unpolished demeanor with long-time colleagues tend to slink away because the bar of decorum is higher with a guest in the meeting.

A skilled facilitator utilizes techniques including reflection, small group discussion, and activities that engage each of your partners’ vast experiences and perspectives to reach resolution or next steps.

(3) Identify and document action items

A key part of effecting change following a retreat is defining what needs to be done, who is going to do it, and when it must be completed, before you leave the room. As talented as CPA firm leaders are, there’s always a client or firm issue around the corner to take their time away from the important-but-not-urgent matters.

Creating a simple list of next steps with owners and due dates is essential to supporting the outcomes of your retreat. Have your preferred method of tracking open and update it throughout the retreat, displaying it on a screen for all to see and agree to. Once finished, ensure everyone knows where to find the list.

Establish a plan for revisiting these next steps regularly throughout the year (who will do it, how often?). Ideally assign one individual to follow up with task owners to keep the plan on their radar and help solve problems like unexpected obstacles or resource needs.

(4) Include whitespace and social activities

While it can be easy to overlook, there is enormous value in having scheduled time together with no agenda. The easiest place to do this is meals. Don’t keep working through lunch on a strict list of talking points. At a partner retreat, the goal is to spend time engaging in big-picture thinking – and to do this well, the brain needs breaks throughout the day. Let dining together be that break.

Building in a social activity beyond meals also creates meaningful connection within the leadership team. Pick whatever works well for your group. Whether it’s go-karting or golfing, a pizza-making class or a cornhole tournament, there’s something fun out there for you to do together to foster partner relations. Your investment in personal connections among leaders will build trust and effectiveness.

So, Do You Need a Partner Retreat?

If you prioritize your firm as your #1 client, the answer is yes. An annual retreat is time invested in the leadership, alignment, camaraderie, and decisions that keep your firm on track to where you want it to go.

Whether you’re dealing with one timely issue or developing strategic initiatives for next year (or both!), you’ll be more successful and more content with your work. As Jim Rohn says, “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan.” I’m fairly certain you’d prefer your own.