Five Keys to Implementing Your Strategic Plan

Matt Rampe is a partner with Rosenberg Associates and specializes in strategic planning, partner coaching, and resolving difficult partner issues.

You got in a conference room to do strategic planning, got excited about big ideas, and designed things that sounded really good on paper. Now is the hard part: implementation. Without follow through after the planning event, strategic planning is useless – and unfortunately, this is where many CPA firms fall down.

So, what are the keys to successful implementation of your strategic plan?

1. Have regular partner meetings that focus “on the business”
An extremely successful CPA firm we’ve had the fortune to work with articulated their philosophy this way: “We are business owners first. We just happen to be in the business of accounting.” This is opposite to how many firms run their practice: “We are accountants first. We just happen to be business owners also.”

To work “on the business” instead of “in the business” takes time – and meeting regularly with your business partners to discuss the operations and future of the business. Failure to do so makes significantly better results year over year highly unlikely. If you do get the results you want, it will be due to good luck more than intentional action.

Need a template for a useful meeting agenda and cadence for leadership meetings? Check out Traction by Gino Wickman.

2. Lean into healthy conflict
In 2012, Google’s Project Aristotle researched what it takes to create high-performing teams. They found one characteristic matters the most – by far. It’s called psychological safety, and it means that all voices are heard and people feel safe taking appropriate interpersonal risks.

Generally, CPAs avoid conflict. We don’t want to embarrass others or ourselves or to get fired or look stupid in a group. This is natural! However, avoiding these things at all costs creates silence – even if our firm is headed towards disaster.

Respectful, but honest, communication of concerns and differences of opinion creates healthy dialogue and can lead to the best ideas winning (instead of the loudest personalities dominating). This creates a nimble team that is inoculated against the worst ideas because weak ideas are exposed and corrected in real time, while partner relationships are strengthened in the process.

To go deeper, you can watch Amy Edmonson’s TED Talk on psychological safety.

Our book, Strategic Planning and Goal Setting for Results is an essential guide to strategic planning and partner goal-setting for CPA firms. Our approach is to think big, keep it simple, and get results. It addresses ►the three main phases of strategic planning ►overall management philosophy of a CPA firm ►steps to creating the strategic plan ►the all-important vision statement ►stimulating productive brainstorming sessions ►best practices for goal setting programs ►core values ►keys to implementation ►pitfalls of strategic planning ►why strategic planning will fail without partner accountability and other issues. 

Purchase your copy today!

3. Give each partner goals that tie directly to the strategic plan
To make your firm’s vision a reality, it must be broken down into components (strategic initiatives) and then ownership assigned to and accepted by individual partners. I highly recommend having “one neck to choke” for each goal; otherwise, accountability gets murky very quickly and results diminish.

Each partner needs specific goals that have deadlines. Then make sure that if all the partners hit their goals, you would reach the key milestones you want in a year’s time. If not, you need to redraw the goals until all the work is accounted for. Ultimately, these goals need to live in a culture where partners are accountable and coachable.

4. Incentivize behaviors you want and don’t incentivize behaviors that don’t support your firm
The latest Rosenberg Survey data shows average income per equity partner was $584,000. Offering a relatively small bonus for hitting all the strategic goals is unlikely to motivate much partner performance. If compensation is going to be tied to firm performance and success, the money at stake needs to be material. What that exact number or percentage of compensation is will differ from firm to firm, but it needs to be worth striving for.

That said, money is often not the only (or even the strongest) motivator for all partners. Praise, meaning and purpose can be surprising motivators, and they won’t cost you anything. Regardless of the motivation tool, make sure the firm isn’t rewarding counterproductive behaviors (like hoarding work or building silos) but instead is recognizing partners who are achieving their piece of the strategic plan to move the whole firm ahead.

5. Stress test your process: plan for the worst and hope for the best
A good strategic planning session can end with high hopes, warm feelings and lots of smiles. That’s great, but that warm glow is not a promise that the coming year will be easy. To give plans the best chance of coming true, it pays to assume that things may go astray: unexpected staff departures, recession, too much chargeable work, needy clients, etc.

Identify what is most likely to stand in the way of a successful year – and make specific plans to counter each of these obstacles. My fingers are crossed that none of these obstacles will come your way, but you are best prepared when you anticipate and prepare for them anyway.

Theodore Roosevelt said that nothing worth having comes easily. That is certainly true when creating a vibrant future for your CPA firm. By breaking down your vision of success into manageable goals, meetings and conversations, you can succeed despite the difficulty.