Why Partner Retreats are Worth It

CPA firm partners are very busy people. All year long they have more to do than time permits, which forces them into a never-ending, short-term mindset of getting the work done and moving on to the next project or activity.

Retreats offer a chance for the partners to “freeze time,” step away from the office, the staff, the telephone, the emails and text-messages and focus on the firm.

Retreats provide the opportunity to address short term issues – such as changing the systems used to hire staff, mergers and who gets promoted to partner – as well as long term issues such as succession planning, firm vision and goals and leadership development.

With so many demands on partners’ time and attention, something always falls by the wayside – and that is usually getting to know partners better and communicating with each other about what’s on their minds.

Overwhelming anecdotal evidence shows that firms whose partners play well in the sandbox and work as a team outperform those who aren’t on the same page and act like Lone Rangers.

When partner conflicts go unattended, partners’ energies get sucked into the squabbles like debris in a tornado.

What should be the focus of your partner retreat?

Retreats are different than partner meetings. The latter focus on day to day operational issues like the latest monthly financials, staff hiring, firing and promotion, major software changes, office remodeling, etc.

Retreats are more contemplative, big-picture oriented – a time for strategic and long term thinking.

Why retreats fall out of favor

The biggest complaint, by far, is when partners devote a huge amount of their time and energy to have a great retreat, discuss and agree on fabulous goals and action steps to improve the firm, and then…everyone returns to the office and its business as usual – few if any of the retreat initiatives get implemented.

Another problem with retreats is they are not led or facilitated by someone who can make the retreat successful. Remember: “success” is not having a good time, it is IMPLEMENTING RETREAT IDEAS.

Often times, a retreat is facilitated by a consultant who doesn’t understand the firm and the partners’ personalities. The worst of these consultants are long-time, reputable stars appearing on every industry publication’s “best” lists, who consistently ignore three basics about being a good retreat facilitator:

• The retreat is about the firm, not the consultant. Many consultants’ favorite pastime is listening to themselves talk.
• The definition of “facilitator” is someone who makes it easy for others to talk. They understand that the word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent.” A good facilitator does 20% of the talking to 80% for the partners.
• Leading the partners to make their own decisions instead of “telling” them what to do.

Most retreats are led by the managing partners because:

• They had bad experiences with consultants.
• They want to save money by not hiring a consultant.
• The MP has an agenda and wants to be in control of how the meeting is run (as bad as this sounds, this can be a good thing).

The problems with the MP facilitating a retreat:

• MPs may lack the necessary skills to facilitate retreats.  They’re better at leading: being assertive, self-confident and for some, having a loud voice.
• MP’s dominant personality may cause other partners to cower in silence.
• When MPs lead the retreat, they are not able to brainstorm along with the other partners.

These problems often cause the same level of disappointment with the retreat as hiring the wrong consultant.

What kind of retreat is your firm more suited for? What steps can you take to make sure retreat ideas are implemented? It’s all in our monograph CPA Firm Retreats: The Do-It-Yourself Guide.