What makes a good partner?

by Fiona Westwood

Author discusses the attributes common in successful partnerships and suggests young solicitors need to be shown the route

The Journal, July 2003, page 34

It is rare to find a formal job description for a partner within a professional partnership yet most professionals aspire to become one. It is usually assumed that everyone knows what makes a good partner, but it is harder to formally articulate its key attributes. Indeed, many professionals find it difficult to agree on a composite, constructive description of such a person, preferring to concentrate on providing us with examples of “bad” partners. However, it is vital to be positive about our partners (!) and be able to specify the key elements of what would make a good partner for the future success of our firms.

This is currently important for a number of reasons. First of all, as discussed in the March 2003 edition of the Journal, the market is becoming tighter, resulting in a need to plan ahead to achieve business continuity. Secondly, the partners of the firm set the image and tone of the firm, and as a result, influence the behaviour which other people in the firm adopt. And thirdly, with so much change in today’s market, succession and career planning are becoming increasingly important for those of us seeking to retire from practice and for younger professions aspiring to have a long-term future in our firms.

The attributes of a good partner?

Some of you may be familiar with my Model for Success, based on research into successful partnerships (see Achieving Best Practice – shaping professionals for success McGraw-Hill 2001). It identifies that these firms enjoy flexibility and the ability to change, are well managed and led, make effective their use of resources, focus on what their clients want, have clear direction and strategy, and match their structure and reward systems to all of this. It reinforces that partnership can be a powerful trading model when it maximises people’s energy and commitment.

The Model also illustrates what makes a “good partner”. A good partner therefore: -

displays leadership and management skills,
makes effective use of resources,
has a strong client focus,
thinks strategically about the firm, and
adapts the shape and structure of his or her people.

Let’s look at each element in more detail.

Leadership and management skills

The key skills of leadership and management include the ability to inspire trust and respect. We trust people who share our values of professionalism and integrity. Good managers are consistent in their dealings with people, communicate effectively, openly and impartially. They deal with conflict proactively and set clear and impartial standards for people to work to. They accept that managing professionals is not easy and encourage people to agree and work with them rather than obey them.

Makes effective use of resources

It is taken for granted nowadays that a good partner is technically skilled and competent. He or she will understand and apply good risk management to client work and staff supervision. In addition, he or she will be comfortable with generating time and fee targets. Clients also want us to focus on speed and efficiency of response.

However, a good partner needs to go beyond this and be able to use management information to make choices about how work is handled and by whom, to calculate the “profitability” of types of client work and react accordingly by improving internal efficiency at the same time as maintaining the quality of the service provided.

Has a strong client focus

This is usually seen as the most important element of making it to partner yet clients do not always agree that their professionals are truly client focused (see my March 2002 Journal article).

What most clients want is a solution to their problem rather than be told about the process involved. It is important therefore to get to know clients and build their loyalty. A good partner is able to develop a relationship which is valuable to both sides – giving clients what they want, when and how at the same time as making a profit. The key skills of effective client management is listening, clear communication and delivering high quality and consistency of service.

Thinks strategically about the firm

Many partners tell me they aspire to think high-level thoughts about the firm but simply never get the time or the energy to do it! Yet the most successful firms plan for and apply longer-term thinking. They know what they want to achieve, how they define success and how they will get there. Most professionals are trained to be risk averse, yet strategic thinking requires creative thought. As a result, a good partner is able to balance risk with reward, thinking through practical problems related to change and growth and how to resolve them.

Whilst we accept that flexibility is essential in the current marketplace, we need to adopt an overall strategy and most importantly, implement it. For example, to adopt a niche strategy implies concentrating on certain specialisms and building skills and the reputation to support that. Pursuing a strategy of accelerated growth implies concentrating on achieving management expertise and high gearing of resources and people.

Adapts the shape and structure of his or her people

Thinking strategically implies more than simply talking about future plans. We have to be able to put these into practice. Flexibility and adaptability are essential. As a result, good partners are able to adapt the shape of their teams and the skills of their people. Given professionals’ natural inclination to be independent and “loners” this is not easy to achieve. Team working does not come naturally to most professionals unless they are in charge of the team!

As a result, people need to be rewarded for sharing clients and information, for spending time training others and allowing them to learn. Good partners are therefore able use the trust and respect they have generated to encourage people to work together rather than in isolation.

A tall order!

If all of this seems a tall order, it is. A good partner cannot concentrate on only one aspect at the expense of the others. To do so creates tensions within the firm as other people end up doing more than their fair share of other aspects. For example, it is unfair to leave cash flow worries to other people when every partner has a responsibility to deliver high quality client work and make it profitable.

This also reinforces the need for proper career planning. Attributes such as leadership and management, strategic thinking and shape and structure adaptability will not necessarily have been developed on the way to making partner, which traditionally will have concentrated on client service and elements of resource management. Some people will naturally be better at some elements than others. Some will need encouragement to develop a balanced range of skills. It is essential to develop all of the attributes, by way of mentoring, coaching or targeted education and training. Making it to partner is not the end of the road in terms of career and skill development.

Conclusion

Developing and keeping good partners is essential to the current and future success of our firms. To become a good partner, able to contribute to the current and future success of our firms is neither an easy task nor one that happens by chance. We cannot assume that it will happen naturally or that people will intuitively know what is required of them. Younger professionals need to be shown the route to partnership and what will be required of them along that road. It is important to look at the composite attributes and identify areas which require improvement within the firm or individually. Proper career development is essential with firms creating their own template of the skills and attributes required.

Fiona Westwood runs her own management and training consultancy specialising in working with the professional sector. For more information see her web site, www.westwood-associates.com.