Seven Reasons Why It’s Time to Start Holding the Partners Accountable
Especially in these trying times, partners must show leadership by accepting the consequences of their actions — or their inaction.
Aquila
Accountability is the essence of your success, according to management consultant August Aquila, CEO of AQUILA Global Advisors, LLC.
“I don’t think that the average partner takes accountability seriously,” Aquila says. “If they did, they would take their individual goals more seriously and not let their fellow partners down.”
There is a real financial impact to the firm because of a lack of accountability. And some of it stems from a lack of trust — trust that business burdens and rewards will be fairly shared.
- Partners with low trust can be very reluctant to share clients with other partners.
- Decisions take a long time or perhaps don’t get made at all.
- Partners operate like sole practitioners rather than members of a team.
- When partners don’t have accountability they have a difficult time setting and achieving goals. They don’t want to have written goals.
- Partners also focus on getting what they want rather than helping the team win.
- Partners do not improve their skill sets.
- Finally, they often fail to get the results they say they are going to get.
Why accountability now? “Both clients and firms are feeling the profit squeeze,” Aquila says. “It’s no longer acceptable for partners to just be busy. They now need to produce results.”
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