Weaved together: The link between partner goals and engagement

One of the key inhibitors to partner engagement is when the partners' performance goals, either individually or as a group, are not aligned with the firm's strategic initiatives. When misalignment occurs, what the partners do on a daily basis isn't coordinated. This can result in individual partners, teams or even whole departments emphasising different elements of the firm's strategy - usually the one that resonates most with them.

All too often, this approach is seen in multi-location/multi-country firms, where what's important in one location isn't valued in another and, as a result, it's downplayed in favour of local priorities. Unfortunately, it's the whole firm that suffers, not just the one location.

To ensure all of the partners are going in the same direction, your firm needs a goal-setting process in which partners can draw a 'line of sight' between the firm's vision and strategic objectives and what they need to do on a daily basis. The partner's goals, along with the departmental or team goals, would then typically be based on the firm's overall goals (team goals might include, for example, a client team charged with introducing more of the firm's services).

Performance goals

As Stephen R. Covey once said, "in most cases goals that do exist are vastly under-communicated and just because the formal leaders are clear on what they want to achieve doesn't necessarily mean that those on the front line, where the action actually happens, know what the goals are".

This assumption that the firm's goals will be automatically carried through to individual partner goals is one of the mistakes managing partners often make. Another mistake is to focus on performance at an individual level, rather than at a team or department level.

Peer pressure is the most effective form of control in professional service firms. With partners in the majority of firms working in teams on client delivery and development, ensuring team goals are aligned with the firm's strategic initiatives is a much more effective way of achieving goal alignment throughout the firm. It's also a much more effective way of promoting cross selling and creating mutual support and accountability.

An example of cascading 'line of ?sight' goals for a typical law firm is illustrated in Figure 1.

 

Key deliverables

People who focus on a few key goals have a greater chance of achieving or surpassing them than those who have a high number of goals. In our research into what truly successful managing partners do, one of the things that differentiates them from their peers is to focus their partners' efforts on the firm's key deliverables to avoid dissipation of energy and a loss of momentum.

Momentum can also be dissipated by assuming that everyone has the same capability. As more firms introduce a balanced scorecard approach to individual goal setting, firms are increasingly demanding that every partner has goals in each quadrant of the scorecard. However, the thinking behind the scorecard is that people have different capabilities and that the firm's goals can only be achieved through the aggregation of individual scorecards that recognise people's differing capabilities.

So, for example, we all know that some partners are not very good at winning business from people with whom they have no pre-existing relationship, while others find it considerably easier. But, all too often, every partner is expected to win new business from prospects, when some partners would be far better employed extending the firm's services to their existing clients rather than performing poorly at something they are never going to be good at.

It's a simple example, but it highlights another thing that successful managing partners do - they make sure they know their partners' capabilities well enough to ensure they are used effectively. And, when the firm is too large for managing partners to have the intimate knowledge this approach requires, they ensure that the people they appoint to key positions adopt the same approach.

This focus on making sure the firm's resources are used effectively is key for all firms. Firms will only use their resources effectively if they focus on engagement and capability, and ensure there is an alignment between the firm's strategic initiatives and the departmental, team and individual goals.

Measures and timescales

Traditional thinking suggests that, once a goal has been communicated, people will know the organisation is serious about it. But, in reality, most people don't usually take a goal seriously until they start keeping score. And, as professional services is an execution game and goal delivery is crucial, every goal needs appropriate measures and timescales.

So, for example, if the firm and the department have a goal of reducing attrition of five to seven-year lawyers from 15 per cent to 10 per cent within three years, individual partners across the firm will have different annual targets dependent upon the attrition in their group. They will also have individual targets and timescales for the retention of the top-performing five to seven-year professionals in their group and the development of the next cadre of professionals, should the retention goal not be achieved.

The need for appropriate measures and timescales is especially important given the psychological make-up of lawyers. With their highly competitive nature, they always set personal goals associated with their work and careers. It is crucial that these personal work goals are aligned to the firm's strategic initiatives.

Goals vs. performance

Many leaders believe that people remain focused and committed to their performance goals if the goals are clear and compelling. However, that is often not the case. As Franklin Covey noted in 4 Disciplines of Execution, team engagement and accountability are necessary to maintain commitment to performance goals.

In successful firms, managing partners ensure the focus is on team accountability. The partners share their performance goals, measures and timescales, and hold each other jointly accountable for their delivery. They also explicitly support each other in a high challenge/high support culture in which help (rather than criticism and the perception of failure) is the normal and expected behaviour.

Changing attitudes

The alignment of individual goals with the firm's strategic initiatives ought to be straightforward and something all firms do automatically, but this isn't always the case. The problem is that, in many firms, goal setting isn't something that partners are actually good at. They need help but, critically, that's not something they like to admit to needing.

Great firms have a high challenge/high support culture, where help is seen as a positive, as a way of enhancing firm performance. The challenge facing all firms, therefore, is to create a high challenge/high support culture in which their partners can set meaningful goals - goals that align with the firm's strategic initiatives and that, when delivered, ensure the firm achieves its vision.

Rob Lees is a founding partner of ?Møller PSF Group and a consultant ?to PSF leaders worldwide ?(www.mollerpsfgcambridge.com). ?August Aquila is an international ?speaker, writer and consultant to ?PSFs (www.aquilaadvisors.com).