If you haven’t had a partner planning retreat this year, you are not alone. Many firms procrastinate when it comes to planning this annual session.
Often when I am talking with a managing partner about their upcoming retreat, they tell me, “We used to have them every year but we haven’t had a planning retreat for several years now.” It seems everyone is too busy or other firm initiatives or challenges have taken precedence. If you allow this to happen, partner communication will suffer greatly along with partner unity. It also leads to a culture of constantly putting out fires.
Even though it is late in the year, I urge you to schedule and conduct a partner planning retreat this year. There is still time to identify important issues and begin on an action plan even though November is quickly approaching.
More importantly, I urge you to plan ahead for next year – 2017. Here are some ideas, tips, and considerations for a successful retreat:
Identify dates in late April, May or June for your 2017 retreat. Make sure that every partner makes it a high priority on their calendar now. A retreat that happens earlier in the year allows time for the initiatives to be researched, outlined and completed before another year rolls around.
Contact a qualified CPA firm management consultant to facilitate the retreat and get the dates booked on their calendar (their calendars fill up fast after April 15).
Before the retreat contemplate, discuss and define the purpose of the retreat. If you get together every year just because you have always done it without a specific purpose in mind, time (and money) will be wasted.
Plan the agenda. It will be your roadmap for the retreat and prohibit people from getting “lost” along the way. The facilitator will usually survey your group or do telephone interviews to gain insight that will help you design the agenda.
Adopt a partner retreat commitment statement. This is a short list of rules and regulations governing retreat behavior. Some examples might be that all participants will set aside the uninterrupted time (mobile device activity only happens at breaks), participants will stay on topic, participants will not interrupt when someone else is speaking, etc.
Document the action steps. Focus on fewer initiatives and shorter timeframes. Change is happening so quickly in our profession. Accomplishing two or three things is more important than focusing on six or seven and accomplishing none.
Assign a champion for each initiative. Someone has to be responsible and take ownership. If everyone is responsible, nothing will happen.
The most important activity is not the actual retreat; it is the implementation of the agreed-upon initiatives.