The Problem with Partnerships

Most professions are practiced in some form of partnership, be it a duet, or a cast of thousands. And most professional partnerships function at something less than optimal.

At any given time, at least one of the partners is agonizing over why he or she should remain in the firm, convinced that he or she is not loved and appreciated, is not being given his or her due, and searching for a place where he or she will feel more love. And when it’s really bad, the whole place operates behind closed doors, grievances shared by personal e-mail, and support staff feeling themselves strapped to a hydrogen bomb. If you’ve practiced in a partnership for more than five years you know exactly what I mean. Admit it.

I often think back to a pickup line a colleague used to use when he was young, handsome, and single (he’s still handsome). He would ask the young lady, “Do you believe in the hereafter?”, followed up by, “Because if you’re not here after what I’m here after, you’ll be here after I’m gone.” I know, it was dreadful and misogynistic and juvenile, but it still makes an important point. Everybody in a partnership needs to be here after the same thing.

Partnerships, whether of the carnal or the professional sort, actually do require that the participants have a common purpose. And while this is most true of formal professional partnerships, it’s also largely true of most other arrangements where individuals pool their energies for profit.

I’m not sure how many partnership retreats I’ve attended, but they all had several things in common: high-end resorts, great food, too much alcohol, too little sleep, wonderful bonding at a superficial level, but when it came down to business and the when spreadsheets came out, everyone was ready with a shank. (Yes, I mean “shank” in the prison argot sense.) Because everybody knew that what was on the table was the division of the pie– somebody wants more at my expense. And everybody knew that the same team would not be reassembling at next year’s retreat.

Listen, any business has to be driven by the numbers, and partnerships are no exception. Feeling good and fulfilled are very nice, but somebody has to pay the rent, pay the staff, and everybody needs to take home some money. But when the partnership is driven solely by the numbers, it will not flourish.

This is because, to paraphrase Jesus, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” A true professional cannot live by bread alone. This means that there is a spiritual component which we ignore at our peril.

Certainly the affirmation that comes from superior compensation is important, but the true professional performs best when she or he is “knocking them out of the park” on a professional level. Most professionals– all of the great ones– do what they do because it was what they were born for. It’s the joy, the satisfaction, and, yes, the acclaim, which are the reasons they do what they do. The money just follows.

When a professional is in “the zone” and producing work that nobody else can, he or she is usually very well compensated. It follows that if you have a team of professionals in “the zone”, the team will prosper, professionally and economically.

Far too many professional partnerships get it backwards, and fly the pirate flag which says, “The floggings will continue until morale improves.” True professionals will not be cowed into rowing harder– they seek the freedom to express themselves and do what they were born to do. Badgering them about their monthly billings poisons that spirit, and the whole team suffers. Sooner or later, mutiny will result.

Great partnerships seek the solar flare which happens when the genius of every partner is encouraged to burn, and it all flames together in service of the clientele. When that happens, ideal clients flock to the firm and everyone enjoys a superior income. In fact, when your collective reputation for excellence burns that bright, the problem becomes managing your success.

Building a winning partnership is not about assembling the heavy hitters and the big billers, but in assembling a team of dedicated, passionate, and capable professionals whose combined skills will light up the night sky. And then, with a modicum of common sense business management, everyone prospers, everyone is satisfied.

Regrettably, that’s not the way it’s generally done, and that’s why professional firms spend so much productive time politicking behind closed doors. And that’s why I’m determined to show a better way.