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Dear Bev,
Three equal partners came together 17 years ago (one FA has a small book with a previous partner that generates approximately 5-8% of his total revenue), and we’ve largely marketed the team’s horizontal structure as a benefit to clients, even though it presents some internal challenges. Each of us, especially early on, leaned on the others to help reach breakpoints/bonuses/etc.
Nowadays, that is less of an issue, and has been for five to seven years. Effort and results have ebbed and flowed naturally until the last few years. However, a pattern has emerged. The issue you mentioned in the workshop I attended, of accountability, prompts my question; all three of us will discuss an opportunity/challenge, agree on a plan and then, many times (especially with prospecting), fail to follow through for any number of reasons.
With prospecting, it is usually because we were “just too busy” or “didn’t have enough time.” Other times it is simply that one of us changed our mind. But in reality, we just didn’t spend the time we had on achieving the agreed upon goal, or never agreed with the plan in the first place.
How do we maintain motivation/commitment from all three partners and keep each other accountable while compensating each of us commensurate with our levels of effort/results?
S.D.
Dear S.D.,
The way you’ve written your inquiry implies that, when partners are “equal,” they are not able to hold one another accountable as easily. You might be inferring that when someone is the boss, or senior to another person, they are able to get them to follow through more easily. It sounds like it should work well, but in the decades I’ve been doing this, I can say accountability is hard to bring about in another person no matter what your position or relationship to them might be.
That said, you actually have a better opportunity to maintain motivation and commitment through holding one another accountable. In the workshop you attended, we used our trademarked SHIFT Model as the basis for our discussion, but I’ll expand on it here for your specific situation:
- Specify the desired outcome. First, the three partners have to agree they want to maintain a focus on new business development, they want to have fair compensation and they want to be held accountable to one another. I know this sounds basic, but if there is no agreement (both verbal and written), this discussion will continue to go on for many more years to come. Agree on what success looks like. Do the partners all equally care about business development? Are they equally skilled at it? Do they need to find ways to manage time more effectively? You can’t answer any of these questions until you all sign on to some outcome that is meaningful to all of you.
- Highlight the obstacles. From what you’ve written, you all get together and “agree on a plan,” but then that plan doesn’t go anywhere. You mentioned being busy or not having enough time. These are obstacles. Time is fixed, but we how manage it is fungible. List your obstacles together and categorize those you can control as individuals, those you can influence (this is where accountability will come into the mix) and those out of your control. Have an honest discussion about these obstacles, because while they exist, you likely have choices about how you address them.
- Identify the human factor between the three of you. Does one of you care more about the new business initiative than others? Are all of you equal in talent in this area? Do you have adequate resources in place to support new business development? Can you leverage your existing client interactions to bring about new introductions to combine business development and client relationships? Talk openly about the human component. Some people procrastinate. Some say they want a goal, but they don’t really want their lives disrupted to work toward it. Sometimes there isn’t infrastructure in place to allow for growth, and people are already stretched to their limits. The human factor can be part of the obstacles. Take the time to review this together.
- Find alternatives. When it comes to accountability, you first have to determine what options you have and what you are willing to agree to. Perhaps your objectives for new business development have been too aggressive. Maybe at one point a partner thinks they have time, but then something changes in life and that time is gone. What choices do the three of you have that are reasonable, workable and you can all sign up for? List these, and then discuss pros and cons to agree on one final solution as a start. You might shift this over time, but find a place to begin.
- Take disciplined action. Now you can craft the plan — who will do something; when will they do it; what does success for that step look like; is there a cost involved; and, very importantly to your question, who will be in charge of accountability? When will you come together as partners to make sure the plan is working? What steps will you put in place before you start to allow for open discussions if you are not meeting the timelines you set out?
Having standing meetings on a periodic basis, having an agenda to review what’s working and what’s not, and having someone with the authority to identify when things are not going as planned are all critical.
This may sound like a lot, but each of these steps on its own does not take much time. If this is meaningful to the three of you, put two 90-minute blocks of time on your calendars to go through this process.
You also asked about motivation. Management theory tells us that you cannot motivate another person; you can only create an environment within which they are self-motivated. Yes, you can put out a “carrot” in the form of compensation, and you can use the “stick” to put someone on a performance plan or some such penalty process. However, as partners you cannot motivate one another to care more about this initiative. This is why taking the time at the outset to agree on the success goals is an imperative. If you are not striving in the same direction and the outcome doesn’t matter as much to one as it does to another, the three of you won’t bring about the alignment you seek.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
