I’ve heard the same concern regarding succession planning in five recent meetings with managing partners and leadership teams: how do I and my partners focus on what creates the most value for our firm? So, I asked, “Why can’t you leverage the work that isn’t your highest personal value?”

The common reasons were, well, common: Not enough staff. Too many partners or senior professionals. A lack of technical abilities at the lower level. But the main word most used to describe the issue was “trust.”

If I was a staff member at any of these firms, and I heard you don’t trust me after five, six, or even seven years, I’d have questions. So, I asked each partner to explain. Was it competency issues? Integrity concerns? Questionable work style issues? Improper training?

Everyone started backpedaling on the word when I challenged it.

We dug into what’s preventing them from making sure partners are doing partner work, thinking strategically, and growing relationships while staff does staff work (with the opportunity to learn and grow, of course). Then, a senior manager with 14 years of experience, who was in one of the meetings, chimed in.

She has a client with many derivatives in oil and gas, but she said she doesn’t have anyone she can leverage that work to. I asked her how long she’s been doing this work, and she said since her first year at the firm.

I prepared her for a direct question. “Are you saying you were so smart to handle this work from day one, and in the past 14 years, the firm hasn’t hired or trained someone to help you?”

She laughed and said neither she nor her partners never looked at it that way. The year she took the work over, the professional who handled it unexpectedly left. The partner on the engagement told her it’s a high-technical, high-exposure area, and while he had done this work before, he wanted her to go out, research the area, make some mistakes, and then learn from him and those mistakes.

In a perfect world, that’s how it would always happen. Unfortunately, that’s usually the exception and not the norm.

When I talk with partners about growth and client service, they feel inhibited to be successful because “they’re so busy” and don’t have the time to do anything outside of client work.

One of my clients recently said he couldn’t trust his staff to do the job the way he does it, and he didn’t want his client to call him back if the work was subpar. In reality, he hadn’t taken the time to train his team and discuss expectations.

What causes me to scratch my head sometimes is how long we’ll keep people we say we don’t “trust.” So in reality, it’s likely not a lack of trust from an integrity standpoint, it’s more likely we either haven’t trained or empowered them to own the work. Or said another way, we haven’t given them the opportunity.

I cannot overstate the detrimental impact on succession planning efforts – and success – of not providing the right amount of opportunity to your team.

When I lead partner retreats, I ask the team three questions:

  • What’s your highest and best use for your firm?
  • What do you need to give up?
  • What do you need to add or do more of?

As you develop in your experience and tenure as partner, it’s imperative to remember you can’t do everything. Your clients enjoy and trust working with you, but they’re here for the service your entire team provides them, even if those team members are in the background. By not bringing staff in and empowering them with more opportunity and responsibility on engagements, you’re not giving your succession strategy a fighting chance for long-term success after you retire.

The extraordinary value of the backup quarterback rests with the fact the starter can be knocked out of a game at any time. The quarterback position is so important, the team must have someone waiting in the wings who is capable of taking over at any moment without the team missing a beat. In this new reality, everyone on staff is a backup quarterback.

It’s up to you to invest in and empower your team to keep your firm moving toward the future.