Congratulations (and condolences)!
You’ve been promoted to partner! Now what?
As our British cousins would remind us, transitions can be dangerous, if attention is not paid.
Probably the hardest transition in your design career is the move from Project Management to Firm Leadership. For the last few years, you have been managing the details, schedules, technical development and other tasks involved in multiple design projects. How hard can leadership be?
Firm Leadership
In a word, firm management means Leadership. After that, everything can be delegated to experts, accountants, HR specialists, lawyers, etc. In fact, I highly recommend delegating those roles wherever possible. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that because you own (all or a part of the firm) you are supposed to know everything, do everything, be everything. That’s why you hire smart people. My mentor told me that “If you hire smart people, you can retire to the beach and they’ll send bags of money, but if you hire dumb people, you have to stick around all the time to tell them what to do.” He retired to the beach. The most important part of leadership is LEAD.
While the technical issues of managing a firm will absorb much of your time, your most important job is building and maintaining the firm’s culture.
How do you that?
In a previous article, I wrote about the importance of a well-considered Vision Statement and it’s role in defining your vision. Leadership is how You demonstrate that vision, the core values, and teach the staff about your firm’s vision. You cannot bully, ignore, or assume that someone else will tell the staff what your firm is about, or your vision is, or how to treat other people (staff or clients). Remember the saying “Do as I do, not as I say” Leadership is the way you create teamwork, and teamwork is how you create value.
