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A-Players Drive Growth—And You May Have More of Them Than You Realize
Every firm and practice leader in professional services has their “go-to” Partners.
You know exactly who they are. They drive major pursuits that fill the pipeline, grow key accounts year over year, and take on the toughest assignments. When growth is on the line or a must-win client is in play, they’re the first people you turn to—not just because they execute, but because they lead with impact.
These top performers are rare, and invaluable because they have a disproportionate impact on your firm’s growth.
What if you could identify and develop more go-to Partners?
Not just based on their resumes, but in terms of how they think, how they behave under pressure, how they influence teams, and how they drive growth in your organization.
Moving a few key people who are B-performers into that small group of high-performing Partners could accelerate the growth of your firm.
It starts by asking, and answering one critical question. (Hint: Use data.)
The Question Every Leader Should Ask
In our work with consulting and professional services firms, we see one consistent challenge: the ability to identify and develop high-performing Partners who can predictably drive growth and carry firm culture. Bonus points for those that can do so quickly.
Of course, every new Partner is expected to be an A performer. Otherwise, why hire or promote them?
The problem is that while technical proficiency and past experience matter, they’re not enough to ensure performance expectations are met or exceeded in the expected timeframe.
So many firms hire direct admit Partners who were A performers in their prior roles and end up being B’s or C’s (or worse) instead.
Yet we’ve seen that combining psychometric data that with targeted performance support, B players can become As, and even Cs can improve. After all, you know they have it in them – they were As in their prior roles.
The firms that outpace their peers are the ones that know why their top performers excel, and use that insight to inform hiring, development, and succession planning.
The question we help our clients answer is simple on the surface but powerful in its implications:
Why do your best people succeed—and how can you develop or acquire more of them?
Do you know who you’re looking for?
It’s an honest question and one that most leaders will answer in the affirmative – “Yes, we know exactly what we need. Someone just like Jeremy, who has a demonstrated track record of success.”
There are two pitfalls in this very common approach. The first is assuming you’ll know the next Jeremy when you meet him, and the second is assuming that prior success in a different environment will translate to success in their new role.
Let’s tackle the first one: finding another Jeremy. This might seem fairly straightforward. Find someone who has a similar background – similar education, roles, and employers. Similar observable traits – outgoing, firm handshake – whatever you think of when you think of Jeremy. Aces the behavioral interview. You check their references and you’re off to the races.
Sounds like a good approach, right?
Except 30%-50% of the time, the Partner you hire will fail.
Because you haven’t really defined what (who) you’re looking for. So how could you possibly find them?
A better way
Start with the usual suspects. Yes, you already know what good looks like in your organization. Year in, year out, you know who you can count on to step up. To deliver the results you need, when you need them most.
What you may not know is why. Why are your top Partners so successful?
This is where Kinavic steps in. We ask you to identify a group of your go-to Partners, the A-players who are already performing at the highest level and serve as culture carriers within your firm.
Next, these high performers complete the Verity Leadership Assessment℠, powered by Hogan Assessments. Verity is Kinavic’s proprietary executive leadership competency model which reflects the behaviors and traits of high performing Partners in professional services.
By objectively measuring and quantifying the common psychological traits and characteristics of these high performers, we make the invisible drivers of their success visible. Using Verity, we can identify the people who will be successful in your firm, not just the people who have been successful somewhere else.
So now what?
Once you understand what sets your best Partners apart, you can start using that insight to accelerate performance across your entire leadership team.
You can combine the visible and the invisible to help you find and build more A-players.
You can use both experience and data to yield real insights regarding who your most likely go-to Partners will be.
You can compare candidates or new hires to the profiles of proven performers to assess potential, guide hiring decisions, and supercharge onboarding.
Knowing what could be (or currently is) getting in the way of high performance will enable you to act decisively to address barriers that accelerate performance. And the sooner (and simpler) you do it, the sooner you’ll have more go-to Partners to help you drive growth.
Scaling Top Talent to Drive Growth
We’re currently working with a global consulting firm to put this approach into action. The head of a key practice area knew exactly who their “go-to” Partners were, but didn’t know why they were so effective. She couldn’t articulate the invisible traits that led to their success, or how to find more of them within the firm, or outside of it.
Using Verity, we’re assessing the group and will use the psychometric data to gain insights into the invisible traits and behaviors that are predictive of success for a Partner at the firm. These traits will guide future hiring and development to accelerate the performance of key Partners and the growth of that practice.
Want to develop more A-players in your firm?
At Kinavic, we help firms turn instinct into insights, and insights into actions that drive growth.
If you’re a leader in a professional services or consulting firm and your firm’s growth is heavily Partner-driven, we’d love to connect. Let’s talk about how we can use Verity to uncover the invisible drivers of success to help you identify and develop more top-performing Partners.
Send us a message through our contact form to schedule an introductory call.