I also discovered that they avoided holding their associates accountable for hitting their agreed billing targets because they didn’t want to damage their good relationships with their associates.

Over time, I guided them to become skilled at making clear requests with agreed-upon deadlines and holding their team members firmly yet compassionately accountable.

After 6 months, not only did they make an extra £596,734 clear profit between the two of them, but they also over-halved their workload AND maintained a great relationship with each of their employees.

How can you do the same?

If you don’t hold associates accountable for their billing targets, many will start to play small, hide, and try to get away with doing less and less work.

On the other hand, if you keep texting or emailing them over their targets and subtly threaten them with consequences if they don’t hit them, they will likely not feel valued, start secretly quitting, and, at some point, may leave your firm.

Getting the balance right isn’t easy, I know.

So, how do you achieve that balance so that everyone hits their targets while enjoying you being their boss and not leaving your firm?

Here are two main points to achieve this:

1. First, agree on targets and then create structures to hold your associates to account for fulfilling them.

A great way to do this is for you or your heads of department to hold them to account via group and one-on-one weekly calls.

If your associates don’t have a date approaching when they know they’ll need to demonstrate the number of hours they’ve billed, they’ll start to hide and play small.

There’s nothing wrong with them; doing this is just human nature.

2. Don’t just hold your associates accountable for their billing targets; find out what each of them wants to succeed at both in and outside your firm and then hold them accountable for succeeding at EVERYTHING that matters to them.

This might seem like a lot for you to handle; however, this can be easily done at the same time as when you hold them accountable for their billing targets, with regular, weekly, one-on-one meetings or video calls.

Firstly, find out what each of your managers or heads of department wants to have made possible by being in their role at your firm. Then, request that each of your managers ask each team member they manage.

My clients who do this are often surprised to hear what their team members want and find all sorts of surprising things, from a month off in the summer to go to India, time for singing lessons, and extra time to spend with their family or even some unlikely individuals wanting to become partners.

Next, agree on targets that, when met, enable the individual to achieve what matters to them both in and outside of their work role.

The secret is not just to have your team members be employed but to also have them be mentored by you or their manager.

My clients who implement this find that everyone in their firm soon starts to look forward to their weekly one-on-one call to check that they are on track to meet their targets because, in doing so, they get they are also on track to get what they want.

When each of your team members has someone who shows care towards them and helps them succeed at hitting their billing targets every week and at everything that matters to them, you’ll be astounded at the level of commitment your associates will give you and your firm.