Last month, we revealed the overarching results of our first-ever 2025 New Partner Experience Survey. From those insights, we identified six actionable and critical communication levers that firms can pull to better support their Emerging Partners.

When applied intentionally, the anchors of goal setting, feedback, compensation, training, executive coaching, and mentorship help create a more productive and successful transition for both the individual and the firm.

However, we also found a gap between what firms aim to provide and what New Partners actually experience during this transition.

This month, we’re taking a closer look at how communication plays a pivotal role in closing that gap.

The Power of Open Communication during the Transition to New Partner

The journey to Partnership is a profound transformation. For accounting professionals stepping into the New Partner role, responsibilities deepen, expectations shift, and the guardrails that were in place for them as senior managers fall away. The shift brings more autonomy, more ambiguity, and often more anxiety.

We have learned through our work with both firms and individuals navigating this transition that confidence and adequate support are not a given, and our 2025 New Partner Experience Survey tells us confidence and success are cultivated through structure, clarity, and courageous communication.

Confidence Is Built on Clarity

When New Partners create their own clearly identifiable and self-measurable goals, request and integrate feedback, and have honest conversations about compensation, they regain the sense of agency and empowerment that propelled them toward Partnership in the first place.

Uncertainty is inevitable, especially at the Partner level, where the support rails that have been in place fade, while risk and strategic complexity increase.

Open and ongoing communication are the antidote – they help leaders stabilize amid ambiguity and step confidently into their role.

Our New Partner Experience Survey revealed three key areas of communication that make all the difference:

  • Goal Setting
  • Feedback
  • Compensation

Defining Success from the Inside Out: Goal Setting

New Partners with formal goals reported significantly higher levels of confidence, effectiveness, and transition success.

Many accounting professionals spend their early careers chasing externally defined milestones: quality standards, client deadlines, promotion criteria. But the leap to Partnership invites a deeper question: “What do I want for myself, and who do I want to be as a Partner?”

We’ve found that confidence rises significantly when individuals articulate goals that reflect their whole self. Taking into account what the firm’s needs are and what they envision for themselves as leaders, colleagues, and humans integrates both into a more holistic success narrative.

This is where our Personal Partner Success Plan comes in. This year-long support process starts with inviting the New Partner to envision the leader they want to be. We encourage them to bring their whole selves to the table.

From there, we guide New Partners to:

  • Define clear, one-year goals that align with their vision.
  • Build quarterly action plans to move their goals forward.
  • Identify resources to support execution.
  • Establish a maintenance and self-accountability structure.
  • Create habits and routines of support for self-care.
  • Integrate personal goals with firm goals.

Then we ask a pivotal question, “How will you know you’re moving toward what truly matters to you?”

When New Partners set their own measures of success, their self-authored, measurable, and emotionally resonant goals create a dynamic, living structure that provides stability and inspiration, empowering New Partners to navigate their expanded responsibilities while staying connected to their purpose.

Feedback: more than a mechanism for correction, it’s a two-way mirror that cultivates deeper communication.

Our New Partner Experience Survey found that nearly half of New Partners said the feedback they receive is not enough.

As New Partners step into leadership roles, the feedback loop often breaks down. When they are no longer reporting to a Partner with a clear and singular goal of making Partner, New Partners may lose the regular input they once relied upon.

But feedback is just as vital, if not more so, at this point in an accountant’s career, and New Partners must learn to proactively pursue it.

We’ve seen how feedback linked to personal goals becomes a catalyst for accountability and cohesion, deepens team relationships, and helps New Partners step into their influence.

Asking for feedback as a leader requires a new level of vulnerability and invites trust and deeper levels of buy-in and collaboration from teams.

When New Partners create their own structures of feedback, it could look like:

  • Sharing leadership goals with their teams and asking for input on how they’re doing.
  • Actively seeking regular mentorship, guidance, and feedback from Senior Partners.
  • Connecting the feedback they receive to self-defined goals.

Firms can support this by formalizing feedback channels where possible. But even in their absence, New Partners can proactively leverage open communication to build clarity, structure, and confidence in themselves and for their teams.

Compensation: Demystifying the Dollars

Perhaps the most clouded aspect of the Partnership transition is compensation. Many firms don’t provide clarity until someone makes Partner, which can leave New Partners with more questions than answers.

Common gaps include:

  • Understanding base salary versus bonus structure.
  • Navigating multiple changes in compensation.
  • Equity buy-in processes and distribution models.
  • Tax implications, responsibilities, and financial planning needs.

Without this clarity, New Partners may feel powerless over their earnings, particularly if performance metrics aren’t explicitly tied to compensation. The myth of a massive financial leap upon becoming a New Partner can quickly unravel, leading to frustration and disappointment if expectations don’t match reality.

Our New Partner Experience Survey found that nearly half of New Partners said their compensation is less than they expected.

To counter this, we advise New Partners to:

  • Ask early and often (ideally before the promotion to Partner) about compensation structures, even if Senior Partners can’t completely divulge answers, or answers are ambiguous.
  • Be transparent about what you need to feel secure and motivated, while understanding the jump to Partner may not include a jump in pay at the outset. Ask about the long-term benefits and compensation potential.
  • Find an advocate within the Partner group to help you navigate ambiguity.

The key is to maintain a curious and open mindset, inviting all parties to keep the door open for continued clarification and discussion, and to view the compensation conversation as ongoing.

The 2025 New Partner Experience Survey underscores what we at Intend2Lead have long witnessed in our work with New Partners: the transition to Partner is as emotionally demanding as it is professionally significant. When open communication around goals, feedback, and compensation is prioritized, confidence and clarity take root. These findings are more than statistics, they are signals pointing to where firms can take meaningful action and New Partners can reclaim agency in their growth.

With years of hands-on experience guiding individuals and firms through this critical inflection point, Intend2Lead stands ready to help bridge the gap between potential and impact. If you’re committed to transforming your firm’s leadership culture and ensuring your New Partners thrive, we invite you to take the next step: partner with us to bring intention, clarity, and structure to your New Partner experience.

See you in the DoP,