Bittersweet Journey: A Five-year Update on Transitioning a Firm.

• Author: Boman, Lynda R.
• Position: Practice management

every journey has a destination. However, the time to reach that destination can vary by days, weeks, months and even years. One of my most stressful journeys started more than five years ago.

Nearly six years ago my good friend, Wesley, died suddenly from heart failure. Although he had some significant health issues over the years, it still came as a shock when he passed. A few years prior to his death, he and I had met over lunch and talked about being each other's emergency plan if something were to happen to us.

It was a serious discussion, but by the time lunch had ended, we had talked about lots of other things and the emergency plan seemed like something we would not have to work through and finalize for many years. We never formalized a plan, but simply agreed we would help each others' spouse through the transition, if needed.

It was Dec. 29, 2015, when his office called to tell me he passed away. I immediately drove to his office and met with his staff, tears streaming down our faces, and then they looked to me to see what to do next. What was I supposed to tell them? I was not planning on acquiring his firm; we had only discussed helping the other spouse work through the selling of the firm. But, for various reasons, I ended up acquiring his clients and hiring his staff on Feb. 1, 2016.

This was when the even harder part of my journey began. I have just completed my sixth tax season after the transition and when I look back, I've learned a lot. Here are three key areas that have impacted my journey.

Staffing

This was, by far, the hardest and most stressful area to manage during the transition. Wesley and I both had small firms (less than five employees each). Within 30 days of his passing, my firm grew to nine employees and we then hired a few more administrative staff.

The transition did not go as well as hoped. Wesley and I had similar values, but very different work styles. I don't think his staff ever felt part of my firm and I struggled to find out what they needed to feel part of the team.

At first, I thought it was the grieving process that they needed to go through, even though they really didn't want to grieve with me. I held firm retreats, hired a team building consultant, hosted firm events, but we weren't able to create the combined firm I hoped for.

I realized we were not the firm that they wanted to work with. They liked what they had before and did not like the sudden change.

There were days when I was discouraged...