Picture this: It’s December 2026. You’re looking back at the year, and once again, you haven’t moved your career forward. Not really. You meant to. You had good intentions in January. But somehow, twelve months slipped by whilst you waited for the right moment, for your partners to give you clearer guidance, for your workload to calm down.
Meanwhile, your peer, the one who’s arguably less technically brilliant than you, has just been told they’re on the partnership track. Why? Because whilst you were waiting for permission, they just started.
The uncomfortable truth: you’re waiting for permission that’s never going to come. Partnership isn’t a promotion where you wait your turn. It’s a transition to business ownership. And business owners don’t wait to be told what to do – they figure it out and get started.
In this episode, you’ll discover why the Permission Trap is killing your career progression and what to do instead.
In this episode you will learn:
- Why partnership doesn’t work like previous promotions (and why waiting for your turn will leave you stuck)
- The three things you’re probably waiting for that will never arrive (and why your partners deliberately keep criteria fuzzy)
- What happens to your career when you defer action year after year (whilst less talented peers overtake you)
- How to give yourself permission to start before you feel ready (because confidence comes from doing, not before doing)
If you find this episode useful, don’t forget to like it and then subscribe so you don’t miss another episode.
What help is out there for you to progress your career in the professions?
If you’re thinking, ‘I understand I need to stop waiting, but I’m genuinely unsure where to start’, take our free Partnership Readiness Assessment. It takes about 12 minutes and gives you an instant report showing exactly which areas you need to focus on.
If you want structured support to create your career plan and actually implement it, our on-demand course “How to Truly Commit to Moving Your Career Forward” gives you the frameworks to build a plan you’re motivated to execute, PLUS the tactics to create the time you need to work on it. You’ll set your first ONE BIG FOCUS for the next 90 days and create habits that support your career progression.
You can also listen to this episode on Substack and on Apple Podcasts
Hello, and welcome!
Picture this: It’s December 2026. You’re looking back at the year, and once again, you haven’t moved your career forward. Not really. You meant to. You had good intentions in January. But somehow, twelve months slipped by whilst you waited for the right moment, for your partners to give you clearer guidance, for your workload to calm down, for that magical point when you’d finally feel ready.
Meanwhile, your peer, the one who’s arguably less technically brilliant than you, has just been told they’re on the partnership track. Why? Because whilst you were waiting for permission, they just started.
If you’re tired of watching others progress whilst you’re stuck waiting for someone to tell you it’s okay to work on your career, this episode is for you.
This is the How to Make Partner podcast with me, Heather Townsend. The author of Poised for Partnership, and co-author of How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life. In this podcast, I will be highlighting some of the great stuff in our Progress To Partner Academy. New episodes are released weekly, so press subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Right, let’s talk about the Permission Trap and why it’s killing your career progression.
I work with hundreds of lawyers, accountants, and consultants every year. And at the start of each January, I have the same conversation over and over. Someone tells me: “This year is different. This is the year I’m going to properly focus on my career. I’m going to build my profile, win my own work, maybe even put myself forward for partnership.”
Then I speak to them again in March. And nothing’s happened. They’ve been too busy. They’re waiting for their partners to give them clearer direction. They don’t feel quite ready yet.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: you’re waiting for permission that’s never going to come.
Let me ask you something. Are you waiting for your partners to tell you exactly what you need to do to make partner? Are you waiting for your workload to calm down before you start working on business development? Are you waiting until you feel completely confident before you step up and lead that client meeting?
If you answered yes to any of those, you’re stuck in the Permission Trap.
Why the Permission Trap exists
Think about your career journey so far. You qualified. You got promoted junior to senior to a management position. In the early days, someone else made the decision. You put your head down, did good work, and progression came to you.
Partnership doesn’t work like that.
Partnership is fundamentally different because it’s not a promotion. It’s a transition from employee to business owner. And business owners don’t wait to be told what to do. They figure it out and get on with it.
But here’s what trips people up: we’ve been conditioned to wait. We’ve been trained through years of appraisals, feedback sessions, and structured career paths to believe that if we do good work and wait our turn, progression will come to us.
That works brilliantly until you reach the partnership threshold. Then suddenly, the rules change. And the people who succeed are the ones who realise they need to stop waiting and start driving.
Because your results will not do the talking for you!
The three things you’re probably waiting for
First, you’re waiting for your partners to give you a detailed roadmap. You want them to say: “Do X, Y, and Z, and in eighteen months, we’ll make you a partner.” But that’s not how it works. Partnership criteria are deliberately fuzzy because your partners often are not clear themselves. Or don’t want to give you a definitive answer because often the partnership decision rests on ‘it depends’. If you need a detailed instruction manual to make partner, you’re probably not ready to be a partner.
Second, you’re waiting for the perfect moment. You tell yourself you’ll start working on your career properly when things calm down. After this busy period. After you’ve cleared your to-do list. After you feel more confident.
But that perfect moment doesn’t exist. There will always be client work. There will always be urgent requests. There will always be a reason to put your career development on hold. The professionals who make partner don’t wait for calm; they create time for career development even when they’re busy.
Third, you’re waiting to feel ready. You think you need more experience, more confidence, more certainty before you start behaving like a partner. But here’s the secret: you’ll never feel completely ready. Making partner requires you to step into discomfort. The confidence comes from doing the thing, not before doing the thing.
What happens when you wait
I’ve watched this pattern destroy careers. Someone decides this is their year. They’re motivated in January. Then February arrives with its client deadlines. March brings unexpected urgent work. Before they know it, it’s June, and they haven’t done a single thing on their career plan.
They tell themselves: “I’ll start properly after the summer.” But the summer doesn’t bring the calm they expected. Then it’s September, then November, and suddenly it’s December again. Another year gone. No progress made.
Meanwhile, their peers are being put forward for partnership. Not because they’re more talented. Not because they’re working longer hours. But because they stopped waiting for permission and just started. After all they have realised that their partners are not thinking about them and their career progression 24/7. In fact it’s probably not even a priority for their partners.
Every month you don’t build your profile is a month where others are stealing your limelight. Every networking event you skip because you’re “too busy” is a relationship you’re not building. Every time you defer to a partner in a client meeting instead of taking the lead, you’re reinforcing the idea that you’re not partner material.
Career progression isn’t linear. It builds on itself. The more visible you are, the more opportunities come your way. But when you’re starting from zero every January because you didn’t do anything last year, you’re always pushing a boulder uphill.
Why 2026 needs to be different
You only have so many years in your career where making partner is a realistic option. If you’re already a senior associate or director, you probably have a five to ten year window. Every year you wait is a year you can’t get back.
The professionals who make partner aren’t necessarily the most technically brilliant. They’re the ones who take action before they feel ready. They’re the ones who back themselves when no one else will.
And here’s the thing: you don’t have to have it all figured out to start. You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need to take the first step.
In Chapter 3 of Poised for Partnership, I talk about creating your Partner Track Plan using something called a ONE BIG FOCUS. This is the one thing you want to change or achieve in the next 90 days to drive your career forward the most. It might be winning £120k of your own work. It might be feeling more confident in client meetings. It might be systematically delegating so you have time for business development.
The point isn’t to tackle everything at once. The point is to stop waiting and start doing something.
Your permission slip
If you’re waiting for someone to give you permission to work on your career, consider this your permission slip.
You have permission to block out time in your diary for business development, even when you’re busy. You have permission to say no to work that doesn’t serve your career goals. You have permission to put yourself forward for opportunities before you feel completely ready.
Most importantly, you have permission to back yourself, even when it feels uncomfortable.
Because the people who make partner aren’t the ones who waited until they were ready. They’re the ones who started before they were ready and figured it out along the way.
Stop waiting for the perfect moment. Stop waiting for your partners to hand you a detailed roadmap. Stop waiting until you feel completely confident. 2026 is your year, but only if you decide to make it your year. No one else can make that decision for you.
Now, if you’re thinking, “I understand I need to stop waiting, but I’m genuinely unsure where to start,” I’d recommend taking our free Partnership Readiness Assessment. It takes about 12 minutes to complete, and you’ll get an instant report showing you exactly which key indicators you need to focus on to progress your career. It will tell you precisely where to start.
And if you want structured support to create your career plan and build the habits to actually implement it, that’s exactly what our on-demand course “How to Truly Commit to Moving Your Career Forward” is designed for. This course helps you create a career development plan you’re actually motivated to implement, PLUS you’ll put steps in place to give you the time you need to work on your career. By the end of the course, you’ll have created the time and space to do a little on your career plan every week, and you’ll have set your first ONE BIG FOCUS for the next 90 days.
I’ve popped a link to the Partnership Readiness Assessment and our Progress To Partner Academy directly in the show notes for this episode. Also in the show notes, you’ll find links to my books – Poised for Partnership and How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life – so you can easily find them on Amazon. And as a thank you for listening, there’s also a link for a 10% discount on annual membership for our Progress To Partner Academy using the code PODCAST10.
That’s all for this episode of the How to Make Partner podcast.
What’s your action for this week?
Identify one thing, just one thing, that you’ve been putting off because you’re waiting for the right moment or waiting for someone to tell you it’s okay to do it. Then do it this week. Book that conversation. Block that time in your diary. Send that email. Take that first step.
If you have enjoyed this episode please leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or give us a comment on Substack. This helps us get the word out to others who may need this advice too. Remember to hit subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s episode.
Thanks for listening!
About Progress To Partner Academy: On-demand career help and guidance
You have to drive your career forwards. Your firm wouldn’t do that for you.
Stop waiting to be noticed for career development courses by your firm.
Make the firm notice you! You will get the skills and knowledge about what the partners are really looking for when you join our Progress to Partner Academy.
In our Progress To Partner Academy you’ll find our popular courses:
– How to delegate like a pro
– How to lead a hybrid team
– How to excel as a line manager
Join our Progress To Partner Academy and use the code PODCAST10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
Links
Complete my FREE Partnership Readiness Assessment – to see where you have gaps in your own development – you’ll get a personalised report with actions for what progress your career forward
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Join Progress To Partner Academy and use the code PODCAST10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
Buy your hard copy of Poised for Partnership or buy the Ebook here
Buy your copy of How To Make Partner And Still Have A Life
Buy your copy of The Go To Expert
Buy your copy of The Financial Times Guide To Business Networking
Join my Progress To Partner Academy and access all my courses and use the code PODCASTBP10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
______________________________________
More help to progress your career in your law, accountancy or consulting firm?
- Sign up to my weekly tips packed full of advice and knowledge on how to progress your career in your professional service firm – click here!
