The partners I meet are, almost without exception, brilliant at the work and generous with their clients. When a growth plan is agreed around the table, everyone means it. Then a client needs something by Friday, and the client comes first, exactly as it should.

What if each partner had a short list of who to contact and why, with the note already drafted, so the only thing left was the part only they can do?

What if business development fitted into the gaps between client meetings, ten minutes at a time?

What if the follow-up after every note was already in hand, so a good conversation always had a next step?

What if you could see, in one place, which conversations had happened and which were coming up?

Could the partners' meeting become the place where the wins get shared?

I've worked beside partners for 25 years, and the shape is familiar. The plan is good, the intent is real, and client work fills the week, because client work is what partners are brilliant at and what the firm is built on. Business development then arrives with none of the things that make them so good at everything else: a clear brief, a reason to pick up the phone this week, the first few lines already written, and someone minding what happens next.

We'd never hand a partner a client file with nothing in it. Business development deserves the same courtesy, and once it gets it, following through becomes the easy part.

Here's how I take that off your plate

The department I run sits outside the firm and does the preparation that was never a partner's job. Every week or two, each partner gets a short list: who to contact, why now, and the note already drafted in their own voice. The list is short on purpose. Three names a partner can act on between client meetings are worth more than a long list waiting for a free afternoon.

I keep track of what happens next. When a note goes out, the follow-up is mine to mind. When a meeting is booked, it goes on the board. You get a dashboard that shows the whole firm's conversations in one place, and a short word from me each month on what it brought in, so the managing partner has one less thing to hold.

And the plan plays to each partner's strengths. Some love the room and want more of it; others are at their best writing, introducing a colleague or keeping a long relationship warm. Each gets the kind of business development that suits them, properly prepared.

Picture a partner with a full diary and a client deadline on Friday. On Monday morning she opens a note that's already written for her: "I saw you've taken over as finance director since we last spoke, congratulations. We did the restructuring work for your predecessor and I'd like to make sure what we set up still suits you. Would a coffee in the next fortnight be useful?" She changes a word, sends it, and has a reply by lunchtime. Ten minutes of business development, and it was the part she's best at.

What it adds up to is a programme partners can follow through on, because the preparation is done before it reaches them: the list, the reason and the draft arrive together, the follow-up is handled, and the managing partner can see it all in one place.

Partners give their best to their clients. Making business development easy for them is a good use of my week.