David Morley: 7 things I wish I knew before becoming senior partner

Anyone who takes on a senior leadership role within a law firm needs to have a sincere interest in people, the global senior partner and former managing partner of Allen & Overy has said.

"I find people endlessly fascinating - how they think and why they behave the way they do," noted David Morley. "I've seen so much over the years that nothing people do really surprises me anymore, I take it all in my stride."

He said there are seven things every senior or managing partner needs to be truly effective. Political capital and a personal brand are important, as are the ability to communicate, to inspire, to delegate and to have difficult conversations. Law firm leaders also need high-visibility leadership and strong emotional intelligence.

"The most important of these is political capital - it ties into your personal credibility and your ability to persuade people," he said. "Without political capital, you will struggle to be effective as a leader."¹

1. Political capital

Speaking at a Winmark CEO Network meeting chaired by Beverly Landais, marketing and BD director at Saunderson House, Morley noted that political capital can be rapidly dissipated following your appointment as managing or senior partner.²

"Political capital is easy to lose," he
said, "so pick your battles - each one leaves a scar."

He suggested that perks (such as free parking) can hold far greater emotional significance to people than their monetary value, so it is advisable to tread carefully when seeking to cut costs in politically-sensitive areas.

"Don't underestimate the importance of status and perks to individuals," he warned.

Once you have taken a stand on a sensitive issue, it is critical to take a firm but flexible approach.³

"If you upset people - perhaps in ways you did not intend or expect - do you back down or do you tough it out? Everyone will be watching to see which way you go.

"If you withdraw and show that you are damaged, you will lose political capital - people will think 'just keep pushing and eventually he'll back down'. But, if you don't give way at least in part, you will be seen as rigid and inflexible."

He said that it's often better to take a staged approach rather than an all-or-nothing approach to implementing big changes as, with the former, it is easier to demonstrate that you are reasonable and are prepared to adapt.

2. Personal brand

Most leaders don't realise that they have a widely-perceived image within their firm which is based on both their interpersonal behaviours and their messaging, especially emails. Leaders who frequently send difficult or inconsequential messages by email to their partners create negative emotional associations with their names, even if they are just delivering those messages on behalf of, say, the finance team or the chair.⁴

"You will constantly be asked to
send out messages to the firm, each of which will be important to someone,"
noted Morley.

"But, whatever messages you send out also tells people who you are and what you stand for. If you're not careful, some messages can affect how you are perceived and damage your credibility in the long run.

"The golden rule is: be very particular about which messages you send out as senior or managing partner."

It is critical to ensure your leadership style is aligned with your personality, rather than trying to mimic that of other successful leaders. For example, pretending to be more extroverted than
you are can result in significant damage
to your credibility.

"Your leadership style has to be authentic - you cannot succeed otherwise. People can sense insincerity immediately," he said.

Also important for maintaining credibility is not taking a black-and-white approach to emotionally-sensitive decisions, even if you have been vested with ultimate decision-making authority.

"Never issue threats or ultimatums unless you are prepared to follow through with them - if you cave, you will permanently lose credibility."

Morley suggested taking professional communications advice on how to handle issues which could affect your personal brand as a leader. He noted that a good PA can also act as your ambassador by conveying the image of openness and accessibility, while also alerting you to any damaging rumours circulating about you.

Seeking out high-quality feedback regularly can help you to be aware of how you are being perceived internally and how effective you are seen to be in the role.

"In my experience, feedback is often filtered - people tell you what they think you want to hear. The trap is to believe that feedback and that you are infallible."

He noted that feedback forms and surveys are not as useful for obtaining constructive feedback as face-to-face conversations.

"You need to have the opportunity
for all people to share their honest views," he reflected.

Often, he will ask an office that he is visiting to nominate a person to gather anonymous questions and feedback from colleagues. He will then respond to those comments and queries in an open discussion with the office.

"People can then deliver the information you need anonymously and without embarrassment," he said.

3. Communicate to inspire

One of the things which Morley said surprised him most when taking on a senior management role was the amount of time needed for communication.

"Communication is more than half my job, so it's critical to communicate effectively," he said.

Keeping in regular contact and delivering positive messages and stories about the firm is important to being an inspiring leader and instigating cultural change.⁵ One strategy which Morley has adopted is to send 'postcards' to the firm based on his travels around Allen & Overy's global network. Often written on the plane during his return journey and later posted on the firm's intranet, these notes avoid 'management speak' and share his personal impressions of the places, offices and people he has visited.

For him, one of the hardest things to communicate effectively is firm strategy. Sometimes, things which appear to be clear and obvious to the leadership are not always seen in the same light by partners because they have not undergone the same thought processes. The challenge is to ensure he is conveying the most significant details while also not overburdening partners with contextual and analytical information.

"As a lawyer, the temptation is to overload a strategy document with information to demonstrate that you haven't omitted or overlooked any details. But, if you cannot reduce your strategy document to one page that everyone can understand, it's not going to be effective."⁶

He noted that, contrary to his training as a lawyer, immediacy can often be more important than comprehensiveness of communication as a leader. Sending a quick summary by email of what was discussed at a board meeting by lunchtime the next day (together with links to more details) can be far more effective than a more thorough email a week later.

"Sending a long email a week after a board meeting loses impact - partners will know that a lot of time has been spent drafting and redrafting it and will be more cynical about what it says."

4. Delegation

For Morley, a big challenge when first taking on the role of managing partner was a change in his role from problem solver to problem delegator. This required a shift in thinking and an acceptance that he would no longer have full control of the things which fall within his areas of responsibility.

"As lawyers, we pride ourselves on our ability to solve problems - it's what we love and what we're good at and it's the main part of our role," he said. "But, as a leader, you learn that there is almost nothing that you can do on your own, no problem you can resolve by yourself - everything is done through others.

"With a large number of small and big decisions constantly flowing through to the new leader, it is easy to get overwhelmed by them to the point of actually inhibiting change within your firm.

"You need a strategy for processing decisions or you will get swamped with them," he warned. "If you don't have a strategy for how you will act, you will become a bottleneck for decisions."

Morley noted that law firm leaders need to be "ruthless" about their time management and to hire the right people to do the right work. Sometimes, this can mean looking outside of the sector for specialist expertise, but that can create new difficulties.

"People from a non-PSF background can be hard to integrate into the firm because it's a big culture change for them," he said. "Ultimately, trust is key to effective delegation."

5. Difficult conversations

An inevitable part of the role of managing or senior partner is having difficult conversations with people who are underperforming or behaving in ways which go against the firm's values. Such messages can be uncomfortable to deliver and, if the conversation is not handled correctly, the other person can come out of a meeting oblivious to the fact that he had been in a difficult conversation.

"You need to be clear to the other person that you are conveying a difficult message," said Morley.

There is often a temptation to sandwich a piece of bad news within two pieces
of good news, in an effort to sweeten
the bitter message. But, this can often
be distracting to the recipient and can
limit his understanding of the message being delivered.⁷

"Be upfront, don't sugar coat it and don't try to justify it - at least in the initial conversation," he advised.

"People often can't focus on more than one big piece of information at a time and they can't absorb the sweeteners being offered - they're too busy trying to understand the main message being delivered. Just deliver your message and be prepared to respond to their arguments, but don't get sucked into them."

A key part of preparing for difficult conversations is making sure you have understood the issue fully and have all of the relevant facts. Not taking the time to do so can result in damage to your credibility if you are forced to backtrack.

"You don't want to have a partner turn around to you in a meeting and surprise you with critical information you hadn't considered - that can put you on the
back foot, which is difficult to recover from," he warned.

While fact-gathering is important, speed of action is also necessary. Problems can easily fester when left unchallenged and can create the impression that the firm has a high tolerance for bad behaviour.⁸

"Problems don't get better with age, so the sooner you can have a conversation about them, the better."

To avoid perceptions of unfair treatment, leaders should ensure they speak with all affected partners before making decisions about individual partner departures, he said.

Morley also suggested rehearsing difficult conversations in advance with a trusted colleague, friend or family member.

6. High-visibility leadership

Many new managing partners and senior partners are naturally introverted and therefore struggle to build a high profile internally and externally. Some leaders deliberately take a low profile, but this can weaken their authority in the long term.

Morley noted that he was personally uncomfortable with taking a public role initially, but that he has made a concerted effort to develop public speaking skills which are in line with his own personality.

Another area of focus for him was demonstrating that he would 'walk the talk' as a leader."

People judge you more by your actions than by your words," he said. "Being visible across your firm and to clients is very important."

He advised against relying solely on emails, intranets, videoconferences and teleconferences to communicate with people, as face-to-face conversations create stronger relationships in the longer term.

"Personal contact is much more important than anything else - you can learn more from people and resolve issues much more effectively and quickly."

Also important is your behaviour during interpersonal communications, as a lack of openness and attentiveness can be read as a dismissive or arrogant attitude.

"You will be closely observed on how well you participated in an activity and how well you engaged with people," he said.

"It's almost theatrical sometimes - it's always show time!"

7. Emotional intelligence

The seventh quality which is critical to success as a managing or senior partner is emotional intelligence, said Morley. Without being aware of the way people emotionally respond to what you say and how you behave, you risk losing influence and political capital - things you need if you want to get anything significant done.

He believes it's important to deliver your message in an emotionally-open way in order to demonstrate authenticity and increase likeability. This will, in turn, win your audience's hearts and minds, which are critical to achieving sustainable organisational change.

"Don't underestimate the power of emotion," he warned. "Showing a little emotion at the right time can be a very powerful way of influencing people."

Sincerity is key, as any attempt at artificially constructing emotion will be quickly sensed by partners and damage trust in you as a leader.

"Genuine emotion is needed - you cannot manufacture it."

Morley noted that one way in which he prepares for meetings with partners is to have his PA prepare a single-page printout with their names and photos for him as a reminder.

"I then spend two or three minutes before a meeting looking at the pictures and memorising the names so that I can address them by name during the meeting," he said.

"It's amazing what a big difference such a small detail as remembering people's names can make - partners feel that you are treating each of them as a person rather than as a role."

A team approach

While both the managing and senior partner can do their utmost to manage themselves and others in the role, few will be able to be truly effective without having each other's support.⁹

Morley, who served for five years as global managing partner of Allen & Overy before taking on the role of senior partner in 2010, believes the support of his counterparts has been key to his success.

"It's critically important for the managing and senior partner to be able to work well together," he said. "In some firms, they get along but they fundamentally disagree about strategy or the way their firm should be run. That can create a very difficult situation. I've been lucky enough to have had a good relationship with my senior partner when I was managing partner and vice versa."

When the managing and senior partners are known to have a difference of opinion on the firm's strategy, it's easy for both to lose authority. Inevitably, partners will choose who they will bring certain issues to for addressing. This can result in conflicts between the two leaders and a polarising of the partnership on sensitive issues, making them more difficult to resolve with your political capital intact.

"Don't let them play each of you off against each other," warned Morley.

Manju Manglani is editor of Managing Partner (www.managingpartner.com)

References

1. See 'Superleader: What makes an effective law firm leader', Kate Clifton, Managing Partner, Vol. 14 Issue 3, November 2011

2. See 'Patrick McKenna: How new managing partners can avoid being 'blindsided'', Manju Manglani, Managing Partner, Vol. 17 Issue 8, May 2015

3. See 'Leading stallions: 11 rules of engagement for equity partner meetings', Vicky Brackett, Managing Partner, Vol. 15 Issue 4, Dec 2012/Jan 2013

4. See 'Say my name: Build an authentic personal brand as a lawyer and leader', Rachel Brushfield and Chrissie Lightfoot, Managing Partner, Vol. 13 Issue 8, May 2011

5. See 'Heroes and legends: Use storytelling to instigate cultural change', Jill King, Managing Partner, Vol. 15 Issue 8, May 2013

6. See 'Simplifying strategy: The one-page business plan', Ellen Leenhouts and Marc van Eck, Managing Partner, Vol. 17 Issue 4, Dec 2014/Jan 2015

7. See 'Honestly speaking: The healing power of honest conversations', Mark Brandon and Jonathan Macfarlane, Managing Partner, Vol. 15 Issue 10, Jul/Aug 2013

8. See 'The dark side: Trends in antisocial behaviour in law firm partnerships', Ben Rigby and Alex Aldridge, Managing Partner, Vol. 14 Issue 8, May 2012 and 'Hardwiring values: How to develop an effective values programme', Andrew Hedley, Managing Partner, Vol. 13 Issue 6, March 2011

9. See 'Ally or adversary? Fix your relationship with your senior partner', Ben Rigby, Managing Partner, Vol. 15 Issue 7, April 2013