Under the bonnet: Aligning talent management with firm strategy

 

The trends converging in today’s law firms demand new approaches to two major problems:

1. ?associates having more independent and demanding mindsets; and

2. the need for firms to equip associates with the skills to bring in new business.

Despite recognising these challenges and the need to adapt to this new reality, the roadmap to designing and implementing results-based talent management strategies remains unclear for many law firm leaders.

This article discusses the links between talent management strategy and firm strategy, and the impact of a true alignment between the two.

Firm challenges

A number of factors have led to the need for a new approach to talent management in law firms in recent years. These include the impact of the economic downturn, globalisation, technology and ‘Generation Y’ expectations and values, making it harder than ever before to manage talent.

Law firms have become more specialised, diverse, performance driven and team oriented (although teamwork remains a challenge for many lawyers). At the same time, the youngest generation of lawyers are increasingly connected, global and mobile, making it challenging to engage and retain the best young talent.

Lawyers today are difficult to manage because they tend to need intellectual challenge and continuous progression, to have high expectations of their careers, to be reluctant to follow procedures and need to be highly motivated to perform well.

For any talent management strategy to have a significant impact on a firm, it needs to be linked horizontally to HR management and vertically to the firm’s strategy-making process.

Measuring firm maturity

So, how can law firms measure the level of maturity of their approaches to talent management? The five stages of talent management maturity that law firms can ?go through, as illustrated in Figure 1, are as follows.?

1. There is no talent management strategy: where talent is developed, ?it is incidental.

2. There are isolated, tactical ?pockets of talent management activities: there is no overall plan for talent management.

3. There are integrated and coordinated talent management activities for a particular segment of the firm.

4. There is a talent management strategy designed to deliver ?firm strategy.

5. Talent management informs and is informed by the firm’s strategy.

?Full alignment of talent management ?and strategy takes place when individual and pooled talent is understood and ?taken into consideration in the firm’s strategic processes.

 

Factors affecting maturity

A number of factors affect the level of maturity of talent management in law firms. These include the firm’s structure, size, culture and leadership style.

In some international law firms, there appears to be a gap between the level of sophistication of talent management initiatives and their alignment with overall business needs and strategies.
Additionally, many firms have talent management systems in place which fail in the implementation stage.

Smaller firms often have fewer or no talent management systems and processes in place. But, because of their size, they can sometimes have greater proximity and communication between partners and associates on a day-to-day basis, providing the basis for talent management initiatives to happen informally.

Moving to the next level

When assessing the maturity of talent management in a firm, the talent management systems and policies need to be evaluated and measured, but so does the firm’s ability to effectively implement its various talent management initiatives.

To assess the level of talent management maturity, a talent management audit should be conducted to measure whether:?

• there is enough senior management buy-in;

• there is a clear definition of talent;

• the definition of talent is transparent and measurable;

• there is a good development plan which uses best activities for ?specific needs;

• there is internal and external support in place to coach and develop lawyers;

• partners have a good understanding of the drivers and context of talent management initiatives;

• there is a high-impact mentoring programme;

• partners are given the tools to deal with poor performance;

• the firm employs appropriate ?retention tactics;

• there is good exit management ?in place; and

• talent management initiatives are monitored for constant improvement.

Designing a talent management strategy that is closely linked to the business ?needs and strategy of the firm is a starting point. The biggest challenge, however, is creating the conditions and culture for a talent management strategy to be effectively implemented.

Law firms have rightly identified in recent years the need for associates to be equipped with robust business development and client relationship skills as early as possible in their careers.

What numerous law firms have ?yet failed to improve is their partners’ ?skills to properly support and manage ?the development of their lawyers and teams to achieve the firms’ business needs and strategies. The ability to effectively manage and support the development of talent by providing effective feedback, career conversations, constructive performance reviews and mentoring is, in practice, what aligns the needs of the lawyers with the needs of the firm.

Leveraging resources

As law firms have increased in size and become more diverse, the trend over the past couple of decades has been to replace informal mentoring and passing-on of knowledge directly from partners to associates with formal training and management courses.

Training in law firms is of course essential. However, focusing on equipping partners individually with the practical coaching and mentoring skills that they can apply in their day-to-day dealings with associates is one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways for law firms to invest in talent. These skills are critical in creating the conditions and culture that effectively align talent management initiatives with the firm’s strategy.

The use of external coaches to ?support and develop talent is an effective approach in some situations and, in particular, in helping lawyers with major career transitions. However, the most aligned approach will always be to use the firm’s internal talent management resources and to have the partners use coaching and mentoring techniques to develop their associates.

All too often, taking the time to ?provide feedback is viewed as a waste of time that could otherwise be spent on client work. In fact, effective feedback requires competence, but does not require much time.

Mentoring programmes are also critical ways to align individuals with the firm’s culture and business needs, providing invaluable opportunities for partners to pass on some of the business development and client relationship ?skills that they have acquired with their years of practice.

Gender diversity

Clients have started to question the lack ?of gender diversity in their advisers. General counsel at some of the leading global companies have clearly expressed their desire to work with diverse teams ?of lawyers.

Many of the initiatives to develop female talent in law firms and to increase the number of women reaching partnership level over the past five years have failed. Most focused on equipping women with better networking and business skills, which was only a small part of the solution.

Some law firms are looking for new ways to create conditions for women to develop and take on leadership roles, ?and are making necessary changes to ?their leadership styles, working practices and environments. Gender balance is therefore likely to be an area of talent management in which there will be some interesting initiatives.

Clearly, the journey to align talent management strategies with the business needs of law firms can be achieved and accelerated when external pressures and business requirements make this no longer merely an option.

 

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Critical success factors in aligning talent management with firm strategy

• The firm’s senior management must be committed to its talent management initiatives, with senior partners and managers being mentors and role models and encouraging all partners to make talent management a high priority

• Performance management systems need to allow individual developmental objectives to be included and openly discussed

• A feedback culture must be introduced, as it is a critical tool in nurturing and developing talent

• Well structured and coordinated mentoring programmes should be embedded in the firm’s culture

• The firm should measure and reward talent development efforts by senior associates and partners

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Nurturing environment

Creating the conditions for talent management strategies to be implemented effectively is a challenge facing most law firms today. In the interconnected Generation-Y world, the firms that succeed in designing and implementing aligned talent management strategies will have a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the best talent. ??

Rebecca Normand-Hochman is ?a partner at Venturis Consulting Group (www.venturisconsulting.com)