Unified front: Tips for building strong new leadership teams

 

Taking on the role of managing partner can be a challenge; you have to deal with other partners who believe they know how to run the firm.

Partners are, by definition, skilled and autonomous individuals who expect the exercise of authority to occur through a process of influence and negotiation, rather than through reliance on more direct, position-based authority.

The other hurdle is that managing partners frequently lack a clear mandate from the partnership, with the result that their remit is only defined when they begin to implement decisions.

If you have made it to a managing partner position, this is usually on the basis of excellent personal performance, with an ability to generate high fees and lead a team of likeminded professionals. The ultimate goal of this position, however, is to build the current and long-term value of the firm. To achieve this, you need a great team behind you that believes in you and your objectives.

Strategic vision

You must invest time at the outset to define the team’s purpose to ensure everyone’s vision is aligned. Your primary task is to run the business and build the long-term value of your firm. To do this, you need to agree the leadership team’s core responsibilities. This should include:

• setting and communicating a vision for the firm that engages all stakeholders;

• building a strategic plan to deliver the vision;

• obtaining and managing the required resources;

• making decisions that influence the firm’s ability to achieve its vision;

• creating an environment in which people are self-motivated and willing to go the ‘extra mile’; and

• managing and minimising risks.

Once you have agreed your vision for the firm, articulate and communicate it to the partners. Creating and communicating a compelling and shared vision is an immensely powerful way to engage and motivate people, particularly in tough times.

Your vision needs to be both realistic and attainable if you want people to sign up to it, follow your lead and do what’s required to achieve it – this should be more than a strapline or statement. Your vision should:

• state your strategic intent;

• define and offer a compelling and motivating picture of the future and provide a purpose for those working in your firm;

• make clear the end goal;

• create alignment within your firm;

• act as a decision-making guide; and

• inspire and motivate people to do ?what is needed to achieve it.

?To understand whether this vision is embedded in your firm, think about the following questions:

1. When was the last time your leadership team spent time reviewing, discussing and agreeing your vision ?for the firm?

2. Are your partners aligned with ?your vision?

3. Can everyone in your firm (from ?the post room to all members of ?the leadership team) articulate its vision and their respective roles in ?its delivery?

?Above all, as a leadership team, you should be passionate about your firm, its clients and the future, and excite people about the career opportunities available to them.

Sphere of influence

Whichever way you look at it, influencing is the only way to achieve results in a law firm. It is important to get to know your firm and partners from the beginning to ensure that you understand their interests and what they want.

To succeed in achieving your goals, you need to build a critical mass of support for your initiatives. Powerful individuals and groups must see that it is in their interest to help you to realise your intentions – ignore the politics of the firm at your peril. Political networks – informal bonds of solidarity among individuals and groups – can organise either to resist change or get things done.

The starting point for getting key partners on board is to define, as precisely as possible, the specific goals you want to achieve. Clarity is important – it is difficult to obtain support if your goals are unclear.

Once you have defined your goals, you can identify key players, map the influence networks (i.e. who is likely to support and oppose you) and design ?your strategy.

Some managing partners would describe this approach as Machiavellian. However, unless you learn how to skilfully influence your key partners, making decisions can be a prolonged and ?painful process.

In times of change or new initiatives, some partners may support your agenda early on because it advances their interests. At the same time, some key players will oppose your efforts whatever you do.

Because persuasion can take up valuable time and emotional energy, it is essential to assess early on who can be persuaded and to direct your efforts accordingly. Don’t waste time on those who are irrevocably opposed to you – be pragmatic and move on.

Leaders and managers

In law firms, managing partners are ?both leaders and managers. Leaders create the vision and management is focused on delivery and task completion – both are needed.

The key components of a leader’s ?role are to:

• inspire: motivating, leading by example and linking achievement ?with reward;

• empower: explaining the delegation of authority, increasing the desire for more responsibility and relinquishing control without chaos; and

• create: delivering today as part of creating tomorrow, focusing on the big picture, driving change and reinforcing positive behaviour.

The key components of a manager’s role are to:

• inform: clarifying expectations and explaining the vision, strategy and context;

• interact: sharing information, discussing issues, understanding ?and empathising; and

• solve: solving and acting as an enabler or escalation point for problems, while learning from these problems.

?Thinking ‘big picture’ is worthless without the follow-through required to make it happen. Ultimately, what matters is implementation and delivering results.

Collective responsibility

Are you a team or just a group of individuals who meet once a month? To function as a proper team, you must focus on how the collective performance, and that of individuals, works to deliver goals, not just on creating the goals themselves.

Nothing wastes time and undermines a leadership team more than a failing to understand the importance of collective responsibility and accountability. As the leadership team, you represent and act on behalf of the whole firm. Of the many hats you wear, representing your own interests is not one of them.

Your leadership team is highly visible – remember that one or two members commenting on board matters outside of a meeting can send negative messages across the firm.

Acting as a team, accepting collective responsibility for decisions (both inside and outside of board meetings) is vital for stability, both internally and externally. As a leadership team, you must agree that, once an issue has been thoroughly discussed and a decision has been made, it should be honoured and respected.

Collective decisions must be fully supported by all board members, regardless of their attendance at a ?specific meeting, or personal view. The ‘leaking’ of sensitive information or evidence, or an unwillingness to tackle difficult issues, should not be tolerated. A decision ratified by the board must be unanimously executed.

All members of the leadership team must share responsibility for influencing key partners and stakeholders. This should not be the sole responsibility of the managing partner. Your partners will soon get the message that you are a united leadership team and may even stop second-guessing your decisions.

Productive meetings

It’s a good idea to regularly review (every quarter) what the leadership team is actually spending its time discussing during meetings.

How ‘strategic’ are the items on your agenda? Are you spending too much time on urgent, short-term issues rather than focusing on the important, but more difficult initiatives that will make a difference in the long term?

Your agenda should contain more ?than six items which are important to ?the firm’s future.

Informed decisions

How can you take informed decisions?if you only understand a part of your firm’s business? To be a credible leader, you need to understand all aspects of ?its business.

Leading a firm requires very different sets of skills. It’s not enough to only know how things operate in your area of expertise; you must understand how all the parts of the business works, its positive attributes and the issues and challenges ahead.

Make this one of your first priorities, because what you learn about the business will determine your own focus.

As it’s rare in the early days of leading a firm to possess an in-depth understanding of its problems, until you ?do, it’s best to avoid appearing to have ?all ‘the answers’. Make a wrong decision at this stage and you may lose some of ?the support that you will need to make further changes.

The following questions will help you to determine your level of knowledge about your firm.

1. When was the last time that you reviewed your firm’s services?

2. Do you regularly assess and review your firm’s mix of services to identify weaknesses, gaps and spot opportunities for new services?

3. When was the last time you conducted a thorough review of ?your firm’s client base?

4. Do you have a process for capturing and selecting the best ideas and taking them to market?

5. Does the firm have a formal, consistent client feedback programme? How are the results shared? Are problems tackled as a matter of urgency?

Regular communication

You can’t communicate too much, particularly in times of uncertainty. If ?you don’t tell your people what’s happening, or why you are doing things and making changes, they will fill the vacuum themselves.

To be an effective leader you need to stay in touch with what is going on across the firm. Don’t just rely on what others tell you – get out there, find out and hear it for yourself.

Listening is just as important – when you invite people to tell you what they think, really listening to what they have ?to say demonstrates that you want ?to know.

However, don’t feel that you should have all the answers there and then – don’t respond definitively until you’re ?sure it’s the correct approach.

Personal development

Recognise and accept that being a leader requires entirely new skills and attributes, and make time to learn what you need to know to be successful.

If you’re up for the challenge, becoming a managing partner can be a hugely rewarding position, perfect for those who possess a combination of business acumen and people skills.

Leadership roles within law firms ?allow those involved to have a real say in the running of the firm – just make sure that your vision is a shared one, supported and assisted in its implementation by a team that are ?on side.

?Jo Larbie advises professional ?services firms on talent management (www.howtomakepartner.com) and ?was formerly HR director at UK law ?firm Bircham Dyson Bell

Endnote

1. See How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life, Heather Townsend and ?Jo Larbie, Kogan Page, 2012

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