Leadership Fundamentals for Law Firm Executives

Leadership is about being your authentic self; someone that others can trust because the person behind the leadership title is a human being they see as genuine and with the best of intentions. Leadership is not something you turn on or off and should not force you to pretend to be someone you are not. Leadership does not start when you have people that work for you; it starts with you leading yourself – you are your own first leader. This sends a direct and implicit message that people do not work for you, they work with you with a shared purpose.

Trust: be willing to be vulnerable to promote deep trust, which is the foundation to leadership. If you do not have trust, you cannot lead and cannot foster teamwork of any significance.

Approach leadership with a profound desire to set your team up for success by:

1. Modeling trust
   1. Respecting and fostering diverse teams on a multitude of levels (race, gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ, personality styles, disabilities, life choices, religions, languages, generation, etc.)
   1. Providing meaningful support
   1. Offering clarity and defining expectations
   1. Fostering professional development
   1. Outlining a defined career path
   1. Creating a positive and collaborative environment
   1. Inspiring and empowering team members
   1. Helping each member accept, learn and grow from their shortcomings

Understanding Your Team

1. Good leadership is not a one size fits all approach. Individuals are unique and need a more tailored approach. The only way to deliver this and “set your team up for success” as described above, is to first commit to understanding the motivations, life experiences and personality traits that shape each team member.  Work with them individually in the unique way they need to be managed and inspired. I will model this with you and guide you through the process.

• It is my belief that having a range of perspectives and styles along the continuum make for a great team and enhance its ability to thrive. Taking the time to better understand each Associate helps you honor who they are and the unique value they offer the team.

• Further, when you take the time to really understand each Associate you are less likely to commit the “Fundamental Attribution Error”, whereby people assume that others are engaging in “negative behaviors” because of flaws in their characters, while they consider their own negative behaviors to come from outside forces beyond their control. Getting past this will help you (and the Associates) deal with one another as individuals and will reveal some of the influences that shape them.  Some level of unconscious bias is always present but working to chip away at these innate tendencies will enhance collaboration and effectiveness.

• Since you have once been in their shoes and fully appreciate the unique challenges the Associates face you can, therefore, lend insights as a “I wish I knew then what I know now” kind of leader.

• A few special notes on fostering diversity as a leader:
  • Embracing diversity and nurturing inclusion is not only the right thing to do, it is good business. A mountain of research has concluded that diversity improves the results that teams can deliver, making diversity crucial for law firms to stay competitive in the market.
  • Great leaders fight for the inclusion of all people, opinions, and perspectives because that makes us all better and stronger. That means having the courage to acknowledge our own privilege and staying open to learning about our biases and blind spots. It is also listening, centering, and honoring stories that reflect experiences that are different than our own
  • Further, the American Bar Association (ABA) has identified lack of inclusion as a threat to public faith in the legal system and thus the rule of law itself.

Breaking Down Key Components of Good Leadership

1. Listen and learn:  Listening, learning, even unlearning sometimes, knowing when to lead, and knowing when to let others lead.  Good leaders listen with the intent to first understand and then respond – not the other way around.  They do not miss an opportunity to learn something new and are continually asking themselves when they meet someone “what can I learn from this person?” This question makes them engaging and active listeners – it leaves people feeling like they are the only person in the room. 

• Educate and execute:  There is no doubt that leaders are primarily” judged” on execution – attaining the objective, hitting the billable hours, improving utilization, “completing the mission”, etc. Whatever the goal, the job of leaders is knowing how to get things done with other people.  Being the “kindest” person in the room is irrelevant if your team does not perform.  The emotional intelligence piece of good leadership is grounded in the hard facts of what you need to achieve. Everything you do should be educating people on the “what,” “how” and “why” of achieving the goal at hand so that they can execute with a sense of direction and your support.

• Articulate and anticipate:  All great leaders articulate with candor, clarity and context. They may do it in different ways, but at their core they are good communicators, and they know that communication is not just what they say, in fact, the most important communication is what they do. From their body language to their daily actions, the consistency of their communication is a cornerstone to building trust across their team. Consistent communication is important because change is omnipresent and one of the key tasks for leaders is to look around the proverbial corner. 

Whether it is making sure your Associates have the resources, training and support to adapt and serve clients or recalibrating to shifts in the market, great leaders focus on anticipating not just client needs but also their teams’ needs. You will not always get it perfectly, but part of anticipating is adapting.  Leaders cannot anticipate everything, so do your best, and you get even better at adapting when things occur that you did not anticipate. And when the inevitable happens, you will never miss an opportunity to articulate (appreciate) the efforts of others in responding to an unexpected need or doing the extraordinary to meet the team’s need.  This is particularly so given the impact the pandemic has had on every aspect of our personal and professional lives.

• Delegate and direct:  Often we feel overwhelmed at times by the awesome responsibility we feel as leaders.  I encourage you to shift your belief that you must carry this burden alone and do all the work yourself.  Great leaders seek opportunities to delegate – not abdicate – tasks; and they do so with an eye toward helping those improve themselves. They ask the question “who will benefit most from this task (i.e., learn)?” The common misperception is that once a task is delegated, it is off your “plate.” Not true, it is your role to provide direction and assistance to ensure this task gets completed and with the best results. Delegation and direction done correctly build trust, respect, and empowerment. 

• Empathize: The foundation in leading is building trust, without it, you are just using your position of authority as a “stick” for getting the job done. When it comes to building trust, leaders must be able to connect with people – all kinds of people – and empathy is one of the most powerful ways to do it whether it is one-on-one or one-to-many. The vulnerability concept may sound “very touchy feeling”, but I assure you there is nothing soft about it.  It is the most important characteristic of a leader. Humility and owning your behavior models this for your team and frankly is liberating, inspiring and key to building great teams.

Empathy is connecting not just with the person but the person with the purpose. The key ingredient is being authentic and giving people a reason to believe. If you’re not connecting the purpose with the context of what the task is then you’re just giving a pep talk, and those don’t last – but remain consistent on connecting with people and the purpose, and you’ll find success with others.

• Remain consistent: We live in an ever-changing and increasingly connected world where change is not just constant it is constantly accelerating.  Remaining consistent has a powerful effect on your team’s mindset of tackling and adapting to change. Your actions and how you communicate (both verbally and non-verbally) are powerful influencers on your team’s collective attitude. Part of your consistency is your steadfast focus on requiring an environment of mutual respect. Mutual respect fosters contribution from all tiers within your team, not just those in senior positions. Leaders are vigilant of those who seek to disrespect others and respond quickly to either remove, replace or reposition the person who is not getting the importance of mutual respect.

• Serve: Strong leaders serve their direct team, their Partners and their colleagues.  Leading is about serving and serving is about caring about of your constituents. Leading always comes down to getting others to work with you to get something done. The role of leaders is to build an environment where you have your teammates “back.” Help them succeed and you will see them rise to the challenge and do more than they originally thought possible. And that happens when you have created a care-based environment that pushes people to realize their potential. To lead is to serve and to serve is to care.

For more information about leadership training programs or for a no cost consultation on your approach to marketing, business development or practice management, contact Paige at [email protected].