Posted In: Business Development
Law Firm Growth: Create Remarkable Bosses for the New Year and Revenue Will Follow
Reading an article about the Qualities of Remarkable Bosses by Jeff Haden made me think about the fact that law firms have a great opportunity to devote time to developing their business professionals’ skills in much the fashion as they develop their lawyers’ skills. These skilled professionals have a significant role in any firm’s success. Yet, often budgets and resources often dictate professional development efforts and time be spent elsewhere. Jeff’s poignant comments about how to develop people into “remarkable bosses” focuses on these key areas:
- Develop every employee. Put your leadership cart before your achievement horse. Develop people first; reaching targets and achieving results will follow.
- Deal with problems immediately. Don’t deal with issues and you will kill team morale. To positively impact people’s motivation and enthusiasm, deal with problems while they are small and before they create major distractions and become big problems or even take away credibility from the firm’s leaders. Become a role model yourself and teach others in leadership roles at the firm to lead and deal with issues immediately.
- Rescue your people. Every firm has people who have fallen out of grace with some partner(s). Before pulling the plug on someone, invest in their growth and support them. The remarkable people won’t need as much support as these individuals and if they still fail, you know you gave it your all. Help people learn how to “have their team’s back” and to facilitate growth opportunities.
- Serve others, not yourself. “Your glory should always be reflected, never direct,” according to Haden. When the firm’s business professionals excel, the firm and its leadership excel. People know how important firm leadership is, you don’t need to digress and remind them during speeches or important meetings. Save those for recognizing others and you will be recognized for your own leadership as a result.
To the above, many successful leaders would underscore one more important point. Build Trust. Without trust, your leadership team will not realize its full potential. Building important relationships with key rainmakers, top billers, management committee members and other influential lawyer leaders at the firm will help facilitate trust-building among the lawyers and the key business professionals. A trusting environment with a clear focus and accountability will help lead the firm to business success.
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