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The more we understand EF, the more we can recognize and address breakdowns. Doing so will empower all of us to help ourselves, and our teams, work better.
Law firms can now use Tandem to support their lawyers' professional development needs and create more engaged and satisfied lawyers and teams.
If you’re struggling with recurring frustrations, the “predictable pattern” coaching tool can help you break the cycle.
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When we are coaching a colleague, the G-R-O-W (Grow, Reality, Options, Way Forward) coaching model can provide a great framework to structure goal-oriented conversations.
Partners speak about a lack of ownership and drive in the younger associate ranks. And this “malaise” extends to some senior attorneys too.
Thanks and praise are easy enough to give (although they too can be in short supply) but they are not developmental.
I encourage partners to see delegation as the beginning of a collaborative work process.
What we think of as necessary is extroverted behavior: social, gregarious, talkative. These can be helpful for leadership and business development, but so can more introverted tendencies.
We don’t expect 8th grade students to produce college level work. We shouldn’t expect 3rd/4th year lawyers to produce senior associate level work.
Framing feedback as grading is pervasive among the partners with whom I work. But feedback isn’t—and shouldn’t be viewed as—grading.
A suggestion I nearly always make to the partners with whom I work is that they ask these questions every time they get an assignment back from an associate.
A fact is not a judgment but how we express it and the conclusions we draw from it can be. The key to giving feedback is to stick to the facts, manage tone and resist drawing conclusions.
To be a great lawyer requires a sophisticated understanding of large amounts of law, the ability to apply that knowledge strategically, manage cases and lead teams. And each of these requires developing a competence in their component skills.
Associates are learning in a high-pressure environment, the learning curve is steep. They feel the pressure. Too often, what’s missing is someone encouraging or supporting their growth.
“What if you assumed positive intent?” What if you assumed that this associate is capable of great work? What would your reaction to the associate work be then?
Make clear that the questions are simply part of the process – part of their development and getting the work done right. Make sure that time is set aside – they don’t have to chase you, nor you them.
While the use of executive coaching within law firms has grown significantly, there is still a majority of firms beyond the Am Law 100 where coaching has yet to find its place.
Using coaching as a framework for leadership is a great way to think about collaborating with and supervising others.
Many of the ways in which people typically experience and receive feedback in the office no longer apply. And yet, feedback is more important than ever.
Leaders who already demonstrate empathy and those who quickly flex to develop their interpersonal skills will emerge as the winners, as will their law firms.
If you are gearing up to deliver developmental feedback to a colleague, here are some quick ideas as to how you can do it effectively.
Thine and Ari Kaplan partnered to analyze the impact that the competitive marketplace is having on the legal industry and how organizations are approaching the hiring, development, and promotion of associates.
We are delighted to announce that Sang J. Lee has been honored as a member of 2021’s Fastcase 50. The award, which was created in 2011, recognizes the legal industry’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders who have made important contributions.
We hope you will stand with us NOW. There is still so much work to be done. And we're not sitting still.
This report is intended primarily for Professional Development, Talent Management and HR professionals in law firms. It is also intended for partners and senior administrators curious to learn more about the use of upward reviews in law firms.
Do we truly want our employees to be all alike? In today’s hiring landscape, ‘fit’ has long been a pervasive buzzword. Yet few give it a precise definition or outline exactly how it enables team building and success.
It is a universal truth that by listening to those leaving your firm, you can more actively focus your retention initiatives to hold on to people you want to keep.
Lateral hiring is a peculiarly difficult business. And there’s no shortage of legal industry commentary to make you think twice about its efficacy as a growth strategy.
Although a number of law firms have been proactive in efforts to address transition or succession issues, surprisingly, those firms represent a distinct minority.
Imagine that you are responsible for training the attorneys in your law firm. The lawyers in your firm have told you that they want training on critical management skills such as delegation and team management. You've heard them.
The Business Development team has a vital role to play in the recruitment, onboarding and integration phases of a healthy and effective lateral partner hiring model.
For years now, the legal sector has been focused on the perceived flaws in lateral partner hiring as a growth strategy. Anecdotally at least, it seems that as many of the problems result from poor integration.
Groysberg questions what actually makes stars “stars” and whether, if they move jobs, they can simply provide a plug-and-play solution for their new firms.
Succession planning is a term we hear regularly in law firms. And yet, when I speak to partners, it seems to be an area that is often ignored in practice. But it is crucial. It goes to the root of client service and client retention.
Many of the challenges faced by the lawyers I work with comeback to one thing: time/project management.
In life outside work, what feeling fills the space when the experience you have is not what you imagined?
Networking, whether for career purposes or for business development, has to be about so much more than that a well-rehearsed 30 second “pitch.”
Mondays. We all hate ’em—with good reason. Our weekends are ours, a time for family, friends, fun (and of course some chores).
Who would you be more likely to have questions for or want to strike up a conversation with? Who are you more likely to remember? The project finance partner? Or the bridge builder?
Old habits are hard to break and new ones hard to learn—even when the new habit is better, when you want to change. Change takes time no matter how much you want it. Start small. Build slowly. Practice every day.
The concept of branding may seem like it is overdone but in order to succeed as an attorney, you must be able to describe what you do, for whom, and how you do it in a compelling and concise manner.
While people may be confident that they can tell you who has or doesn’t have executive presence, many struggle to define it clearly.
In practice, if you want to be better at your job, you owe it to yourself to be accountable to yourself for the skills and experience you develop. And to get better, you need feedback. Everyone does.
Now that associate retention has firmly established itself again as a management issue at many law firms, upward review programs are not surprisingly back on the agenda.
Despite recent headlines suggesting that the days of conventional performance evaluations are numbered, it seems that performance reviews are alive and well, at least in the legal industry. And, it’s that time of year.
If you want to manage time, start by taking responsibility for your communications and being clear whenever you assign or take on a new task or project.