Leadership for Lawyers

David Whyte in Denver

The Women's Success Forum, a program of the Women's Vision Foundation, will present their annual forum on October 20, 2005 at the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver.  Lisa Hall, founder of Oxygen Network, will also speak. 

For details on the conference, go to www.womenssuccessforum.com.

Self Awareness Critical to Leadership

In this article by Paul Power, published in the Mount Eliza Business Review and posted on the Hay Group web site, the author makes a case that self awareness, which he equates with emotional intelligence, is a must-have virtue for today's leader.   He defines emotional intelligence as, "the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and managing emotions effectively in ourselves and others."

Some ideas:

• "Leadership and Management are two sides of the coin.  The former relates to change and growth, the latter concerned with continuity and stability."
• Daniel Goleman developed the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI), "a 360-degree tool designed to asses a leaders emotional intelligent behavior"  It consists of four qualities:

1.  Self Awareness:  emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence

2.  Social Awareness:  emotional self-awareness, organizational awareness and self-confidence

3.  Self Management:  emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, achievement orientation and optimism

4.  Relational Management:  influence, developing others, inspirational leadership, change catalyst, conflict management and teamwork and collaboration skills.

• Self awareness is a critical component the three of the four qualities.  The author suggests that leaders can improve their self awareness by pursuing a series of five discoveries:

1. Who am I and who do I want to be?
2. How do other people see me?  How do I come across to others?
3. What are my goals?  What is my vision for the future?
4. Am I prepared to practice things differently?
5. Who will support me on my journey?

Have you read Daniel Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence, or Working with Emotional Intelligence? 

Seth Godin in Colorado

Seth Godin, author of "All Marketers are Liars" , "Unleashing the Idea Virus" and other modern marketing standards, is coming to Colorado on  September 15th, 2005.  He will be speaking as part of BIXBO, sponsored by the Boulder County Business Report. 

Go here for more information on Godin's talk in Colorado.  Godin's blog is brilliant, as are his books.

Hay Group Reports on Law Firm Leadership

The Hay Group has just releases a report on the correlation between partner performance and leadership.  They compared "average" partners to "outstanding" partners along with an analysis of leadership styles.  In a nutshell, they concluded:

• Outstanding partners used a broader range of leadership styles.  70% of the outstanding leaders used four or more of the six defined leadership styles, compared to only 40% of the average group.  The leadership styles are defined as Directive, Visionary, Affiliative, Participative, Paceseting and Coaching.
• Outstanding lawyers were more visionary - providing perspective and context while reinforcing firm values, twice as participative - involving peers and others in decision making, and more effective coaches, providing mentoring and long term development.
• There were also more affiliative, expressing concern for individuals and their personal needs and concerns.  Outstanding lawyers were also more directive, giving specific direction and focused on immediate action. 

Bottom line:  The lawyers who were able to be more flexible in their style by using various styles for different situations were more effective leaders in their firms. 

For a summary of the research go here.  Free subscription required.

Mindfulness

Being aware is a key leadership skill.  Self awareness gives us insight into how we filter information, understand our feelings, and think.  External awareness, framed by internal awareness, is critical to managing and leading.   One path to both internal and external awareness is what some call mindfulness. 

How does one describe mindfulness?  I've been trying to articulate it for weeks, with little luck.  Then a friend sent me this link, with a free e-book, that explains it better that I ever could.

John Penberthy, Boulder Colorado resident, penned a parable about bees and being, called, "To Bee or Not to Bee".  You can download the very easy, and challenging, book here.

Maister on Leadership

Larry Bodine re-posted an amusing and accurate article on David Maister's recent appearance at the Association for Accounting Administration gathering, along with several great Maister-isms.

Here is what Maister has to say on leadership and coaching:

• Few accounting [or law] firm executives are leaders. Most aren’t even good managers. “The job of a manager is to make other people successful, which is why you rarely see good management at an accounting firm. We use the wrong principles for choosing managers,” Maister says.
• Concentrate on being a good coach. That’s how you get what you want from partners, staff and clients. Good coaches create energy, excitement and enthusiasm with a three-step process: (1) They’re demanding in well thought-out increments. Give all the time necessary to people who have a lot to learn or who make mistakes. “The only deal-breaker is for those who aren’t trying. Firms have amazing tolerance for people with bad attitudes who don’t try. You must be demanding and nurturing at the same time.” (2) They work in one-on-one conversations and tell people, “You can do this.” (3) They say, “I will help you” and follow through. They offer genuine and proportionate praise not only at the finish line, but along the way, too. Every three months, they evaluate progress and set new goals.
• Coaching is your most important job. Coaching “is more important than anything else you are doing. Management at most firms simply implies, “Sorry, we don’t have time to actually manage you, but we’ll change the bonus scheme or whatever,’” he said. “It’s not an incentive issue. It’s that nobody’s helped them reach their goals. It’s a matter of priorities. Partners would rather spend money on useless training programs than take time to actually help people.” For firms with good and consistent coaching, “the strategic plan takes care of itself,” he said.

Spot-on!

Read the article here.

Big Firms Invest in Leadership Training

Law.com has an interesting article illustrating that a number of large firms are teaming up with groups such as Harvard, Wharton and Kellogg to help partners become better leaders.  Apparently top firm leaders are beginning to realize that they need a cadre of leaders to get things done in a large and changing organization.  The article claims that the cost per attorney runs into the "tens of thousands of dollars" in addition to the loss of billable hours. 

I wonder if the education is primarily management or leadership focused.  Probably a mix of the two.  Either way, it is great to see law firms investing in management education.

Source:  National Law Journal

Link:  Back to School for Partners

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