Here's an interesting article based on a recent survey of law firms' approach to leadership development. Some high (low) lights:
- There is no consistent process among law firms on how emerging leaders are identified. Executive Committees, Practice Group Leaders and Managing Partners may all have a role in identifying potential talent. In nearly a quarter of firms, no individual or group formally takes on that responsibility. While in comparison to other industries, the CPP study reported that 53% of companies surveyed globally (and 60% in North America) have a formal leadership development process in place.
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By far, the preferred choice for developing leaders in law firms include “on-the-job leadership experience” and the use of “internal mentors.” Though these methods have become the norm in many firms, they remain, now more than ever, incomplete. In relying on basic, default methods, firms continue to miss the bigger picture in developing more evolved leaders.
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There can be costly mistakes or missed opportunities from learning-on-the-job. If those emerging leaders are not given ongoing, concrete support, they may miss vital opportunities to reflect on their learning, enhance their skills and gain new insights – all of which help to accelerate an individual’s readiness in assuming a key leadership role.
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With outside guidance from a trained executive coach, this support is reinforced with fresh perspective. Executive coaching is still a rather new phenomenon in law firms; yet, in the CPP global HR survey, over 40% indicated their companies have a formal executive coaching program in place, trumping most law firms who fall behind in this proven approach to developing leadership talent.
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