Hiring & Empowering Solutions

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The Qualities You THINK You Need Probably Aren’t What You ACTUALLY Need

leadership qualitiesLaw firm leaders are tasked with the challenge of setting the direction of the entire organization. To be worthy of a leadership role, an individual must be respected and influential. They must be effective revenue generators with a long list of distinguished legal accomplishments. They must be able to attract and retain customers, and manage a large book of business. Right?

Not so much.

Respect and influence, the ability to generate revenue, praise-worthy accomplishments…sure, these are all impressive qualities. But which of them would enable a leader to engage and retain employees, propel organizational productivity, and drive customer satisfaction across the board? Which of these qualities will help them develop an effective marketing strategy, or make decisions about the firm’s long-term performance trajectory? None of them.

The problem, when law firm leaders run their organizations on respect, influence and authority alone, is that they never actually step up and lead. They make decisions in a vacuum, failing to keep what’s best for the firm in mind. Too often, leaders play rainmaker and bend over backwards to maintain client relationships…a great strategy for short-term sustainability. But when it comes to long-term sustainability, leaders need to develop their firms and their teams, making sure that employees are engaged, empowered, and properly trained. If leaders aren’t staying focused on these tasks, the firm is in serious trouble.

Likewise, if leaders aren’t focused on the right goals, the firm is bound to suffer. Performance metrics are great goals for attorneys. However, leaders must keep a keen eye on team and organizational goals, as well as on building relationships with team members and clients alike. On collaborating, and leveraging a diverse set of skills to solve problems and improve firm performance.

It’s time we say goodbye to the leadership ideal of respect, influence and authority, and start ushering in a new era of leaders who possess the following 7 leadership skills:

1. Has a firm handle on the firm’s long-term strategy and goals, and the ability to communicate that vision to team members in a way that excites and motivates them to perform

2. The ability to develop team members in a way that is aligned not only with the firm’s needs, but also with the individual’s career goals

3. Gets the job done and achieves positive results, against all odds

4. Collaborates rather than competes, and handles conflict quietly

5. Builds a professional network inside and outside of the firm

6. Is a social chameleon; can get along with a diverse group of team members, clients, and stakeholders

7. The adaptability to change demeanor as needed, based on the demands of whatever situation is arising

The challenge with these leadership skills is that they aren’t part of any law school’s curriculum. A leader must take it upon themselves to learn these skills, which means that, in addition to the 7 skills listed above, effective law firm leaders also need to have a learning mindset. But learning mindsets and egos oftentimes conflict, and convincing leaders to spend time perfecting skills that don’t directly generate revenue isn’t easy.

Leadership development programs designed specifically for law firms—like our Team Empowerment Academy—can be highly effective training and development tools, teaching leaders how to lead more effectively, and teaching team members the skills they need to support their leaders in a meaningful (and measurable) way. Our program generates real results in just 8 weeks, and it does that by taking into consideration the nuances of each leader or team member’s personality, determining their strengths and weaknesses, and figuring out how they can best work together for the benefit of the firm as a whole.

If you’re interested in empowering your team with the leadership skills you ACTUALLY NEED—not the leadership skills you THINK you need—email [email protected] or contact us using the form below to request a free 30-minute Discovery Session with our founder, Molly Hall.

Request a FREE 30-Minute Law Firm Discovery Session

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Getting Out of the Decision-Making Vacuum and 3 Ways to Make it Happen

employee engagementTrust us…we get it. It’s easy to pull the trigger and make decisions from the comfort of your own leadership vacuum. After all, you know your firm better than anyone, which means you know better than anyone what your firm needs to grow progressively and sustainably…right?

Maybe so. But there is another group of people who are huge stakeholders in the success of your firm—your team. And they also have a pretty good idea about what your firm might need. And they’ve got ideas—great ideas, in fact—that you won’t be able to hear from the confines of your vacuum.

A recent study of over 100,000 U.S. businesses confirms that there is a direct correlation between how involved employees are in corporate decision-making processes and their level of overall morale, motivation and job satisfaction.

Simply stated, keeping employees engaged and empowered results in more satisfied, “go-getter” type employees who can really step up and make a difference at your firm. The benefits of involving your team in decision-making processes include:

• Improved levels of effort and commitment. Being involved in making decisions for your firm makes employees feel valuable, and when they feel valuable, they’ll take more ownership of your firm’s performance.

• Better day-to-day decision-making. Understanding how decisions are being made at an executive level will help them make better decisions at a departmental or individual level. They’ll be better equipped to align their decisions with the direct of your firm.

• Stronger bonds of responsibility. When an employee has his or her say in making a decision, the outcome of that decision—in one way or another—reflects back on them. Employees do NOT want a negative outcome landing on their shoulders. The responsibility that comes with decision-making will keep team members at the top of their games.

• It takes the heat off of YOU! When you make a bad decision, it’s easy for employees to place 100% of the blame on you. However, when team members take an active role in the decision-making process, bad decisions will compel them to analyze what went wrong and make better decisions in the future.

• Employee morale and motivation will skyrocket. If employees have the authority to make decisions, or at least be an active part of the decision-making process, they’ll feel like they make a difference, which is directly related to their levels of motivation and overall job satisfaction.

• It frees up YOUR time to focus on future-oriented initiatives. Empowering your employees to make business decisions eliminates the need to micromanage. If you trust that your employees are capable of making good decisions about various aspects of your firm’s operations and systems, then you can take on those higher-level initiatives you just haven’t been able to find the time for…

Convincing law firm leaders to get their firm’s employees more involved in decision-making processes shouldn’t be that hard of a sell—the benefits are powerful, as you can clearly see. However, the actual process of stepping out of your leadership vacuum and into a more collaborative role isn’t always easy. Ease into the transition by implementing these three tactics:

1. Assemble committees of action teams to brainstorm solutions for specific problems.

2. Send out a survey and allow employees to vote on decisions that could impact the firm as a whole.

3. Make sure there are clear channels through which employees can provide feedback to managers and leaders. Informal face-to-face interactions (i.e. water cooler chats), or even a suggestion box will do the trick.

Law firm leadership development programs, like our Team Empowerment Academy, can add another dimension to your efforts to get your team members more involved in making decisions for your firm. Our Team Empowerment Academy equips law firm leaders and their teams with the tools and techniques they need to take tasks off their attorney’s plates and make decisions that benefit their firms. After just 8-weeks, your firm can expect real, measurable results. Your people are your greatest asset, and our program helps them become more resourceful, more efficient and more profitable.

Ready to Start Engaging Your Employees?

Send an email to [email protected] about the challenges you’re facing at your firm, and we’ll contact you to schedule a free discovery session to brainstorm solutions. Not quite ready to chat? Take advantage of the offer to download our best-selling book, Intrapreneurs in an Entrepreneur’s World: How to Empower Your Employees to Step Up and Lead…completely free!

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13 Reasons Why Lawyers Are So Stressed Out

business development for law firmsBeing a lawyer is reason enough to be stressed out, never mind when you factor in the adversarial nature of the profession, the views that society has about lawyers, and the increasing complexity of practicing law in today’s day and age.

Years ago, we attended a trade show where we received a copy of a flier titled, Why Are Lawyers So Stressed? It was published by The Complete Lawyer, a web-based magazine for attorneys. The flier shared information, amongst other topics, about the types of pressures that attorneys deal with on a daily basis.

22 years later, I still have that flier tacked to a vision board above my desk. It’s a constant reminder to stay focused on the value that Hiring & Empowering Solutions brings to its clients—simply put, we alleviate the pressures that lawyers and their teams face.

The factors outlined in the flier included the following:

1. Not enough time! Unforgiving time constraints make meeting deadlines a constant source of stress.
2. High stakes cases, in which the client’s property, freedom, or even life is dependent on the outcome.
3. The desire for unambiguous clarity where none exists, for example, when clients expect that an attorney possesses a certain level of expertise
4. Constantly feeling as though you’re being scrutinized by colleagues, judges and juries.
5. Being in a constant state of conflict with the opposing counsel and their desire to prove you wrong—whether now or later
6. Having to meticulously “cover your backside,” thanks to a persistent fear of malpractice claims and Murphy’s law
7. Taking on the burdens of your clients…on top of the burdens that go hand-in-hand with running a law firm, plus any personal burdens you’re carrying around
8. Professional cordiality has become a thing of the past, and the legal landscape is getting more hostile by the day
9. Balancing your personal style with your professional training; being aggressive, judgmental, intellectual, emotional, withdrawn…each of these styles may have practical value in the courtroom, but not so much in the office.
10. The mental and emotional cost of constant vigilance in a world where you are expected to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, all the time
11. The need to stay focused and on-task, even when you’re completely drained of your energy from meeting intense demands, day in and day out.
12. Leveraging your defense mechanisms too often; having to be rigid, compulsive or otherwise “perfect”
13. The need to bill, bill, bill—meeting billable hours expectations is NOT easy!

In my experience working with more than 300 law firms, I can absolutely confirm that attorneys are STILL dealing with these same stressors—23 years after the original article was published. Attorneys are STILL stressed and depressed and misunderstood by their employees and alienated from them (and the rest of the world) because of these pressures.

So…what can an attorney do about these pressures? How can they come to understand the true nature of the beast and put support mechanisms in place to keep these stressors at bay?

Well, empowering their teams is a good start.

An empowered team can be a HUGE help in reducing the stress that a solo practitioner or small firm attorney feels. Through our Team Empowerment Academy, we’ve been working with law firms and their teams for decades…teaching skills that help team members help their attorneys, and that turn “managers” into true leaders. Contact [email protected] to bring us up to speed on your pain points, and learn how we could help alleviate them.

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Ready to Turn Your People into Profit?

customized team coaching and leadership developmentEvery member of your team is different…so, why are you using the same “canned” program to coach & develop them?

Employees care—deeply—about career growth and development opportunities. A recent Gallup poll reported that almost 90% of employees valued the opportunity to be coached and developed…but only 40% feel that they are consistently learning new tools and techniques at work.

Strong leaders know how important it is to develop their team members. They know it’s not just to improve employee engagement and retention, but also to benefit their firm or business’s bottom line. At the end of the day, effective leaders develop effective leaders. When team members are educated and empowered to step up and lead, it makes a real, measurable difference.

But you already knew that.

Did you know, though, that another thing strong leaders do is customize their team coaching and development approach based on the needs of each individual team member? In our 20+ years of experience training and developing law firm leaders and their teams, the firms that truly excel are those where each employee is coached based on their unique strengths and weaknesses. We do this in our Team Empowerment Academy. We assess each member of the team using the Kolbe employee assessment, and then determine the best way to assist each team member in developing new skills, all the way down to which skills they need to develop to become a more well-rounded employee, capable of making a big impact at their organization.

But strong leaders should be going above and beyond what we offer, taking the extra step in personalizing their approach so that it’s aligned with the characteristics of their various team members. And here are 5 ways they can do that.

1. Create a personality spreadsheet. Create a column for each employee, and make note of such information as: KOLBE, Strengthfinder 2.0, Enneagram, what you believe their full potential is; any feedback they give you about your management style; how he or she prefers to work; what their motivators are—money, time, public recognition, etc.; ways in which you believe you could advance his or her career; their goals; or any feedback you’d like to give them about their performance.

2. Actually USE your spreadsheet. Allot 15 minutes at the end of each week to reference and update your spreadsheet. If you have trouble remembering the interactions you’ve had with each team member over the course of the week, consider keeping track in a notebook.

3. Analyze your spreadsheet every month. As the leader of your firm or business, time goes by fast. And employees typically don’t speak up. Take time at the end of each month, over a cup of coffee, during your planning time to check in on where you are at with your people and performance. Invest in the dedicated time to assess your spreadsheet in order to determine which employees are steadily developing, which may need some additional direction or coaching, and what you can do to accelerate their performance.

4. Make time for informal “feedback sessions” with your team members. As you manage your spreadsheet and start to see patterns unfold, make sure you find the time for quick, informal, impromptu conversations with each employee. Show that you see what they’re doing and that you know what success looks like to them. These conversations will become a cornerstone of the way you work with each team member. Trust me, they mean a lot to your employees!

5. Use your spreadsheet during formal evaluations. If you’re making time to regularly touch base with your team members, then your “formal evaluations” will be less of a dreaded conversation where employees demand more money and you have to tell them why they’re not worth that much money and everyone walks away feeling misunderstood, underappreciated, and frustrated. Your spreadsheet can help guide your evaluation conversation by reminding you of the nuances that make your employees so great, as well as where they have room for improvement.

With Q1 nearing its close, now is the ideal time to evaluate your team, turn your people into profit, and intentionally invest the time to customize your firm’s approach to employee training and leadership development. And we can help with that—when you’re a member of our team, your time investment in all of this will feel much less overwhelming. Your people are your most important assets…and they can also be your most profitable assets, when properly coached and developed. Don’t let “but I don’t have time” stand in the way of developing your firm’s most important assets. Invest in your law firm. Create a firm where employee love to work, clients are delighted to hire you, and referrals send consistent business your way.

Contact Us to Learn More

Let us know how we can help bring your firm to the next, more profitable level. Use the brief form below to tell us about your challenges, and we’ll contact you to brainstorm potential solutions.

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Why in the World Would an Attorney Want an “Empowered” Employee?

employee empowerment leadership developmentLast week, Hiring & Empowering Solutions was featured on a national podcast. The focus of our feature was to discuss the value of employee empowerment—how to develop their skill sets and keep them engaged and motivated, all while leveraging their strengths for the benefit of your firm. Immediately after the podcast, we received this phone call from an attorney who had been listening:

“Why in the world would any attorney want an empowered employee? I don’t want my employees lining up outside my office door asking for raises, or refusing to perform such and such task because it’s not listed on their job description. I don’t need a bunch of entitled, “empowered” employees…”

And you know what? We get that. The word “empowerment” itself is a loaded one. It gets thrown around social media—blasted on news channels, on the radio…it’s everywhere, and when it lands, it sounds a lot like, “HEAR ME ROAR” But the truth is…

…nothing could be further from the truth.

Back in 2000, when Laney and I spoke at a national legal conference, The Attorney Team Mindset: 8 Keys to an Empowering Conversation in the Workplace, the 1,500+ law firms in attendance went nuts! For the rest of the conference, we literally couldn’t make it to the bathroom without getting stopped. How do we clone you? How can we get empowered employees like you?”

So, what is an empowered employee and why would an attorney want one? Because they exhibit these 5 behaviors…

1. They think, talk, and act like a business owner. The come to you with solutions…not problems.You can trust that these employees can problem solve without your approval. Not having to seek out your approval saves your employee’s time, your time, and gets the job done much faster.

2. They protect your time and have your back. They fully appreciate that, as an attorney entrepreneur, you have the weight of the world on your back: client complaints, employee drama, cash flow crises, and family members who are hurt and upset because you didn’t get home until late at night…again. An empowered employee understand this, and takes the burden of operational responsibilities off your back as often as they can. When you have an empowered employee in your corner, you can start using the word “no” a little more, and reclaim your happiness, sanity, and peace of mind knowing that your employee has your back.

3. They provide “white glove” client service and experience. When you hear an employee use a phrase like “our clients,” you know you’ve crossed the threshold of having employees who are just there to make a paycheck and employees who care as much about the business as you do. They come in early, they stay late, they lose sleep over clients, money, calendar, systems…

4. They are accountable and act like a CEO…a.k.a. a professional nag. Empowered employees are capable of making decisions that get things done in a way that honors your judgement and your law firm’s standards. When an employee feels empowered, they feel trusted—and they are honored to be trusted! Your trust makes them feel more accountable—they want to manage your firm’s money, time and calendar in a way that fosters your trust and confidence in their skills.

5. They protect & nurture your personal relationships. They know your family promises and obligations are a priority…and they make sure you’re able to get to that band concert, actually enjoy time spent on family vacations, and otherwise prevent you from letting your family and loved ones down.

Being “empowered” doesn’t mean your employee is going to start making brash financial demands or putting their foot down about tasks that fall outside the scope of their role. It means they’re going to help free up your time—they’re going to take tasks off of your plate—and you’re going to trust that these tasks are getting done to your standards, however high they may be.

The value of employee empowerment is massive, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Relinquishing control is never easy for entrepreneurs in any industry, but especially at law firms. Our Team Empowerment Academy is a nationally-recognized leadership development and employee empowerment program that guides law firms through the process of developing and empowering their teams, and is proven to generate real results after only 8-weeks. Want to learn more? Click the button below!

employee empowerment leadership development