Are You a Leader?

Published October 18, 2011

Facilitate Continuous Communication

The most important function of all law firm leadership is to facilitate continuous communication, ensuring that individual agendas continue to be attuned with one another. However, The Great Recession has made communication a casualty at many firms. Their members worry about business that is disappearing and clients that do not (and cannot) pay. Cash flow and collections demands become paramount, while communicating about what is going on almost becomes an afterthought. But poor communication can cause as much stress as poor business. Piled on top of the anxiety of clients and the economy, and the pressures of seeking the best results, uncertainty about how the team is faring can leave everyone in doubt and in fear.

Keep Open, Candid Communication

In divorce practice, lawyers frequently hear the complaint that “we grew apart” and failed to keep communications open and candid as time passed. Law firms are subject to the same need to keep the communication process open, candid and frequent. The primary rainmakers of the firm, the management and the partners – all must be in concert, and all members of the firm must buy in. That is the true challenge of the managing partner or CEO leader. They must want to communicate, and all members of the firm – including associates, paralegals and staff – must be part of the communication process.

Engender a Team Effort

Leaders who are open and honest about what a firm needs to achieve, have no personal agendas, and support using sufficient resources to achieve firm-wide goals. Everyone in a law firm – lawyers, staff and support personnel – should be committed to such a team effort. Clients ultimately get their understanding of a firm by the way in which all persons, lawyers and staff, conduct themselves. A successful law office or law firm should be a team that creates quality service and work product for the benefit of clients, at a “reasonable” cost, while at the same time being profitable.

Connect With Everyone

Law firm leaders, like leaders in any organization, must connect effectively with every member of the organization through shared values and shared effort. Failure of leadership to create such shared values will cause inefficiencies, create disharmony within the firm and result in financial difficulties for, and perhaps even the failure of, the firm. Seeking the kind of consensus that many firms aspire to is a difficult challenge. Yet failure to communicate and maintain consensus ultimately causes poor economic results and unhappy people at every level. If all members of the firm are not clear about the overall goals as well as specific objectives and strategies, the problem is that there is no real firm leadership.

Categorized in: Coaching, Management

Audience type: Administrators, Large Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Sole Practitioners