Management Training For Attorneys-An Unfulfilled Need

A Basic Need

If the new admittee chooses to "hang out a shingle" or even join with one or two other neophytes in starting a legal practice, there are major hurdles ahead requiring a rapid immersion in business and accounting principles if the entity is to even survive. Some are smart enough to seek outside counsel from a business advisor to assist in the preparation and implementation of a written business plan. Unfortunately, all too many simply struggle on their own without even seeking the excellent counsel of the Law Practice Management sections of the ABA and the local Bar Association.

If the newly minted associate joins a larger firm, he/she may soon discover that firm management consists largely of "the blind leading the blind". As someone once said, "in a group of blind men, a one-eyed man is King!". The firm partners have been thrust onto internal committee assignments or even selected to lead a practice area or serve as a practice team leader, all without benefit of any formal leadership or management training. Even though there are many opportunities available for providing this training, all too many lawyers simply are driven by their individual egos which misleads them into believing that they are good managers by the process of natural selection and that formal academic training is not a requirement! Nothing could be further from the truth.

The academic process used to develop new lawyers trains the individual to research, gather and analyze information and to present alternative courses of action to someone OTHER than the lawyer who will then make a final action decision. Either the client, judge, jury or some other administrative body will eventually decide what course of action to take in the matter. The attorney is usually not directly responsible for making a final decision. Therefore, the vast majority of lawyers get no practical experience in making management decisions. When that role is forced upon them, they typically respond by forming a committee and proceeding to analyze and "talk the issue to death" while trying to unconsciously avoid making a firm decision.

What Skills Are Really Needed?

Strong and effective leaders will develop skill in the following specific disciplines:

1. Understanding Leadership Styles and Characteristics - Basic ability must be developed to understand the process of goal setting and the implementation of strategic and tactical planning. To lead is to influence and then guide the direction and actions of a group. To manage is to bring about, to accomplish, to conduct and to be responsible for the achievement of a predetermined goal or objective. Stated another way - to lead is to plan, organize and steer. To manage is to implement the specific actions of the plan;

2. Clarifying the Role of the Manager - A manager is responsible for planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling and developing the various aspects of the business unit (either the entire law firm or a part of the organizational structure such as a practice team). Authority and responsibility are at the heart of the management process. One without the other renders the manager useless and doomed to failure.

3. Becoming A Good Motivator - Motivation of people is what makes things happen. A manager who studies and learns the basics of positive motivation, and then gets to understand the members of the organization as individuals, has the principal key to generating high productivity and quality performance. A person who really understands the value of positive motivation will spend time with each individual in the organization and will learn to apply a variety of motivational concepts wherever the application is most effective;

4. Learning To Become a Master Communicator - There is absolutely no substitute for maturing as an effective leader without absorbing the skill of good communication exchanges. There can never be too much communication - just ineffective communication. Basic skills must include planning and conducting a well run meeting. All too many potentially productive billable hours are wasted everyday with inefficient meetings where lawyers talk and discuss "ad nauseam" without any definitive closure. Here again, basic training in law school guides the process, and very little is ever decided. Effective communication must have a clear purpose or agenda; raise applicable issues and questions; and force a decision, even if that decision is to table the matter and calendar it for a definite future date and time;

5. Learning To Build Effective Team Relationships - A good leader is an effective listener who understands his/her personnel as individuals and uses their separate strengths to synergistically build a strong organization. The strong manager knows that his/her major role is to define and achieve predetermined goals and objectives through the skillful use of the collective talents of other people in the organization. This can only be achieved through developing a genuine interest in each person as an individual and meshing those collective skills and experiences into an integrated, goal-directed team of positively motivated people;

6. Implementing A System of Measuring Performance - No leader is effective unless there is a process in place for measuring the results of decisions made and implemented. This must include measurement and evaluation of each step in the process, especially written procedures for providing feedback to each individual in the organization on a timely basis. This step is the key to effective management and leadership development. If there is no accountability through effective performance evaluation, the result will be reactive/crisis-oriented management. Unfortunately, this is still often found in all too many law firms around this country where "management by committee" has become the substitute for effective leadership;

How To Develop Effective Leaders In Your Firm

1. Gaining Academic Training - Seminars conducted by the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA and the local Bar Association(s) usually are a good starting point. In addition, the AMA (American Management Association) has a vast array of seminars and video tapes on all aspects of management and leadership skills. Local colleges also provide a variety of programs. In addition, customized presentations developed by consultants, local colleges and other vendors are a rich source of specialized training;

2. Building "Hands-On" Experience - There can be no substitute for solid experience in managing people. Everyone must learn to crawl before they walk; therefore, one can only learn to manage by managing! Assignment to a small internal committee may be a good place to start the learning process. Other possibilities include active participation in community activities where good leadership is always at a premium; acting as a team leader for a small discrete area of the practice; and serving as a vice chairman of a firm committee where the chairman has been identified as a strong and effective leader;

Summary

The good news is that ALMOST anyone can be trained to become an effective leader and manager of people. Each firm administrator has a unique opportunity to identify this crying need within the firm and to develop a specific plan for building an effective management team for that firm. The potential benefits to the firm in terms of improved morale, people satisfaction and "bottom line" dollars are enormous.

USE THIS CHALLENGE AS A GRAND OPPORTUNITY FOR MAKING YOUR FIRM INTO AN EXAMPLE OF HOW A LAW FIRM SHOULD BE MANAGED WITH EFFECTIVE LEADERS FOR THE FUTURE!