Leadership Development: Should Your Firm Invest in Growing Its Leaders?

1. Leadership
Development
SHOULD YOUR FIRM INVEST IN GROWING ITS LEADERS?
BY KATHLEEN BRADLEY Developing leader-
ship skills is hard work. Ask any corporate
executive who has suffered through a 360-
degree assessment, been evaluated on the basis
of employee engagement levels, or been given
stretch assignments to test or expand his or her
leadership potential. Yet most seem to believe
the hard work is worth it, and the benefit of
developing high-quality leaders is now broadly
accepted in the corporate arena. Law firms, how-
ever, have been slow to follow. Now may be an
excellent time for your firm to get up to speed.
Most law firms’ reluctance to invest
meaningfully in developing leader-
ship talent is understandable. After all,
lawyers tend, naturally, to be highly
analytical, risk averse, autonomous and
skeptical, the very characteristics that
make them very good at lawyering—
and the ones that make the exercise of
leadership a difficult and risky under-
taking. Law firms have, until recently,
also been extraordinarily successful at
generating profits, so there has been no
impetus to expand their lawyers’ skill
sets beyond substantive legal knowledge
and experience. And, to be fair, research
is only starting to trickle out to support
the business case for investing in leader-
ship development, primarily because
the need hasn’t been recognized before,
38 Law Practice September/October 2010 WWW.LAWPRACTICE.ORG

2. not because it doesn’t produce results. tion and retention improve, there they can, then they should proceed
Yet now, regardless of the resistance, is a positive impact on profitability, to answer the remaining questions.
the very public and painful failures of market share and shareholder value.
firms over the past few years—which Law firms, however, are notori- What Does Leadership
resulted at least in part from poor ous for arguing for the distinction Entail? Critical Skills
leadership—makes the issue of leader- that they are flat partnerships, not “Leadership” is one of those big, am-
ship very real, and firm leaders must hierarchical structures like corpora- biguous words that can mean vastly dif-
seriously consider these questions: tions. But in today’s marketplace, ferent things to different people and in
Should we invest in developing leader- the actual practice within midsize different contexts. Leadership compe-
ship skills in our lawyers? If no, why and large firms is very different from tencies range from interpersonal skills
not? If yes, what, who, when and how? this deeply rooted perception. Most such as communication and emotional
partners simply want to get on with intelligence to specific skill sets in areas
Why Invest? their client work and they are happy such as strategy, law firm governance,
Before a firm makes this type of invest- to leave the leadership of the firm to marketing and change management.
ment, its current leaders must answer trusted executive partners. What they In a recent study of 69 firms with
the “why” question for themselves want is to be well served by their lead- different levels of profitability, pub-
and believe wholeheartedly in their ers, their partners, their associates and lished by Lauri Bassi and Michael
answers. An investment in develop- their administrative staff—and that is McMurrer, there was a clear indica-
ing leadership talent should not be where firm leadership is critical. It is tion that the single most important
made simply because other firms are the leaders that drive organizational determinant of law firm success and
doing so, someone thinks it’s a good performance within a law firm. profitability is the leadership skills
idea or a consultant suggests it. The If that’s not clear enough, one need and practices of partners. The specific
leaders must make this determina- only look to the high-profile failures leadership competencies identified as
tion so they can communicate to of firms like Heller Ehrman, Wolf most critical to profitability were, in
and persuade busy lawyers to spend Block and Thelen Priest, where clearly descending order of importance, as
nonbillable time acquiring a skill that the lack of leadership was a factor in follows:
does not have an immediate and direct the firm’s demise. As pointed out by 3 Inspiring confidence, providing
impact on the practice of their craft. the law firm consultancy Hildebrandt feedback and eliminating barriers
Some of the factors that may go Baker Robbins, which has been study- 3 Collaborating with employees and
into the decision include a realistic ing law firm failures for over two inviting input
assessment of the return on invest- decades, the absence of strong leaders 3 Valuing and supporting learning
ment—meaning how the develop- who are trusted and inspire confidence 3 Innovative practices and the
ment of leadership skills will affect the has been a serious factor in a high welcoming of new ideas
firm’s performance. For corporations, percentage of law firm dissolutions. 3 Commitment to the firm’s employees
there is plenty of research showing Of course, leadership develop- 3 Making job-related information and
how the development of leaders im- ment requires sustained attention and training readily available
pacts the bottom line. It goes like discipline over months and years to 3 Continuous tracking of employee
this: When the quality of leadership be effective, so before beginning such engagement
is enhanced, employee capability and an initiative, it’s essential for the cur- 3 Open and effective communication
commitment are positively affected; rent leaders to openly and honestly Different competencies are re-
when employee capability and com- articulate the need and the benefits quired for leaders in different roles,
mitment grow, customer acquisition that meeting the need will gener- of course. So where lawyers are tasked
and retention improve because people ate over time. If they cannot com- with a specific role such as strategic
who are well served will in turn serve municate this openly within their planning, law firm governance or
their customers and their organiza- firms, they should not invest valuable practice group management, specific
tions well; and as customer acquisi- resources on this type of effort. If substantive leadership competencies
WWW.LAWPRACTICE.ORG September/October 2010 Law Practice 39

3. LEAD E R S H I P D EVE LOPM E NT
also need to be developed. It is probably should not be targeted for content with the status quo. Then,
therefore important that firms build leadership positions. Not every law- once complacency is overcome, the
flexibility into their development ef- yer needs to be a leader, so there is no leaders need to enlist a coalition with
forts by tailoring their programs for need to waste resources on those who enough power to effect change and
lawyers tasked with specific roles. are unable or unwilling to learn how. develop a clear vision and strategy
Also, partners who themselves resist for implementing the program.
Who Should Be Involved? engaging in a leadership development Firms that do not have strong
Successful leadership development program (as did one finger-wagging leaders, on the other hand, may need
is a top-down exercise. If it is not managing partner who claimed that an actual crisis to occur before they
modeled by the partners currently “men don’t change after the age of 29”) are willing to implement a leader-
in leadership roles, the chances of and those who don’t recognize the im- ship development initiative—if it’s
success for any type of initiative are portance of leadership skills through- not too late. The economic hardship
limited. This means that current out their firms are not good candidates that many firms are facing in today’s
leaders should be among the first to for leadership programs (and they market may present such a crisis for
participate in a development initia- probably make poor leaders), since many firms. Fortunately, if no cri-
tive. If they don’t participate, and they they don’t have the learning mind-set sis exists at present, leaders can still
don’t already have the skills being required for authentic leadership. engage in the type of scenario plan-
developed, it is likely that other law- ning just discussed to create a loom-
yers participating in the program will When to Begin? ing threat and move forward with a
view it as a waste of time and money. Instituting a comprehensive leader- strategy once the need is recognized.
This is not to say that leader- ship development program requires
ship programs targeted to senior that one of two events occurs: a strong How Do You Proceed?
associates and new partners are not leader is already in place who can This is where the rubber meets the
worthwhile. These programs build a lead the initiative or there is a crisis. road. There is no shortage of programs
leadership mind-set in the next genera- In firms where strong leaders are designed to teach leadership skills to
tion of lawyers and integrate leader- convinced of the need for leader- lawyers, and many of those programs
ship into a firm’s culture. However, a ship development, they must first are excellent. However, a one-, two- or
program is unlikely to reach its full convince their partners that the need three-day workshop, in and of itself,
potential (and lawyers are more likely for leadership within the ranks of will not a leader make. As with most
to leave the firm) if the participat- the partnership is essential for the training programs, incremental learn-
ing lawyers cannot look to executive firm’s ongoing health and survival. ing can be had, but without ongoing
leaders and senior partners as role Leaders can do this in a variety of support designed to help lawyers in-
models for the competencies that ways, including by undertaking a tegrate the new learning, the value of
they are tasked with developing. crisis management analysis to high- these types of programs is limited.
Another important point to con- light the risks of poor leadership Therefore, even when a firm is
sider is that highly skeptical lawyers within the firm. This involves look- able to answer the why, what, who
are likely to follow leaders only if they ing at various potential scenarios and when questions clearly, in order
are credible—and credibility requires such as the retirement, departure or to maximize the return on invest-
not only good legal skills but also sudden death of existing leaders, a ment for a leadership development
authenticity. Authentic leadership failure to secure credit, a change in initiative, it needs a comprehensive
requires a level of openness, humil- markets that eliminates a once lucra- strategy for integrating leadership
ity and vulnerability that is often tive practice area, the termination competencies into the firm’s culture
uncomfortable for lawyers to display of a lease, being fired by a large cli- and operating systems before begin-
on the job. So lawyers who are not ent or another major catastrophe. ning the initiative. The organizational
open to the process of growth and After creating the sense of urgency support should include these actions:
do not want to develop new skills are that generally arises when such risks 3 Establishing a system that
unlikely to be good candidates for are surfaced, it is easier to overcome measures leadership competencies
leadership development, and they the complacency of partners who are through use of a developmental
40 Law Practice September/October 2010 WWW.LAWPRACTICE.ORG

4. assessment such as a 360-degree instru- portant for lawyers if they have had grate what they have learned into
ment. These types of instruments, by no formal training in this area and, their daily leadership practices.
which a partner can be assessed by oth- until now, have been asked to be only The investment in leadership de-
ers on the specific competencies, pro- individual contributors in their firms. velopment can be a substantial one in
vide the feedback that a partner needs 3 Providing ongoing individual terms of money and time. However,
to start the development process. support in the form of mentoring for firms that can answer the “why” of
3 Developing rewards for meeting within the firm and coaching from an leadership development, the process of
and exceeding the leadership com- internal or external leadership coach. implementing an effective program is
petencies that are measured, in Skilled coaches can walk with the straightforward, although not simple.
the form of compensation, special leaders through the initial assessment For those who recognize a need for
recognition, leadership assign- processes and provide essential train- development in order to meet the de-
ments, or another type of reward ing and support for building new mands of today’s and future markets,
that is valued by the lawyers who competencies. the investment is well worth it. LP
are assuming leadership roles. 3 Providing lawyers with an op-
Kathleen Bradley (kcbradley@execlawyer.com)
3 Providing ongoing education in portunity to practice their newly is a lawyer, a consultant and an executive coach,
the area of leadership so that lawyers acquired knowledge and skills in specializing in the development of law firm and
know and understand what is expected real time and to engage in the best corporate leaders in a global environment. She is the
founder of The Executive Lawyer LLC and a member
of them and are taught how to meet learning tool available—a mistake of Threshold Advisors LLC. She practiced law for
their targets. This is particularly im- here and there—so they can inte- 18 years, with Clifford Chance and White & Case.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:
LAW FIRMS THAT ARE DOING IT RIGHT
AMONG THOSE DOING IT RIGHT when it comes to as part of their competency-based career development
leadership development are firms like Buchanan Ingersoll programs for their lawyers. Notably, neither firm refers to
& Rooney, Reed Smith, Goodwin Procter and Young leadership as a “soft skill.” It is recognized as a business skill
Conaway Stargatt & Taylor. What’s so special about their that is essential for good client service and firm citizenship.
approaches? Consider this: 3 Lastly, Delaware-based Young Conaway has worked
3 In 2007, Buchanan Ingersoll partnered with law firm with the consultancy Hildebrandt Baker Robbins to deliver
consultancy Altman Weil to institute a yearlong training and an intensive leadership development program. Last year, 20
coaching program for the firm’s executive leaders (both of the firm’s 45 partners, including its management com-
lawyers and nonlawyers), practice group leaders, lawyers mittee members, attended a weeklong off-site program,
with large project-like transactions and cases, and junior which was supplemented by coaching and real-life projects
lawyers with leadership potential. One of the primary bene- through which the partners could evaluate themselves in
fits that Buchanan has found in focusing on top-tier leaders action while also contributing to the firm’s management.
is the ability that those lawyers acquire to push down their The weeklong intensive was followed up by two additional
leadership skills to the next generation of lawyers who will two-day off-site sessions. The program was so successful
eventually succeed them. that now, says managing partner Jim Patton, the remaining
3 Reed Smith and Goodwin Procter are both partners partners are hungry to participate in a similar program.
with premier business schools—Reed Smith with Wharton In all four cases, by focusing on leadership at the top
and Goodwin Procter with Harvard—for the delivery of ex- and pushing it down to all levels of the firm, these law
ecutive leadership training to the firms’ senior leaders. In firms have signaled the importance of leadership through-
addition, both firms now include leadership competencies out the organization.
Leadership Development: Should Your Firm Invest in Growing Its Leaders? by Kathleen Bradley, published in Law Practice,
September/October 2010, Volume 36, No. 5. © 2010 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission. This
information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or
WWW.LAWPRACTICE.ORG or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
stored in an electronic database September/October 2010 Law Practice 41