I’m a fan of CBC. I think the national communications platform plays an important role in our country. I see them as informative, insightful and strong in exploring information of importance to Canadians. And I love my podcasts, especially CBC’s weekday Front Burner. But today’s episode threw me. It speculated on how easy it might be for the US could take over Canada if it decided to. Really, during a trade war? That’s what you want to say to Canada? If the content had been in writing instead of through a podcast, I might have thought it was by Russian bots and not a Canadian crown corporation.
Yet I see this type of unhelpful, deflating communication from law firm leadership all the time. In an attempt to be seen as honest, forthright and tough, we can sometimes forget our ultimate goals. Here are some examples:
- In dealing with an under-performing lawyer, many firms take on a “tough love” stance. We remind the lawyer of their target, and how inadequate they’ve been up to now in hitting said target. We give them a timeline in which to improve, often with a tone that suggest we doubt such improvement will occur.
Instead, we can accept that the firm is partly to blame for allowing the problem to last so long, and that the firm must be part of the solution. Obviously, something isn’t working for the lawyer. Let’s find out what that is. Is the issue related to work management, time management, a lack of marketing skills, a poor mentor, or something else? Determine how the issue can be diagnosed and treated – coaching can often help. Provide assistance to the lawyer in finally reaching their target, because doing nothing will take the firm and the lawyer to the same outcome as before. Don’t just deflate them. Help them.
- Some law firm practice groups struggle to deliver the same results as other practice groups in the firm. When production data is shared and discussed within the Partnership, those in lower-producing practice groups can be made to feel like the poor second cousin, propped up and tolerated by the rest of the family.
In fact, if the firm has gone through a strategic planning process, there are probably strategic reasons for that practice remaining with the firm. It might be a loss-leader, helping to draw in clients that firm might otherwise not have had access to. It might be a practice that serves as a client service for existing clients of the firm – ensuring they don’t go to another law firm for perhaps a conveyance, or a will, opening the door for a wholesale departure from the firm. Or the firm could be maintaining a practice to support a senior practitioner who has spent years building their reputation in an area of law. This centre of excellence might not be the firm’s chief practice, but that credibility can help the firm’s overall reputation. There could be many reasons why a law firm maintains a lower production area. Making the lawyers in those areas feel badly about their contribution works against those strategic purposes.
- I was in law firms during the early 90’s, when high inflation caused many firms to contract, and good people didn’t know if they would be out of a job by the end of the year. In such an environment, you need people to stick around until you might be forced to let some of them go. That gives you the best chance of doing well as a business, and not actually having to let those good people go (or at least, not as many of them).
Back then, firms that held regular meetings to talk about their gloom and doom realities tended to see good people walking, in the search for a more stable environment. They might have sought to create those departures through those communications. But in times of trouble, law firm leaders should be realistic yet optimistic. Yes, times are tough. Yes, we’re having a hard time. But we’re committed to pooling together and doing our best: to turn things around, to limit job loss, to maintain our firm community. Thank people for their efforts. Encourage them to keep fighting the good fight. Assure them that when the dust settles and the firm is table again, firm members will be rewarded for sticking around and helping the firm to survive and eventually thrive again.
Many firms had a practice opportunity for this type of communication during Covid. (Some did better than others, as Associate churn seemed to reach an all-time high in that period). Unfortunately, we may have cause to pull out and use those strategies again.
Bottom line is to remember your goal, as a firm. It’s to build and maintain a strong, capable, knowledgeable and hopeful workforce that can accomplish anything its members set their mind to. Be honest, yes. But also inspire, don’t deflate.
Heather Gray-Grant is a business strategist, marketing expert and executive coach for law firms, lawyers and administrators. She can be reached at heather@heathergraygrant.com