Your 2018 New Year's Resolution... time to stop Partners in law firms (and other commercial organisations) from becoming dinosaurs?

Have certain work processes and connections that have served so well for years be screaming for a refresh? Examining quandaries from fresh perspectives help mitigate risk of becoming a dinosaur egg ready to hatch.

Here are some of the many hundreds of themes that frequently surface during my 1-2-1partner-level coaching and mentoring, which is normally restricted to just four x two-hour sessions over four months**. If some ring true for you or a colleague, please make contact. Confident, resilient, empowering, and creative top tier leadership is often the success driver.

IS NOW THE TIME to have a 'difficult’ conversation with a colleague or client? During 18 years of partner-level coaching I have uncovered droves of technically competent lawyers shying away from having ‘difficult’ conversations. Doing nothing does not help your firm, the divisional team or the problem individual(s) concerned. Harder challenges rarely evaporate. My approach to coaching is all about providing a menu of proven processes for tackling all manner of sensitive issues from which the candidate picks and chooses to resolve given situations. Successfully negotiating forms one of the important pillars that underpin leadership artistry and I find that every leader benefits from a refresh. At one end of the problem scale, leaders fear rocking the boat by taking the ultimate action though, if conducted professionally, all sides can walk away with heads held high.

In the heady world of running a profitable law firm it is also deeply unwise to leave your most successful people to just get on with it whilst focusing most effort on shoring up underperformance. A two-prong attack can work best. The best of the best undoubtedly benefit from personal development by being stretched, since boredom can strike at any time. I am credited for having saved several best billing partners from stomping. Developing your best performers often produces a high and fast ROI.

IS NOW THE TIME to refine your external and internal communications? Today's clients and staff are more diverse – certainly more multicultural. The ways we have to work with our clients are also changing. Some partners find necessary constant change easier than others. All of this makes clear communication ever more pivotal. There are so many ideas to share when it comes to crafting effective multi-channel communications. Ensuring that your message chimes with distinct audiences (e.g. equity partners, salaried partners, clients and introducers) requires a skillset that may not come naturally. Profitable (and fast growth) law firms need to stand out for all the right reasons in an increasingly competitive marketplace and rapidly changing landscape. Before considering sharpening your suite of cross-media marketing materials yet again, it is usually highly worthwhile starting out by refreshing your vision, goals and values before going on to articulating, simply, what you need your people to be saying (and not saying) and doing (and not doing). When we stray too far from providing what our clients need and value, it is can be game over. Communication may seem straightforward though it isn't.

IS NOW THE TIME to cascade more decision making to those who hold the detailed operational knowledge? Decisions, decisions... Overly delayed or ill-considered decisions can weaken or even destroy an otherwise solid law firm. One of my mottos is "If in doubt, do something." In the modern-day knowledge society our middle managers hold much of this vital knowledge that is so fundamental for taking measured decisions. Could there be too much decision-making distance between certain movers and shakers inside your wider team and your partners? Fractured communication costs time (and money) that can be so depressing to fritter away. Every single member of your team has to take responsibility for creating long-term sustainability. Over many years I have conclude that too many leaders fall into the trap of thinking too logically. Is now the time to allow more of your team to test their creative ideas within agreed boundaries, if you believe that any boundaries at all are needed? Sometimes it’s a good idea to let your people succeed or fail - otherwise the best of your bunch (rarely your worst performers) may stomp. Colleagues so easily embrace some misguided sense that they are being treated as one small cog in some gigantic impersonal engine. Actively encourage collaborative thinking and reprimand those displaying silo-mentality. Indecision or poor decision taking can set off firm-wide morale-destroying cluster bombs. It’s prudent and healthy to broaden one's knowledge of different decision processes - one style does not fit all.

IS NOW THE TIME to enhance self-awareness? Do you and your fellow partners know yourselves well? Yes, of course you do... this is a trick question since few of us know ourselves as well as we choose to believe. One of the fun dimensions to my leadership coaching provides a rapid factual analysis of each candidate’s communication style compared to over 370 other leaders. I am confident that my mapping, which has taken 20 years to perfect, is now spot on - last year I added 36 more test results to my spreadsheet and the change to overall findings varied by less than 0.2%. Hard evidence that I reveal often comes as a complete revelation. Findings can make communicating harder on 'Day One', though the long-term benefit becomes powerfully evident after a week or three. All said and done, it's our interactions with others that ultimately make or break our organisations, so enhanced knowledge of preferred communication and behavioural styles of self and others has to rank amongst the top of most people's coaching needs.

IS NOW THE TIME to work on your time management skills (and LWB)? Most of us can rapidly draw up a shortlist of our own peculiar bad time management practices. For example, many leaders fail to strike a healthy, sustainable Life-Work-Balance. We accept that a certain degree of ambient stress and pressure comes with the territory though we need to take care. Whos tombstone reads "I really should have spent more time in the office"? Working with top notch lawyers and other leaders of fast growth businesses puts me in the privileged position to share a range of concepts that can make a significantly positive difference to managing one’s precious time even more effectively. Ask yourself if you devote sufficient quality time to strategic and commercial thinking since that's where most leaders ultimately add greatest value. It's too easy for leaders to get drawn back into daily operational firefighting. It may be time to exercise some adjustment without delay. Talking of exercise... a healthy body = a healthy mind. Gyms are going to be packed for the first two weeks of 2018 before quickly reverting to normality. Most human beings are not good about forming sustainable good habits for long without some form of external help and support.

IS NOW THE TIME for succession planning? Building the self-confidence of your top team. It is a truism that not all lawyers want to be leaders. To many, leadership is unwelcome hassle. Ask yourself if you are spending sufficient time developing your next generation of leaders? It is easy to assume that everyone possesses the same degree of knowledge as you - though they don’t. There are so many ideas to share about effective delegation processes to ensure that your people deliver what it is you need them to do by the time you need it. Sharing out responsibility allows trusted team members to grow in confidence and that increases loyalty - and it also generates higher quality thinking time for you. Some staff churn is inevitable and even desirable and yet many leaders leave succession planning to the very last moment. What action needs to be taken with those in a team who stay beyond their sell by date? Fail to address these sensitive matters at your peril. It feels so good to leave behind a long-lasting positive legacy.

IS NOW THE TIME (RIGHT NOW) to make your workplace fun and positive again? A receptionist once remarked that she knew whenever I was in the building as "more of the partners had broad smiles on their faces". High quality leadership development, that can make a tangible difference to the bottom line of a law firm, is tougher and more direct than candidates expect though coaching should also include an element of fun. One of my candidates described me as being a cuddly shark’ and I think that was a compliment. Bringing particular challenges into sharp definition can be a constructive starting place. I block out distracting noises to produce stark reality. It is also good to be able to laugh out loud at one's own shortcomings. None of us is perfect. Laughter is therapeutic and helps to unblock stubborn thinking, usually by appreciating the situation from new angles. I am a great believer in the art of positive affirmations and of reframing. The truth is that most people only ever achieve a tiny proportion of what they are truly capable of - and that includes those at the top of the pile. "If you don't passionately believe something is going to work, what hope do the rest of us have?"

Could one or more of your partners significantly benefit? Over and above an initial conversation with you, a separate one hour face-to-face ‘pre-session' with your chosen candidate (which might be you) is then provided at no cost whatsoever, without obligation. This starts the process of identifying which eight to ten bespoke coaching themes would most benefit your firm and the candidate.

Thank you for reading.

15 TO 30 PAGES OF PASSWORD-PROTECTED NOTES AFTER EVERY SESSION providing bespoke tools and techniques that candidates can refer to time and time again.

** UNIQUE TEN YEAR PROMISE. Candidates are entitled to email and telephone Robin for up to ten years after their fourth session at no further charge, up until such time that an extra session is considered to be more beneficial (only triggered once). This offer is unique within the leadership performance coaching industry.