Why Every Lawyer Needs to Lead

An effective leader inspires others by establishing a clear vision for the future, aligning people, and then motivating them to accomplish goals. A leader cannot accomplish any of this by merely telling others what to do. He or she achieves superior results by harnessing each team member's best thinking while building the team member's skills and confidence. In a law firm environment, great leaders are necessary to provide client service, build client relationships, develop more junior lawyers, and generally ensure the profitable use of firm resources. This requires everyone's best thinking.

How does a leader harness the group's best thinking? The most effective leaders use coaching skills. In other words, all they do is ask the right questions.

The Coach Approach

There is nothing wrong with telling someone what to do. In fact, telling is necessary to ensure a clear understanding of expectations. So when is using a coach approach ' that is, when is asking ' more productive than telling? Examples include:

• When a junior lawyer or your partner comes to you with a problem or is stuck. You have just asked an associate to work on a deal that needs to be structured for particular tax consequences and the associate comes to you expressing uncertainty about where to start.
• When you bring a performance concern to the attention of an associate during the annual review process and want the problem fixed.
• When you need your team's engagement and best thinking on a project.
• When a client comes to you with a problem and is unsure of what might be getting in the way of a successful resolution.
• When you are talking to a potential client and wish to understand the prospect's problem and concerns.

Why It Works

Coaching is effective because a lawyer with coaching skills can motivate and work with others in a manner that increases collaboration and trust, reduces friction, and enhances productivity and commitment. The lawyer becomes more capable of generating and sustaining effective relationships with colleagues and clients, resulting in increased levels of trust and accountability. A lawyer who leads using coaching skills is able to gain the best thinking of colleagues, encourage meaningful and focused discussion, and create clarity, engagement, and accountability in a way that everyone appreciates. Coaching skills likewise enhance a lawyer's ability to listen to colleagues and clients alike; mentor; and be more effective while saving time. These are all critical leadership skills.

How You Do It

Coaching is the structured process of asking insightful questions that support another's best thinking. The best questions are open-ended. Since your goal is to elicit best thinking, the question must be designed to draw out more than a “yes” or “no” answer. The coaching process has five steps, which I will illustrate in the context of dealing with an associate on a project.

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Step 1: Establish the Focus. In this first step, you'll identify three aspects: 1) the topic of the conversation; 2) the goal regarding the topic; and 3) the goal for the conversation. Suppose that an associate comes to you, overwhelmed and not sure how to start addressing issues in a complex transaction with unclear tax consequences. Instead of “giving the answer,” after listening for a few minutes, you establish the topic by asking, “Which of these issues would you like to focus on?” or, “Of all these concerns, which has the highest priority?” or, “What do you need to get done now?”

The associate responds that he needs help in identifying the central issue in the transaction. Next, you clarify the transaction's goal by asking, “What are you trying to accomplish for the client?” or, “What are the client's goals?” The associate responds that the client would like to ensure that the business purpose of the transaction is beyond reproach. You then ask, “What would you like to walk away from this conversation with?” or, “How can I help you?” The associate might identify a plan for understanding how to establish business purpose in this particular context, or just use you as a sounding board about certain ideas. You will never know unless you ask.

Step 2: Brainstorm Options. Encourage your associate to generate ideas for establishing a business purpose. Unless the associate is really stuck, don't offer advice until he expresses a few ideas of his own. When you do offer a suggestion, be sure the associate understands that it is one of many options rather than “the answer.” This is particularly important if you want the associate to think hard about the issue rather than just look to you. Importantly, encouraging the associate to productively think about issues ensures full engagement, learning and stretching those critical thinking skills needed to handle more responsibility in the near future. Other benefits are more confidence and independence.

Step 3: Create Action Plan. This is where the associate's plan takes shape. Ask questions such as, “Out of all of the options, which will work best?” or, “What do you think the first step is?” or, “What do you need to do first?” or, “Which issues do you need to focus on first?” If you skip this step, you run the risk of the associate leaving your office not quite certain what to do.

Step 4: Remove Obstacles. You must identify and address potential obstacles to success. This critical step is often forgotten. A plan cannot succeed without anticipating trouble spots and necessary resources. Ask questions such as, “What has gotten in the way of success in the past?” and, “What resources do you need?” and, “What challenges do you anticipate?” This is particularly important for an associate who struggles.

Step 5: Review and Commit. In the final step, use questions to solidify the associate's commitment to taking action, reiterate your support, and establish a time to follow up. Ask, “What will you do by when?” or, “When would you like to meet to discuss next steps?”

On occasion, you may need to take a step back or follow the circular nature of the process. For example, the associate may say something during Brainstorm Options that causes you to question what the associate really needs from the conversation to move forward. If so, clarify the focus by asking, for example, “What do you need ' a strategy for attacking this problem or help identifying the central issue?” Then move on.

Conclusion

This five-step coaching process is invaluable in conversations with associates, but you also can use it ' or parts of it ' with colleagues and clients or in any meeting to ensure that the purpose and desired result of the meeting are clear and that meeting participants are appropriately focused.

An effective leader inspires others by establishing a clear vision for the future, aligning people, and then motivating them to accomplish goals. A leader cannot accomplish any of this by merely telling others what to do. He or she achieves superior results by harnessing each team member's best thinking while building the team member's skills and confidence. In a law firm environment, great leaders are necessary to provide client service, build client relationships, develop more junior lawyers, and generally ensure the profitable use of firm resources. This requires everyone's best thinking.

How does a leader harness the group's best thinking? The most effective leaders use coaching skills. In other words, all they do is ask the right questions.

The Coach Approach

There is nothing wrong with telling someone what to do. In fact, telling is necessary to ensure a clear understanding of expectations. So when is using a coach approach ' that is, when is asking ' more productive than telling? Examples include:

• When a junior lawyer or your partner comes to you with a problem or is stuck. You have just asked an associate to work on a deal that needs to be structured for particular tax consequences and the associate comes to you expressing uncertainty about where to start.
• When you bring a performance concern to the attention of an associate during the annual review process and want the problem fixed.
• When you need your team's engagement and best thinking on a project.
• When a client comes to you with a problem and is unsure of what might be getting in the way of a successful resolution.
• When you are talking to a potential client and wish to understand the prospect's problem and concerns.

Why It Works

Coaching is effective because a lawyer with coaching skills can motivate and work with others in a manner that increases collaboration and trust, reduces friction, and enhances productivity and commitment. The lawyer becomes more capable of generating and sustaining effective relationships with colleagues and clients, resulting in increased levels of trust and accountability. A lawyer who leads using coaching skills is able to gain the best thinking of colleagues, encourage meaningful and focused discussion, and create clarity, engagement, and accountability in a way that everyone appreciates. Coaching skills likewise enhance a lawyer's ability to listen to colleagues and clients alike; mentor; and be more effective while saving time. These are all critical leadership skills.

How You Do It

Coaching is the structured process of asking insightful questions that support another's best thinking. The best questions are open-ended. Since your goal is to elicit best thinking, the question must be designed to draw out more than a “yes” or “no” answer. The coaching process has five steps, which I will illustrate in the context of dealing with an associate on a project.

[IMGCAP(1)]

Step 1: Establish the Focus. In this first step, you'll identify three aspects: 1) the topic of the conversation; 2) the goal regarding the topic; and 3) the goal for the conversation. Suppose that an associate comes to you, overwhelmed and not sure how to start addressing issues in a complex transaction with unclear tax consequences. Instead of “giving the answer,” after listening for a few minutes, you establish the topic by asking, “Which of these issues would you like to focus on?” or, “Of all these concerns, which has the highest priority?” or, “What do you need to get done now?”

The associate responds that he needs help in identifying the central issue in the transaction. Next, you clarify the transaction's goal by asking, “What are you trying to accomplish for the client?” or, “What are the client's goals?” The associate responds that the client would like to ensure that the business purpose of the transaction is beyond reproach. You then ask, “What would you like to walk away from this conversation with?” or, “How can I help you?” The associate might identify a plan for understanding how to establish business purpose in this particular context, or just use you as a sounding board about certain ideas. You will never know unless you ask.

Step 2: Brainstorm Options. Encourage your associate to generate ideas for establishing a business purpose. Unless the associate is really stuck, don't offer advice until he expresses a few ideas of his own. When you do offer a suggestion, be sure the associate understands that it is one of many options rather than “the answer.” This is particularly important if you want the associate to think hard about the issue rather than just look to you. Importantly, encouraging the associate to productively think about issues ensures full engagement, learning and stretching those critical thinking skills needed to handle more responsibility in the near future. Other benefits are more confidence and independence.

Step 3: Create Action Plan. This is where the associate's plan takes shape. Ask questions such as, “Out of all of the options, which will work best?” or, “What do you think the first step is?” or, “What do you need to do first?” or, “Which issues do you need to focus on first?” If you skip this step, you run the risk of the associate leaving your office not quite certain what to do.

Step 4: Remove Obstacles. You must identify and address potential obstacles to success. This critical step is often forgotten. A plan cannot succeed without anticipating trouble spots and necessary resources. Ask questions such as, “What has gotten in the way of success in the past?” and, “What resources do you need?” and, “What challenges do you anticipate?” This is particularly important for an associate who struggles.

Step 5: Review and Commit. In the final step, use questions to solidify the associate's commitment to taking action, reiterate your support, and establish a time to follow up. Ask, “What will you do by when?” or, “When would you like to meet to discuss next steps?”

On occasion, you may need to take a step back or follow the circular nature of the process. For example, the associate may say something during Brainstorm Options that causes you to question what the associate really needs from the conversation to move forward. If so, clarify the focus by asking, for example, “What do you need ' a strategy for attacking this problem or help identifying the central issue?” Then move on.

Conclusion

This five-step coaching process is invaluable in conversations with associates, but you also can use it ' or parts of it ' with colleagues and clients or in any meeting to ensure that the purpose and desired result of the meeting are clear and that meeting participants are appropriately focused.