Nurture Internal Relationships

You are probably aware that building relationships is a crucial factor in your overall success. Relationships enable you to create and follow a game plan, which, in turn, incorporates and produces many opportunities for you to reach out and “touch” your contacts. It takes at least six relationship touches to build a strong personal connection with an individual. This will enable you to not only ask that person for work, but to get it. It is much easier to build a relationship with, and get work from, someone you know and who knows you and your capabilities than going after someone with whom you have no bond at all.

Be Proactive

A typical process, when building relationships and networking with contacts, is for you to establish and develop external sources and resources. You want to find a reason to get in front of your contacts. There are many ways for you to maintain and sustain your presence, including meeting your relationships in person; staying visible to your contact list through articles or blogs you write and/or forward to them; showing your expertise to clients and prospects in speaking engagements; and displaying the other sides to your personal brand by mingling at social events and client development occasions.

Social media and digital communications have greatly assisted this process. In any given hour you can communicate with a client in Dubai, organize a lunch date with clients in your city, send an article to prospects in Canada, Chile and Greece, and link with myriad contacts across the globe. These are all valuable touches. With technology, the opportunities to build and sustain relationships are endless.

Sustain Your Relationships

As important as it is for you to develop and grow your external relationships, it is critical that you maintain and sustain deep relationships with your partners and associates at your firm. Sometimes you don't see what is right in front of you: Opportunities are always down the hall. Building and growing meaningful relationships with your business colleagues helps you foster business success. You leverage your internal relationships when you build lasting bonds between yourself and your firm or workplace, particularly through effective personal branding and developing individual relationships with specific lawyers and colleagues. Too frequently, these relationships are taken for granted or simply assumed to exist. You hope that if you go to work daily and bill your time responsibly, you will build strong relationships. But that is only part of the equation.

How would you grade your strategy for developing and growing your internal relationships at your law firm? This is a tough question to answer, as you may never have instituted a personal campaign to build influential relations at work. It is a fair assumption that you probably rarely quantify and qualify the immediate benefits you gain by nurturing relationships internally. To help you gauge your internal networking ability, here are some benchmarking questions for you to consider in order for you to rank your internal relationship success rate.

Benchmarking

Of the partners at your firm, how many know who you are and what you practice and could pick you out of a crowd?If a firm colleague heard or read your name in the news or a blog, would he or she recognize it as you or, even better, did he or she know about the event prior to it hitting the press? When was the last time you shared a success with a partner in the next office or in another state or practice area? How frequently does your name come up for client pitches or client referrals? When was the last time you were invited to join in with a social event feting firm clients that were not your own? How often do you approach other partners with a strategy to foster more clients or take current clients to a deeper relationship? In other words, how effective have you been in marketing your brand and establishing lasting relationships with your partners and colleagues for effective return on investment? You are not alone if you guesstimate that the number reflecting your effectiveness is much lower than it should be or, more important, than you want it to be.

A 'Family Tree'

If you were to construct a business development “family tree” of your client and networking relationships, your fellow partners and colleagues at the firm should occupy a very high branch. Just as you want to be hands-on when developing relationships with clients and prospects, you want to ensure that you are focusing your energies strategically on establishing strong and lasting touches in your corporate realm. The more your colleagues know you and your practice, the better they can value your contribution and the more they can share your expertise with others. You want to consistently and effectively show and evolve your firm credentials.

Here are some initiatives you may want to consider adapting to strengthen your bonds with your colleagues and their contacts that will assist you in developing and growing your internal relationships. Each is grounded in you being proactive with your efforts and focusing on your colleagues and their contacts.

1. Build Rapport. It all begins and ends with communication. Every successful relationship is built upon a strong foundation of rapport. It is not about you, but the other person. Invest in finding out about your partners and colleagues, but not in an insidious or suspect way. Your intent is motive-free: You want to be friendly and sincere and to continually take your relationship from a walk-by, “How was your weekend?” where you are already down the hall before they can respond, to one where you show genuine interest in them and what is important to them. When you have deeper and more meaningful relationships with your colleagues, you are establishing a key platform from which you can work together.

2. Be Visible. A key ingredient in your law firm personal branding initiative is to be visible and relevant to your colleagues. Try to regularly roam the halls and have a digital presence as well. You want to reinforce your developing relationships by building in regular touch points with your colleagues, whether in person or online and demonstrating that you have skin in the game. Be active and proactive: drop in on colleagues, go to firm meetings and events, prepare and speak up on issues.

3. Share Regularly. Building on your goal to be seen and heard, be open with your work. This doesn't mean that your book becomes literally an open book. Instead, let your colleagues in on your success, and explain how you can facilitate the same success for their clients or contacts. You sometimes assume that everyone knows what you do.

Unfortunately, as others are looking to build their own relationships, you may not be top of mind. When you share your experiences and expertise with them, you have a chance to jump the heap. When dropping in or sending a note to your partners, share some of your news, client feedback, bar or street intelligence. Information is king, so no one will be upset if you share with them information that can help them, their clients and, as a direct effect, you and your business. When you focus your intentions on others, it only comes back favorably to reward you.

4. Stay Informed to Better Inform. When you show interest in others' work, you are positioning yourself to net strong dividends. Everyone likes to talk about their work. And, like you, others might assume that you know what they are working on or what is currently important to them and their clients. When you ask questions about their matters, you are showing genuine interest and opening up the communication channels for future discussions. Follow up on colleagues' cases, matters or exploits and suggest other opportunities that may be of interest to them and their contacts.

You can only add value when you know where value is required. You can better inform your colleagues when you share information and demonstrate your desire to be informed.

5. Be a Blinking Light. You are embarking on a relationship campaign for a reason: it takes time, preparation, strategy and patience. As mentioned, you do not want to act like you are on a fly-by mission: there is no sincerity or lasting effects in such activities. Instead, you want to be a blinking light where you are continually and measurably showing your value and return on investment. To be a blinking light you need to find opportunities to touch your colleagues, such as presenting to other practice groups or client events, contributing to firm publications, in all formats, and ramping up your digital presence.

6. Get Involved. There is no better way to show your dedication to your firm and its members than getting involved with your firm. This is probably not a newsflash for you: You have heard or know first hand the importance of getting involved with your partners and firm. It may, though, be the first time you understand how strategic and rewarding showing love to your firm can be to you, your clients and your firm. When you balance your client work with firm committees and other nonbillable opportunities, you effectively demonstrate to your fellow partners and colleagues that you care about them, your firm and its interests. When you suggest new policies or volunteer for large projects, you are revealing that you are in for the long haul and that you will do what you need to do to bring success to your firm.

When you get involved, you build rapport, are visible, share regularly, stay informed and act as a blinking light. Get out there and seize the opportunities standing right in front of you.

Debra Forman, PCC, certified executive coach and principal of Pinstripe Coaching (www.pinstripecoaching.com), partners with attorneys in one-on-one and group coaching sessions, produces the monthly video Making Rain, and is a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors.

You are probably aware that building relationships is a crucial factor in your overall success. Relationships enable you to create and follow a game plan, which, in turn, incorporates and produces many opportunities for you to reach out and “touch” your contacts. It takes at least six relationship touches to build a strong personal connection with an individual. This will enable you to not only ask that person for work, but to get it. It is much easier to build a relationship with, and get work from, someone you know and who knows you and your capabilities than going after someone with whom you have no bond at all.

Be Proactive

A typical process, when building relationships and networking with contacts, is for you to establish and develop external sources and resources. You want to find a reason to get in front of your contacts. There are many ways for you to maintain and sustain your presence, including meeting your relationships in person; staying visible to your contact list through articles or blogs you write and/or forward to them; showing your expertise to clients and prospects in speaking engagements; and displaying the other sides to your personal brand by mingling at social events and client development occasions.

Social media and digital communications have greatly assisted this process. In any given hour you can communicate with a client in Dubai, organize a lunch date with clients in your city, send an article to prospects in Canada, Chile and Greece, and link with myriad contacts across the globe. These are all valuable touches. With technology, the opportunities to build and sustain relationships are endless.

Sustain Your Relationships

As important as it is for you to develop and grow your external relationships, it is critical that you maintain and sustain deep relationships with your partners and associates at your firm. Sometimes you don't see what is right in front of you: Opportunities are always down the hall. Building and growing meaningful relationships with your business colleagues helps you foster business success. You leverage your internal relationships when you build lasting bonds between yourself and your firm or workplace, particularly through effective personal branding and developing individual relationships with specific lawyers and colleagues. Too frequently, these relationships are taken for granted or simply assumed to exist. You hope that if you go to work daily and bill your time responsibly, you will build strong relationships. But that is only part of the equation.

How would you grade your strategy for developing and growing your internal relationships at your law firm? This is a tough question to answer, as you may never have instituted a personal campaign to build influential relations at work. It is a fair assumption that you probably rarely quantify and qualify the immediate benefits you gain by nurturing relationships internally. To help you gauge your internal networking ability, here are some benchmarking questions for you to consider in order for you to rank your internal relationship success rate.

Benchmarking

Of the partners at your firm, how many know who you are and what you practice and could pick you out of a crowd?If a firm colleague heard or read your name in the news or a blog, would he or she recognize it as you or, even better, did he or she know about the event prior to it hitting the press? When was the last time you shared a success with a partner in the next office or in another state or practice area? How frequently does your name come up for client pitches or client referrals? When was the last time you were invited to join in with a social event feting firm clients that were not your own? How often do you approach other partners with a strategy to foster more clients or take current clients to a deeper relationship? In other words, how effective have you been in marketing your brand and establishing lasting relationships with your partners and colleagues for effective return on investment? You are not alone if you guesstimate that the number reflecting your effectiveness is much lower than it should be or, more important, than you want it to be.

A 'Family Tree'

If you were to construct a business development “family tree” of your client and networking relationships, your fellow partners and colleagues at the firm should occupy a very high branch. Just as you want to be hands-on when developing relationships with clients and prospects, you want to ensure that you are focusing your energies strategically on establishing strong and lasting touches in your corporate realm. The more your colleagues know you and your practice, the better they can value your contribution and the more they can share your expertise with others. You want to consistently and effectively show and evolve your firm credentials.

Here are some initiatives you may want to consider adapting to strengthen your bonds with your colleagues and their contacts that will assist you in developing and growing your internal relationships. Each is grounded in you being proactive with your efforts and focusing on your colleagues and their contacts.

1. Build Rapport. It all begins and ends with communication. Every successful relationship is built upon a strong foundation of rapport. It is not about you, but the other person. Invest in finding out about your partners and colleagues, but not in an insidious or suspect way. Your intent is motive-free: You want to be friendly and sincere and to continually take your relationship from a walk-by, “How was your weekend?” where you are already down the hall before they can respond, to one where you show genuine interest in them and what is important to them. When you have deeper and more meaningful relationships with your colleagues, you are establishing a key platform from which you can work together.

2. Be Visible. A key ingredient in your law firm personal branding initiative is to be visible and relevant to your colleagues. Try to regularly roam the halls and have a digital presence as well. You want to reinforce your developing relationships by building in regular touch points with your colleagues, whether in person or online and demonstrating that you have skin in the game. Be active and proactive: drop in on colleagues, go to firm meetings and events, prepare and speak up on issues.

3. Share Regularly. Building on your goal to be seen and heard, be open with your work. This doesn't mean that your book becomes literally an open book. Instead, let your colleagues in on your success, and explain how you can facilitate the same success for their clients or contacts. You sometimes assume that everyone knows what you do.

Unfortunately, as others are looking to build their own relationships, you may not be top of mind. When you share your experiences and expertise with them, you have a chance to jump the heap. When dropping in or sending a note to your partners, share some of your news, client feedback, bar or street intelligence. Information is king, so no one will be upset if you share with them information that can help them, their clients and, as a direct effect, you and your business. When you focus your intentions on others, it only comes back favorably to reward you.

4. Stay Informed to Better Inform. When you show interest in others' work, you are positioning yourself to net strong dividends. Everyone likes to talk about their work. And, like you, others might assume that you know what they are working on or what is currently important to them and their clients. When you ask questions about their matters, you are showing genuine interest and opening up the communication channels for future discussions. Follow up on colleagues' cases, matters or exploits and suggest other opportunities that may be of interest to them and their contacts.

You can only add value when you know where value is required. You can better inform your colleagues when you share information and demonstrate your desire to be informed.

5. Be a Blinking Light. You are embarking on a relationship campaign for a reason: it takes time, preparation, strategy and patience. As mentioned, you do not want to act like you are on a fly-by mission: there is no sincerity or lasting effects in such activities. Instead, you want to be a blinking light where you are continually and measurably showing your value and return on investment. To be a blinking light you need to find opportunities to touch your colleagues, such as presenting to other practice groups or client events, contributing to firm publications, in all formats, and ramping up your digital presence.

6. Get Involved. There is no better way to show your dedication to your firm and its members than getting involved with your firm. This is probably not a newsflash for you: You have heard or know first hand the importance of getting involved with your partners and firm. It may, though, be the first time you understand how strategic and rewarding showing love to your firm can be to you, your clients and your firm. When you balance your client work with firm committees and other nonbillable opportunities, you effectively demonstrate to your fellow partners and colleagues that you care about them, your firm and its interests. When you suggest new policies or volunteer for large projects, you are revealing that you are in for the long haul and that you will do what you need to do to bring success to your firm.

When you get involved, you build rapport, are visible, share regularly, stay informed and act as a blinking light. Get out there and seize the opportunities standing right in front of you.

Debra Forman, PCC, certified executive coach and principal of Pinstripe Coaching (www.pinstripecoaching.com), partners with attorneys in one-on-one and group coaching sessions, produces the monthly video Making Rain, and is a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors.