Step into Power: Lead with Aplomb

To achieve great results, a leader must transform a group of independent lawyers who, left to their own inclinations, will usually work in their own individual silos, into a team that focuses on common client goals, leveraging each others' strengths to surmount the intricacies and nuances of complex legal matters. It is essential that a firm provide cost-effective superior intellectual horsepower, because failure to do so relegates the firm to mediocrity and a future of competing to be the lowest-cost provider of commodity services. Thus, it's not just that clients pay more attention to fees; it's the fact that winning business requires that the firm deliver superior distinguishable results efficiently.

To achieve great results, a leader must transform a group of independent lawyers who, left to their own inclinations, will usually work in their own individual silos, into a team that focuses on common client goals.

Getting superior results, unfortunately, is not as simple as merely assigning tasks to the various team members. It requires leaders to cultivate collaboration among the smart, independent thinkers who are typically quite skeptical and often lack the desire to work on teams. It requires lawyers to lead with aplomb, which means building trust, harnessing diverse ways of thinking and problem-solving, achieving commitment to goals, milestones, deadlines and so forth, embracing accountability in a manner that promotes learning over blame, and focusing on client goals. The visual representation of this model — The Arudia Collaborative Approach — also highlights a key aspect of collaboration: that a group of lawyers transforms itself into a true team. For a visual representation of this model, please see below. Also critical is the need to maintain teamwork by continual attention to each step. The danger is that a failure at any one step erodes the ability to achieve success at other steps.

When I counsel lawyers in my workshops, I offer the following tools: