Effective Challenging Fee-Earner Performance Conversations

Many legal managers are struggling with team members who do not seem to be proactive and self-responsible. Often struggling to take action with ongoing learning and skill development. Feedback seems to be ignored and expectations not understood.

If the current approaches are not working, then what else can be done?

Do you want to deal with challenging conversations more readily? Stop repeated conversations about how team members need to improve with nothing happening?

This training allows attendees to:

• hold performance and behaviour conversations easier
• find a new coaching approach that doesn’t need the ‘perfect script’
• become clearer on why you find some people ‘difficult’
• understand different barriers to receiving information
• replace counter-productive language and behaviour
• identify your natural response to conflict or manage strong emotions (yours and theirs)
• improve the likelihood for change
• increase self-motivation and accountability to make it happen

Delegates will be given practical tools to communicate more effectively, feel more confident, and improve the quality of the outcomes. Limiting repeat conversations, and frustrating lack of action.

Coaching For Lawyers

With an ongoing need to ensure productivity, and professionalism, whilst balancing wellbeing. Coaching

Coaching for Lawyers training includes

Beginners:

• Understand the difference between coaching and mentoring and when to use them
• Know how to effectively plan for coaching sessions and develop impromptu coaching skills
• Learn and implement simple yet crucial coaching skills
• Develop confidence and implement coaching in the law firm

Intermediate (as above and)

• Understand what can derail coaching and how to avoid this
• Learn further techniques for effective coaching, including at senior levels

Coming soon – ILM Accreditations

Transforming Meetings®

Who enjoys meetings the most? Typically the Chair, and even then they can take up more and more time.

With meetings still on the rise, particularly online, are you finding that meetings are becoming less productive. With some voices being heard, and others not at all. Or perhaps the same topics coming up time and time again, with little movement forward.

Transforming Meetings® training creates:

• Meetings that are both engaging and create high quality ideas
• A culture where everyone feels valued and heard
• Strong, robust, and actionable decisions
• Respectful and useful discussions
• Inclusivity, diversity, and creative new ideas
• Fewer meetings from better results

Skills developed for everyone attending, include active listening, respect, inclusivity, diversity, creating psychological safety, better thinking.   For those who run meetings, it includes practical skills for running meetings, setting agendas, and managing meetings, in a productive and easy to understand way.

All team members and team leaders benefit from attending the training. It can therefore be run for team leaders, or whole teams themselves.

Delegates who came to this, and have previously attended meetings training elsewhere, expressed how they wish they had come to this sooner, for its ease, value, and change of thinking.

New To Partnership

Leadership skills are often seemingly required overnight. One day, an individual is a legal expert in their field. The next day suddenly responsible for others such as support staff, solicitors in their department or teams, or beyond, if stepping into the role of a partner.

Whether moving from solicitor to associate. Senior associate to Head of Department. Or partner to managing partner. Each transition brings with it new challenges.

When creating leadership programmes, training often includes:

• gaining clarity on what is expected in that new role, and how to manage the transition, including relationships with former peers
• how to handle new situations and obligations, with confidence, whilst developing expertise and knowledge
• consideration of business acumen, tactical thinking, and making those decisions which may have greater impact, despite uncertainty
• developing leadership, interpersonal, and behavioural skills, such as delegation, giving and receiving feedback, providing direction and motivation
• enhancing management skills such as running meetings, handling challenging situations, client complaints, dealing with performance
• refining business growth skills that may include networking, public speaking, marketing, and generating work for others
• understanding firm needs, finances, and regulatory changes
• managing competing claims on time, wearing different hats, and prioritising key tasks

For those who are starting out in junior roles. Training helps those who attend feel reassured that what they are experiencing is not unusual, before helping them identity the key areas of strengths, skills, and responsibilities, needed for their role and for future promotion.

Senior fee earners and partners, the focus often on upskilling, generating greater awareness across all areas, closing skill gaps, and generating personal development plans.

Training can also be supported with coaching to help imbed changes, allow for trial and error of new techniques, and create a sounding board for new ideas or upcoming situations.

Managing People Within the Law

Even within law firms, performance or behavioural challenges can arise. If line managers are feeling less that confident, to tackle situations as and when they arise, or deal with grievances or disciplinaries correctly, matters can escalate.  Whilst many firms have employment solicitors or hr support.  Sometimes it can be useful (and more cost effective) for an external trainer to come in and provide the training.

Are you finding that lateness, sickness, not completing work, or other day to day unacceptable behaviours, are not being addressed early on by managers?

Is there a lack of confidence or understanding, of what can be done, and when?

Perhaps there is a sense of discomfort, friction, or unease. Meaning that individuals are repeatedly left unchallenged.

Or it might be, that you want your line managers (at all levels of seniority) to be reminded of your policies and procedures. So that they can tackle poor performance, absences, conflict, unacceptable behaviour, and misconduct, with greater confidence.

Is too much time being taken up by senior management dealing with situations that could have been dealt with sooner?

This training typically includes a combination of helping line managers (of all seniority)

• Identity unacceptable behaviour early on.
• Learn how they can tackle it on the ground, before it escalates.
• Identity when is the best way to manage that situation within formal grievance or disciplinary procedures.
• Know how best to run formal and informal meetings or hearings, with helpful tips for giving feedback, dealing with performance conversations, or questions to ask during any formal meetings or hearings.
• Understand how the law firm’s employment policies are useful to them.  What they can learn from the specific wording used, and how they offer guidance of what to do.

All for greater confidence and buy in. Including, if necessary, working with HR.