This is a question I often ask people when I deliver Leadership and Management training. I find it prompts people to look again at the idea of what leadership means in their working lives. There is a common belief that you cannot lead unless you are in charge of the organisation in which you work – that you must be a senior partner, a managing director or the owner of a legal business. This is simply not true.
There are three key areas in which you can lead:
- You and your values
You must ask yourself: what is your reputational capital based upon? Are you known to be:
- Approachable – friendly,
- Trustworthy – a safe pair of hands,
- Authentic – real and genuine,
- Enthusiastic – positive attitude,
- Reliable,
- Resilient,
- Confident and humble?
Another significant personal attribute is professionalism as it is regarded as a core attribute of lawyers, both in and out of the office.
Or are you known to be the opposite of any of these?
As you can see these values have nothing to do with being in charge. They would be useful and effective qualities for anyone within a law firm.
Think about the values you hold and portray to your clients and colleagues.
It is worth noticing that you become like the five people you most spend time with – who do you think those people are, and which qualities are you absorbing? This is why it is important to belong to the right team and culture.
- Your knowledge and expertise
There are two areas in which you can lead with your expertise. Whether you are the ‘go-to’ person in your office or not, you will invariably lead your clients through the legal landscape. They rely upon you and your legal knowledge and experience to help them resolve their problems.
Do you work collegiately sharing your knowledge and expertise on legal matters or even social media platforms with those that are struggling?
- How you are with others
The third area is about how you connect with people – if you don’t like people it is going to be very difficult to lead them!
So how well do you know your colleagues or clients?
Let’s start with the basics. How good a listener are you? Do you actually listen or are you just waiting for your opportunity to speak again? Worse, do you talk over other people? Sometimes colleagues or clients just want to be listened to.
If you think you are a good listener (and most lawyers tell me they are) –try an experiment. Next time you are listening – only use body language or single words to encourage the speaker to keep talking. Then, when they have told you the whole story, repeat back to them ‘what’ you have heard to let them know you heard them. It also provides you with an opportunity to check that you did understand their actual meaning as well as the words they used.
Another vital part of communication with clients is empathic conversation which involves connecting to the emotional content of the conversation you are participating in. Checking the impact of your responses, will provide you with insight as to whether you are on the right track depending on your ability to read body language. How you make people feel is critical in building and maintaining relationships? Understood – respected – valued?
Another way to increase your connection to clients, colleagues, and bosses is to do random acts of kindness. Why don’t you challenge yourself to do this at least once a day so that it becomes a habit?
What else can you do?
- Reading: Chapter 5.3 Business Skills: Don’t be daft I am a lawyer! contains further detailed information on leadership as well as exercises to enable you to grow your leadership talents. I have two blogs which will assist those looking to lead – ‘How important is the personal factor as a leader’. This blog contains exercises for you to complete in my complimentary toolkit for you to take the next successful step. My blog on ‘Power’ skills reminds you of other skills which are necessary to your success.
- Experience: If you are looking to expand your leadership skills, and you feel the current way in which you work does not give you the opportunity, then I would like to share with you this quote from John Adair (who is my favourite leadership author):
“In fact, there is quite a lot an individual can do outside his/her organisation – in spite of it – to grow as a leader: for example, community experience, reading & thinking on the subject and observing the good and not so good leaders.”
Your local and national law societies are always looking for volunteers.
For those reading this blog who are in charge, but who also want to lead, why not arrange for your staff to have this experience? Whether it is inside or outside of your organisation, this kind of development can help to promote the values you want to see in your business, investing in their progression and helping you to enhance your legal practice.
- Training: As leaders are constantly being asked to deliver legal work alongside their leadership tasks, I can deliver specific custom training at your office at times to suit yourself in: Essential Leadership Training or as part of a master class programme – follow the links for more details.
- Coaching: For those who want to fast track their leadership skills, then I have a one- 2-one leadership-coaching package to support you on your journey. Chapter 1.2 Business Skills? Don’t be daft I am a lawyer! contains exercises for you to identify what you need to be successful and see my blog, “You can’t Read the Label from Inside the Jar” for further understanding of the benefits of coaching.
If you would like to discuss any of the content of this blog or bespoke leadership training programmes for you and your colleagues, please contact me either email, ann@yorkshirecoursesforlawyers.co.uk or telephone me on 07921540039.
Happy to chat over coffee and cake on a no obligation basis to discuss your objectives and needs.
Ann Page, Business Author, Trainer and Coach for the Legal Profession
A Top 100 lawyer of the year (2003) Ann has had a successful in-house 28-year career, working mainly in the financial sector. She switched from being a business lawyer in industry to a non-practising solicitor who teaches and coaches on business subjects in 2003. Since then, Ann has trained 7500+ lawyers on business skills including leadership, management and interpersonal skills. She trained with the Coaching Academy and holds a HNLP certificate in coaching as well as being an NLP Master Practitioner. Ann is also a MiRo Accredited Trainer and has written three books. Ann has always been active in various professional committees and currently she is Treasurer of the Yorkshire Sole Practitioner’s Group, a member of the Professional Speaking Association, Professional Speaking Academy and Leeds Law Society.
This blog was first published on 2nd September 2018 and was significantly updated on 2nd June 2022