What does work, however, is to integrate good mentoring and coaching skills into the way your firm is managed. Aspects of this management style may superficially resemble a bolt-on “mentoring program,” but it is a very different approach.

As a partner or shareholder, what is your job? Most of us think in terms of delivering professional service to clients and little else. Increasingly, law firms have some members with specific expertise in law firm economics, practice group management, risk management, and a host of other critical skill sets. Management in general is not seen as something in which everyone has a role.

Young Lawyers Can’t Go It Alone

Think about it, though. In most successful businesses, management pays a great deal of attention to the means of revenue generation. What percentage of your law firm overhead goes to pay lawyers for work they do? Businesses from old line manufacturing to high tech are adopting the slogan, “Our people are our most important asset.” The benefits gained by focusing on this value are undeniable. Just ask Southwest Airlines—and they own some expensive equipment.

It’s funny, then, that the professional services sector—in which people are not simply the most important asset, they are just about the only asset—lags behind in grasping this reality. Too many of us expect our assets to show up and paddle their own canoes. In fact, in the legal and medical professions, it has been a point of honor to survive the rituals of initiation in order to prove you have what it takes. How many of you received the Spartan advice, on your way to your first major solo experience, “Just don’t screw it up”? Or perhaps you heard this: “If you don’t hear anything, that’s good news. If there’s a problem, we’ll let you know.” My very first trial experience is all too common. I lugged the senior partner’s briefcase over to the courthouse and starting arranging his yellow pads. We struck the jury. Well, he did, and I ventured an occasional whispered suggestion. When the jury was in the box, he looked at me and said, “Go make the opening statement.” I guess you could call that training. On the other hand, too many of our colleagues wait years to take their first deposition.

Actually I was pretty lucky in having some excellent mentors during my associate years. But luck really shouldn’t have so much to do with it. One largely unexamined belief within our profession is that promising young lawyers will find their own mentors. Unfortunately, the truth is that the ability to attract mentors has more to do with birth order and demographics than with potential.

How does a firm create a culture in which mentoring and coaching become an inclusive process that is fully integrated with how it does business? There are three components: culture, methods and measurement.

Create A Feedback-Rich Culture

The most successful organizations are defined by a feedback-rich culture; that is, communication is inherent in the culture and there are systems to support it. Employees feel they know what’s going on and, more importantly, how they are doing—because their supervisors tell them on a daily basis. That way, nothing in a performance evaluation comes as a surprise. Supervising attorneys understand that their job is to create learning opportunities across a broad range of skills. They also know the strengths of their charges, and where their challenges lie. Young attorneys know exactly what they need to do to succeed: to learn the business side of law practice, and how they can contribute to the firm’s overall success.

To create a feedback-rich organization, the Executive Committee, managing partner, practice group managers and other firm leadership must commit to and model the types of communication mentioned above. Second, firm members need to understand the real bottom line benefits of taking the time to mentor. The problem is that we tend to think in the short term. How many lawyers do you know who can’t take time to hire help because they are too busy? Getting the work done yourself is the right answer on any individual day, but when you string a bunch of days together, it is a terrible solution. That’s why leadership needs to provide the long view. For example, once your firm understands the actual cost of turnover, retention is reason enough for good mentoring.

Make Mentoring Methods Systematic

Good intentions aren’t very useful unless accompanied by skillful means. In other words, you have to teach people how to mentor. Certainly some lawyers have a natural ability and inclination to coach, but even those who don’t can be at least reasonably good at mentoring given the right tools. Management’s job is to align strengths with tasks and provide the necessary resources.

Mentors need to deliver effective feedback which usually requires some training. Lawyers may tend to see communication as a tool for convincing and persuading, but feedback needs to be delivered as part of a conversation, and it can be an uncomfortable one. Managers (read partners) should develop the habit of engaging in meta conversations with their protégées—asking “why” as well as “what.” The more immediate and precise the feedback is, the more effective it is, and it is decidedly less painful than waiting for the “big conversation.”

Measure For Success

Mentors also must keep goals in mind. Decide what you want to achieve through mentoring and coaching. What skill sets do you want to develop? What characteristics do you want to foster in your firm’s culture? Have at your fingertips a list of the characteristics you want to foster. Know what skill sets need to be developed and which activities will help develop these skills. For example, if you want lawyers who are good at marketing services, they need to see you market.

Integrated Mentoring Can Help Your Firm In Five Ways

After you integrate mentoring into your firm’s culture, here are five outcomes you should expect to see:

• Better retention and deeper firm loyalty. According to employment studies, a person’s poor relationship with her supervisor is the single biggest reason for employee dissatisfaction and departure. In fact, employees’ satisfaction most often is tied directly to their experience with the person they report to. This is especially true for Generation Y, a group of young people who need feedback and meaningful work. Older generations worked and kept our mouths shut, and we tend to think young kids should do the same. But they don’t. They just leave.

• Improved teamwork: People who communicate work together better; it’s that simple. When goals are articulated, there is a sense of shared enterprise. Employees who feel they matter are more productive. Far less time is wasted in back office speculation and sniping.

• More business development and more attention to client relations: The practice of law is difficult. It takes most attorneys more than three years to consistently and effectively wield the tools of the trade. Then one day they look up and realize that legal work doesn’t grow on trees, as our parents used to tell us about money. This realization usually comes as a shock. But it doesn’t have to—not if their seniors have been including them in client conferences.

• Increased business acumen: Many lawyers finish their careers without knowing what’s involved in running a firm. This is not to suggest that everyone can or should evaluate accounts receivable. But lawyers do need to identify business talent. Even those lawyers whose strengths lie in other areas can benefit from having an overview of law firm economics. The firm will also benefit by having lawyers who understand and support business decisions, and who know how and why they have to contribute.

• Shorter learning curves: Obviously, people learn faster when taught. Instruction also saves time because those being taught don’t end up reinventing the wheel. If you tell lawyers what is important and how to accomplish it, they will be more productive. By rewarding good work and catching small mistakes before they can mushroom, your workforce will be more effective and congenial.

These outcomes aren’t as easy to measure as hours billed and collected, but they can be achieved. Firms can maintain data on turnover, conduct exit interviews, collect feedback from associates and young partners, and evaluate young lawyers on more than professional services. How well a firm develops young lawyers is essential to its long-term success, so participation in mentoring shouldn’t be accidental, optional or occasional. Partner evaluation should include mentoring and teamwork in a meaningful way. As a method of mentoring itself, the partner evaluation process can help lawyers improve their mentoring skills.

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“What you do with your billable time is revenue. What you do with your non-billable time is your future.”
- David Maister

In The Odyssey, when Odysseus left for his journeys he entrusted the care, education, and guidance of his son Telemachus to Mentor, a loyal advisor and teacher. Today, mentoring in the legal profession allows more experienced attorneys to help less experienced attorneys grow in their profession.

Coaching has become a necessary leadership competency for lawyers. Mentoring is equally important. Having one or more mentors can dramatically improve your career path in the law firm environment. In our busy world, lawyers seeking coaching or mentoring need to be proactive and self-managing. It is best to develop relationships with multiple advisors who can help you grow in your chosen profession.

Coaching and mentoring offer a tremendous opportunity to leverage leadership talent and resources; both can steer a law firm toward sustainable success. These essential leadership development practices can help law firms retain legal talent and fill their leadership pipeline. Unfortunately, the dynamic of relentlessly focusing on billable hours creates a conflict between a lawyer’s generous impulse to mentor and the increased pressure he feels to add revenue to the bottom line.

As Steve Joiner, managing partner of the Rose Law Firm comments, “Our Mentoring Program takes a lot of effort but it has been very worthwhile. I can only think of one associate that was arguably ‘turned around’ by the program but the program undoubtedly has resulted in identifying and forcing us to deal with problem areas much earlier than we did before implementing this program.”

How do you develop lawyers as leaders who both mentor and coach? How can you optimize their talents and potential? Which best practice coaching competencies produce lasting results that drive business performance?

Practice “In the Moment” Coaching And Mentoring

“In the moment” coaching and mentoring might relieve some of the time pressure lawyers experience and tap into their deeper purpose and values. Meaningful coaching or mentoring conversations can occur in a “just-in-time” minute or two providing tremendous value to both parties.

Because many lawyers tend to have an authoritative and directive leadership style, a great deal of mentoring at law firms might take this expert approach. However, lawyers can learn a more relaxed coaching approach, which is more non-directive and benevolent. Whether used for coaching or mentoring, this style is based on inquiry: the coach or mentor asks powerful questions, which allow the other person to discover his or her own answers. Coaching focuses on developing an authentic trusting relationship which is mutually beneficial and highly supportive. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, this style leverages strengths.

The lawyers I have coached in this approach discover that mentoring or coaching other lawyers makes them feel happy and personally fulfilled. They become fully engaged in their work and life, and experience a deep sense of purpose and joy.

Take The Coaching Approach To Mentoring

In the high-pressure world of today’s law practice, the need for mentoring is more important than ever. Law firms can facilitate the mentoring process by creating a culture in which all lawyers are expected to teach and to learn from one another. Unfortunately, many experienced attorneys feel so much pressure to be rainmakers that this becomes a higher priority than the mentoring role. To compensate for this, attorneys can become inventive and use some of the social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Second Life and Twitter) to alleviate some of the time pressure that has compromised the success of many mentor programs.

The most successful mentors are also coaches. Coaching requires different competencies from the analytical and directive ones expected from a lawyer. Using the Socratic Method, mentors ask powerful questions that help a mentee discover answers and resources that were previously buried. These skills often don’t come naturally to lawyers, but they can be learned. And many lawyers are glad to learn them, enjoying the change of pace.

Being able to empathize is a foundational skill for a coach. Empathy can be defined as the ability to see things from the other person’s point of view and to read other people. It starts with self-awareness: understanding your own emotions is essential to understanding the feelings of others. It is also crucial for effective communication and leadership.

Mentors who take the coaching approach ask questions and actively listen to the answers, sometimes asking deeper questions to help the mentee discover her own answers.

The Legal World Embraces Coaching, A New Paradigm

Coaching is no longer reserved for difficult leaders and lawyers. It is more frequently sought by top performers whose firms value their business and legal growth potential. Today’s managing partners recognize the importance of enabling leaders to achieve critical business objectives in the shortest possible time, and are hiring coaches to accelerate development.

Before a coach begins to work with law firm leaders, they must first correctly identify the client as the company or law firm. Next, ground rules have to be clarified, especially in these areas:

1. Confidentiality, expectations and commitment: The coach must be clear about what will be shared with the leader’s boss and what will be kept confidential. Aligning coaching with the strategic goals of the firm is crucial, as coaching isn’t merely an exercise in personal improvement.

2. Reporting relationships: There must be clarity among the three key participants—the firm’s contact (boss or HR representative), the coach and the leader being coached.

3. Methods of information gathering: Key stakeholders, team members, direct reports and others involved will be contacted by both the coach and the leader being coached.

4. Making judgments, setting objectives and monitoring progress: The coach helps the leader and key stakeholders maintain objectivity. Coaches must focus on one or two behaviors, without judgment, and facilitate honest sharing about progress.

5. How, why and when the coaching will end: Coaching parameters must be set at the beginning of the engagement, with milestones for assessing progress and a completion date (usually 12 to 18 months).

Once the ground rules have been established, they cannot be bent along the way. The coaching relationship requires discipline and boundaries for progress to occur.

In my next article, I’ll discuss how to measure sustainable success.

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Young lawyers are often surprised to arrive at their first law firm job and learn they have no “boss.” In a typical business environment, a new employee is assigned to a supervisor to whom he reports. The supervisor assigns him work, provides feedback on his performance, and is accountable for his productivity and growth within the company. In contrast, law firms rarely follow a vertical management structure; instead, they maintain a horizontal pattern resembling a collection of small law practices. Associates may receive a variety of work assignments from different partners, each of whom has no idea what other projects the associate is working on or for whom. When the project is done, the associate may or may not receive feedback on his work. In many cases, no single partner is accountable for a particular associate’s success and development. In this environment, an associate can get lost in the shuffle.

To navigate the complexities inherent in developing as a lawyer and succeeding in a particular law firm, an associate needs support, guidance, and a human connection with the firm’s leadership. When firms were smaller and partners faced fewer economic and billable hour pressures, mentoring relationships formed naturally. Senior lawyers took younger lawyers under their wing, gave them advice and encouragement, and allowed them to watch how experienced lawyers handled court appearances, meetings with opposing counsel, and client interactions. These relationships helped an associate feel that the firm was supporting her, and was “on her side” in her pursuit of success. Support like this breeds loyalty to the firm and makes the journey through the early years of law practice, with all its challenges and insecurities, infinitely more enjoyable.

Today’s Economic Pressures Work Against Natural Mentoring

As law firms have grown larger, economic pressures have increased. Partners are now called upon not only to bill more hours, but to develop more clients, become active in their communities, and assist in the increasing number of activities required to manage the firm. Inevitably, it becomes more difficult to find time for mentoring young lawyers. This can leave associates feeling unsupported in their pursuit of success. At best, they may feel as if the firm doesn’t care about their individual success; at worst, they may feel that instead of supporting them, it is waiting for them to fail.

Though some mentoring relationships still form naturally, without a structured program it’s often a hit-or-miss proposition as to whether a particular associate will find a mentor. But the advantages this relationship confers are too vital to leave mentoring to chance.

No amount of training, orientation, or department meetings can substitute for the one-on-one contact a mentoring relationship provides. In order to be truly engaged and at their most productive, all workers need at least one human representative of their company’s management who cares about them. Through extensive research, the Gallup organization has identified twelve factors that measure employee engagement and link powerfully to retention, productivity, profitability and customer engagement. These factors in the form of questions—often referred to as “the Q 12”—measure dimensions that leaders, managers, and employees can influence.

Twelve Factors Measure An Employee’s Engagement At Work

In workplaces where employees are the most actively engaged, they answer the following questions affirmatively:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work correctly.
3. I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone else at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission/purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. In the last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.¹

Keeping employees engaged has taken on even greater importance in the recent economic crisis, as engagement is “directly linked to the performance metrics that matter most” in the current business environment. (Ibid.)

Although they may be more highly motivated and independent than average workers, associates need the same kind of support in order to be fully engaged and working at their highest level. In law firms in which no formal supervisor is responsible for a particular associate’s success, mentors provide the crucial link between the young attorney and the firm.

For example, mentors:

• communicate the firm’s expectations
• help associates get the work assignments that allow them to use their best skills
• provide recognition and praise
• show associates that someone in the firm cares about them as a person
• encourage the associate’s development
• listen to the associate’s opinions
• share the firm’s mission and purpose and demonstrate commitment to doing quality work
• talk to the associate about his or her progress
• help the associate obtain opportunities to learn and grow

Those who oppose structured mentoring programs argue that “forced” relationships often don’t work, that the best associates will find mentors on their own, and that associates who can’t find mentors are not desirable in any event. It is true that partners at law firms, like other professional service firms, tend to focus their mentoring efforts on the “A” players.² However, on average, A players constitute only 20% of the professional staff of PSF’s, C players constitute another 10%, and B players make up the remaining 70%. (Ibid.) Even at top-tier firms, B players (also referred to as “solid citizens”) are critical to the success of the organization: if they are mediocre, the firm will be mediocre; if they are high performers, the firm will follow suit. (Ibid.) Given the vital role that B players fill, a firm is wasting talent and its own investment if it neglects to provide the mentoring associates need in order to develop.

Law firm veterans often forget how chaotic the environment feels to a new associate, and how easy it is to become lost in the shuffle. By committing to serve as mentors and provide a personal link between associates and the firm, partners further their own interests in keeping associates engaged, productive, and profitable.

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PD Is the Core Platform To Circle the Wagons

In challenging markets, the overall success of a firm depends on several critical factors: what attorneys know and can do, their ability to adjust and change in the face of adversity, their commitment to and belief in the firm’s goals, and their desire to work together as part of the team. Law firms can use existing professional development components—training programs, mentoring programs, virtual learning systems, peer-to-peer collaboration—to reinforce firm integration, individual attorney security, and client confidence. Partners, associates and clients all need to see that the firm is on solid ground. Use PD to tell your lawyers and clients that everyone is valued, everyone pulls together, and everyone benefits in the end. Use PD to calm the waters, communicate consistent messages, disseminate the firm’s strategic and tactical goals, and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

PD can also be used to reassure your associates that their participation is essential to the firm’s continued success. In this market, associates need to help the firm hold on to existing clients, reduce client costs, re-build practice groups and develop new practice areas. Shift the learning content of professional development programs to match the evolving needs of clients and the firm. Through mentoring and feedback, partners can demonstrate their commitment to their associates. That commitment inspires associate loyalty to the firm even when there are fewer billable hours, workforce reductions, or decreases in above-salary compensation (such as hours-based bonuses). To weather the storm, your firm is going to need that loyalty.

By continuing to offer professional development programs, the firm reassures its clients that it is still focused on developing excellent attorneys and providing high-quality service. Look for new opportunities to add value and cement client relationships. Bring clients in as partners and participants in your PD program. Send attorneys out as partners and participants in client training programs. Use virtual learning and peer-to-peer collaboration to generate new solutions to client problems.

Your PD Function Must Support Today’s Strategic Plan

To be effective, PD must be an integrated, dynamic part of the firm’s strategic planning. The PowerPoints you used years ago don’t cut it anymore. Yesterday’s clinical scenarios won’t help your associates face today’s challenges. All components of your PD program must be tied to your firm’s current tactical and strategic objectives.

Persons charged with PD responsibilities must consider what legal services clients are going to need during the next six months, the next year, and the next two years. Then they must ask: Do our attorneys have the expertise, knowledge, and skills to provide those services? If there is a gap between the two—and there will be—you need to close it so that your attorneys are ready when your clients need them, and are equipped with the necessary skills to do the work you have and the work you want.

Firms that align their professional development with their firm’s strategic goals will gain a competitive advantage over firms that let their professional development programs stagnate, or worse, cut them—or worst of all, do not have any. These advantages will manifest in:

• identification of new client needs
• new expertise and skills
• greater subject matter and practice specialization
• higher efficiency with improved realization rates
• better internal communication
• better resource allocation

Maximize PD In Six Steps

Professional development doesn’t have to be a burden, expensive, or hard. It just has to happen. Most firms already have the subject matter expertise and internal capability to create the professional development programs they need; they just need to strategically deploy their resources.

Here are six ideas for maximizing the use of PD:

1. Focus on industry and practice specific skills. Avoid “just in case” programs and focus on “just in time” programming.
2. Use PD as a substitute for additional associate compensation/bonus to support morale. Even in the best of times, associates are often willing to trade money for greater personal engagement and work satisfaction. Increased opportunities for engagement and satisfaction can offset decreased opportunities for economic rewards.
3. Trim the fat in your professional development schedule. Your firm should not be spending time or money on generic, worn-out programs that are only useful for the MCLE credits they provide (MCLE credits should be a bonus of but not the objective of PD). Make sure that each program is focused on strategic objectives and will allow your attorneys to achieve those objectives.
4. Eliminate expensive extras. Meals, cocktails, travel, and gifts are often used to entice or reward attorneys for attending professional development programs. A good program that engages them and provides them with the tools they need to succeed can be a reward in and of itself.
5. Take advantage of virtual learning tools. Explore and exploit the wonderful world of intranets, webinars, wikis, knols, podcasts, and peer-to-peer networks. You can use outside sources, develop internal sources (or combine the two), and blend traditional and virtual training methods to maximize the PD experience and reduce costs.
6. Use slow times to develop and improve internal programs. If your firm’s partners and associates are wandering the halls looking for something do, grab them and put them to work. Most of them have probably been promising to pitch in for years, and now is the time to hold them to it.

PD is a vital part of every firm’s ongoing health and well being, not an “extra” or an afterthought. Use it to lift morale, to rebuild, and to expand—to not just survive these uncertain times, but to thrive in them.

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In his latest bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success (Little, Brown and Company, 2008), Malcolm Gladwell leans on the Biblical verse, “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath” (Matthew 25:29). Malcolm calls this the “Matthew Effect.”

During these difficult economic times, law firms need to wrap their minds around this concept if they are to retain quality associates who want to become successful partners. Unfortunately, firms do not seem to have a clue.

Mentoring Is An Essential Function

One of the most significant reasons why associates leave firms is lack of mentoring. This is especially true of women and minority associates. By failing to provide mentoring, law firms fail to fulfill one of the quintessential purposes of their existence. Besides providing quality service to their clients, law firms exist to educate and train or mentor their junior and senior associates and junior partners; and to be of service to the community: only after fulfilling these functions should they worry about their net profits per partner. Yet today, we read and hear about law firms cutting costs to save their profits. Associate development, diversity and other non-revenue generating activities are being shredded for the sake of greed.

Economic Downturns Are Times For Reevaluation

Given these unprecedented economic conditions, law firms cannot put mentoring, diversity and inclusion on the back burner. If law firms were ever serious about retention, now is the time to prove it. Instead of hoarding billables for themselves, partners with time on their hands should use this period to boost their individual mentoring skills and help develop different associates who may be the future client base of tomorrow. There really is no substitute for intergenerational legacy transference. Nurturing and honing the skills of new and young associates is the best investment a law firm can make in tough financial times.

Smart law firms know the economic stimulus being rolled out will assure that women and minorities are not left out of this bailout bonanza. During the failed S&L debacle of the 1990’s, explicit provision was made so that a broad cross section of the legal profession could get a piece of the action. Given the disposition of President Obama and Congress, I don’t doubt that law firms will find that it makes good business sense to invest in the training and development of women and minorities.

Law firms that are still in the process of becoming more diverse and inclusive (this includes almost all of them) need to bring women and minority lateral partners on board at this time so that they can attract women and minority associates in the future. Diverse associates don’t stay because there are no diverse partners with any clout, or significant business at these law firms. Women associates leave because they see few if any women partners who reflect a “balance of life” success story. Instead, they see variations of the theme—the male model with lipstick. What they need to see is a sea change in attitude about part-time partnership opportunities. Cultural change has to occur at those law firms that wish to retain talent, and this cultural change has to be preceded by a discussion of managing differences in the workplace, discussions which are simply just not happening at most of these firms.

This is the best of times for mentoring. It’s also a great time for law firms to rethink billable hours and its implications, especially as these concepts impact minorities. The less work there is to divide up, the greater the chance that unconscious bias rather than merit is the determining factor. I’m not suggesting that we discard the entire notion of the billable hour, rather that we assess it for its fairness in the workplace and institute changes accordingly.

This is the worst of times to be concerned about increasing profits, when most people and businesses can’t even stay afloat. Corporate greed caused the present predicament and law firm greed will cause many law firms to fold or merge. Beware, however, of mergers; they can be contagious and/or costly.

No doubt law firms will survive, but the question is whether they will be successful at retaining talented professionals who aspire to become members of their peer group, or whether the attempt to curb attrition and maintain retention will fall by the wayside. This is not a question of money; it’s a question of integrity and commitment to a profession, which by definition is not merely a trade association.

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But mentoring is not coaching. At its core, mentoring is person- focused. It is about supporting associate participation and career advancement. Coaching is job-focused. It is about improving associate performance and developing skills. Mentors advise; coaches instruct. Both are equally valuable. The big difference between the two is that mentoring frequently happens in the practice of law while coaching does not.

Coaching can be used to improve performance in just about every aspect of the practice of law: writing, analysis, oral advocacy, time management, leadership, and business development. Coaching is time- and attention-intensive, but the investment of both rewards the coach and the associate. Coaching can be used to correct or enhance performance, or both. Firms often turn to coaching to “fix” a problem. For example, an associate with excellent overall performance may have a specific deficit—writing, organization, communication—that needs to be improved in order to meet firm expectations. In baseball, imagine a Golden Glove shortstop who hits under .200 year after year. Although his manager values the player’s fielding skills, the team needs the player to hit more effectively to be of full value to the team so they hire a batting coach.

But firms can also use coaching more strategically to maximize the performance of talented attorneys who are already doing well. In this scenario, incremental improvement can be very profitable in terms of increased efficiency, increased productivity, and higher quality work at higher rates. Think about the baseball manager who brings in skill-specific coaches to improve his shortstop’s batting average from .300 to .325, make him a smarter base runner, and decrease the number of fielding errors by 50%. That’s how All-Stars are made. Do that with enough players and you’ll have a winning team.

To correct performance, firms often bring in outside coaches who have specific subject-matter expertise and well-developed coaching skills. Sometimes, an outside expert is the way to go. But this is not always the most cost-effective approach. Firms that want to use coaching to strategically enhance performance would benefit greatly by incorporating coaching into the roles and responsibilities of senior attorneys. Of course, coaching is itself a skill that, like any other, must be consciously and continuously developed.

A coach begins by assessing lawyer performance, then uses that assessment to identify specific performance objectives, and finally provides step-by-step instruction and evaluation to achieve those objectives.

Begin With An Initial Assessment To Identify Performance Objectives

If you are interested in coaching a colleague, the most important thing to remember is that you have to begin with who, what and where that individual is now. You have to understand the person’s individual history, knowledge, and experience as well as his or her inherent characteristics and talents. First, find out how others view the individual’s performance by reviewing evaluations and interviewing supervisors and peers. Ask questions that get beyond general descriptions like, “He’s a weak writer” or, “She’s not a persuasive speaker.”

Second, look at any objective data: time sheets, realization rates, billing rates, and work assignments. Third, if possible, conduct your own assessment of the individual’s performance by reviewing work she has written, observing her give a presentation, or running her through a role-play or sample scenario. Finally, walk the individual through a self-evaluation. Most people know their own weaknesses: they know what makes them struggle, and what makes them uncomfortable. At the end of this process, you should have a list of specific deficits or performance concerns that the individual needs to work on.

Because coaching is performance-based, you have to know the expected or desired level of performance. Many law firms have articulated their performance standards as benchmarks or core competencies. If the firm has not expressed these standards, use the interviewing process and your own experiences to articulate what performance is expected or desired. You and the associate both need to understand the goal and how performance will be measured.

Next, work with the individual to set performance goals. Here, you play the coach as motivator. The best coaches help lawyers envision the practitioners they might become. The performance goals should be well-defined and designed to move that particular person to the next level of expected or desired performance.

By comparing the desired performance with the actual performance, you should discover the performance gap.

Fix The Performance Gap In Four Steps

Coaching, which is both practical and experiential, begins after the performance gap is identified.

Step One: Identify the functional problem. To do this, you have to break down and examine the mechanics of the actual and the desired performance.

For example, in baseball, a batting coach working with our shortstop will look at the position of the hands, arms, and elbows; the angle of the bat; the distance from the plate; the balance of weight over the feet; the stance; the visual focus; the hand speed; the cut of the bat through the air; and the follow through. Similarly, a coach working with an attorney on legal writing will look at the person’s knowledge of the law, ability to find and understand the law and to gather and understand the facts, use of authority, expression of the facts, articulation of reasoning, as well as the more obvious details of organization, headings, citation format, sentence structure, word usage, grammar, and proofing.

Once you have identified all of the functional components of the performance gap, prioritize the order in which they will be addressed. Anyone who has ever taken golf lessons knows that it is impossible to fix an incorrect grip, stance, swing, and follow through all at the same time.

Step Two: Show and instruct. Having identified the functional problem(s), describe the problem(s) to the individual. He needs to know what needs to be changed, why, and what the new result will look like. Then, tell him how to change it. Even better, show him how to change it. Following your list of priorities, do this for only one or two functional components at a time.

Step Three: Practice, feedback, practice, feedback. Coaching provides high quality feedback that supports the development of skills. True performance improvement takes time and repetition. Just telling a person she is doing something wrong and telling her how to do it right is not enough to create change. The individual must have opportunities to practice what you teach her. As she practices, you need to keep giving her feedback on what is working and what is not. You also need to solicit her input. Does she understand the instruction? Does she understand how to apply it? Is it comfortable? Does it make sense? Does she think it is working? To enhance the coaching relationship, you need to know what the associate perceives as challenges or obstacles to her improvement, and to engage her in the process.

Step Four: Assess and refine. After the individual has had time to work on his performance, step back and assess. Has the performance gap been closed? Is the individual’s performance meeting or exceeding the desired level of performance? If so, great! If not, figure out why. Go back through Step One. Did you correctly identify the functional components of the performance problem? Did you correctly prioritize them? Then, go back over Step Two. Was the change that you suggested the right change? Did the individual really understand what you wanted him to do? Was he committed to making the change? If not, why not? Is there a different correction that you can suggest, or a different way to explain it? Once you have shifted the instruction, go through Step Three again.

Repeat these four steps until the desired performance is achieved. Once the performance has improved, move on to the next performance goal.

Coaching Has Reciprocal Benefits

Coaching is a strategic tool that maximizes a lawyer’s potential in ways that benefit both the individual attorney and the firm. For the individual attorney, coaching increases competence, facilitates the acquisition of new skills, builds confidence and identifies solutions to specific lawyering skills problems. For the firm, coaching improves relationships, demonstrates commitment to associates, allows more efficient use of attorney talents, and leverages experience for increased productivity and profitability.

From a purely selfish point of view, the benefits to you, as coach, are perhaps the greatest. Coaching can make a good lawyer great. Guiding someone else to a level of true excellence is one of the most satisfying professional experiences imaginable. For every Derek Jeter, Roger Staubach, and Mary Lou Retton, there was a Joe Torre, Tom Landry, and Bela Karolyi. But each of those coaches also coached a slew of other players who excelled at their sport thanks to coaching. Even more importantly, in the process of analyzing and improving performance, great coaches make lasting contributions to their fields in terms of strategies, techniques and standards. This is true in sports and it is true in law. That great coach could be you.

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Experience:
A coaching veteran in the legal industry, Suzi has coached executives, senior managers, and attorneys in 12 law firms and 7 corporate law departments, including Tyco, DuPont, Goldman Sachs, Sears, and Welch’s. As an executive coach to management of DuPont’s legal department for over six years, Suzi contributed to the development and growth of the nationally acclaimed DuPont Legal Model including the annual and mid-year meetings of the law firms representing DuPont. She was integrally involved in the planning, implementation, and facilitation of the annual Conference for Women and the Practice of Law for DuPont as well as the DuPont Minority Counsel Conference.

Suzi has also provided executive coaching services to senior partners, managing partners and marketing directors in over a dozen law firms such as McGuire Woods, Sutherland, Thompson & Knight and others. She facilitates law firm retreats and development sessions in leadership, mentoring, communication, presentation skills, executive presence and rainmaking.

Ms. Pomerantz has 18 years of professional expertise, and has worked with high-profile, high-performing executive leaders and teams in over 135 organizations internationally, including 7 companies on the Fortune 100 list.

A recognized leader of the profession of coaching, Suzi has been faculty and a featured speaker to industry leaders in top coach training organizations. Suzi presented at and attended seven years of the International Executive Coaching Summit, an invitation-only annual gathering of worldwide senior executive development experts. Suzi presented at the 11th Annual ICF Conference, and taught as faculty at the Executive Coach Academy, the College of Executive Coaching, the Gestalt Center for Organization and Systems Development International Coaching Program, and was named core faculty of the Adler School of Professional Studies of the University of Toronto Leadership Coaching Certificate Program as well as Resource Faculty at Advantara Global Coach Training Institute. She has delivered guest lectures at George Washington University, Loyola University, and the University of Virginia. Suzi presented, coached, and led a team at the prestigious Linkage Best of Organizational Development Summit.

Ms. Pomerantz serves on international boards of directors and one Advisory Board and chaired the first ICCO Symposium in Washington, DC on The Global Implications of Organizational Coaching.

Suzi holds a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia. Honors include Kappa Delta Pi International Education Honor Society, Dean’s List, and Lawn Resident (Thomas Jefferson’s Academic Village).

She received the 2007 Woman of Achievement Award from Business and Professional Women (BPW/USA) and the Commission for Women. In 2008, the Board of Directors of ICCO established the Suzi Pomerantz Award for Stewardship.

In addition, Suzi is credited with 23 publications about coaching, ethics and business development, and two books, including Seal the Deal: The Essential Mindsets For Growing Your Professional Services Business (HRD Press, 2006).

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As a coach to legal professionals, I constantly see the direct and tangible benefits that lawyers derive from coaching. Often they increase their revenue by five or six figures because they have an independent, objective ally who can listen to the challenges the lawyer faces and provide advice on what works best. The effective coach provides the kind of honest feedback and support that helps people do great things.

Coaching Is Different From Mentoring And Consulting

Coaching is most commonly identified with athletic achievement. Many of us treasure the memory of a supportive coach who encouraged our efforts in sports. But for professional athletes, for whom excelling at sports is their passion and their livelihood, the role of a coach is far tougher and more dynamic. The best athletes engage coaches throughout their careers to reach the pinnacles of success, and continually reinvent themselves through coaching to stay there. Don’t confuse coaching with consulting, which is an episodic engagement. To engage a coach, in contrast, is to commit yourself to developing a career-long team approach to identifying challenges and overcoming them.

The same holds true for lawyers. A coach is not a mentor—he or she is not the senior lawyer who, while cruising at 35,000 feet, offers firm-focused career advice to a junior attorney. Rather, a good coach operates at ground level to provide practice-enhancing guidance while discussing and exploring roadblocks and working to remove them. A coach provides both accountability and support. The right coach brings certain advantages: experience as a lawyer in practice management issues that lawyers face, the independence to hold the lawyer accountable for addressing these issues, the time to focus on solutions, and a willingness to be candid.

Success Coaching Requires Active Engagement

The best coaching experience is an active process as the coach learns what the coaching client “really wants” and works in partnership with the coaching client to achieve it. While maintaining objective detachment, a coach gives lawyers perhaps their only conscious opportunity to think, dream and plan. The typical coaching engagement starts with the client articulating his or her primary concerns and objectives; then, coaches help clients access their own wisdom and unique abilities. Coaches provide feedback and offer support so that the lawyer follows through with action and changes. They can also assign homework that gets discussed at each subsequent session.

Overcome Your Objections To Being Coached

One of the biggest barriers to successful coaching experience is a lawyer’s expectation that the coach has all the answers. This reflects the lawyer’s training that finding the right authority or citation is the key to arguing a case successfully. An almost equally counterproductive belief is that a coach should be a friend who does nothing but compliment and encourage rather than a leader who pushes and challenges. Passively waiting for answers or a pat on the back is not making proper use of a coach. The best way to work with a coach is to be active and engaged—by asking questions and applying challenging answers—in the same the way that professional athletes use their coaches.

If coaching helps, why don’t lawyers take more advantage of it? Here are the objections lawyers often raise, and the responses that a professional coach would offer.

“If I seek coaching, it means I’m personally inadequate.” Actually, engaging a coach means you’ve decided to succeed because you’ll improve more quickly than you would alone.

“Engaging a coach is too expensive.” Because coaching is an investment in yourself, the increase in your earnings or decrease in your stress level typically outweighs the cost. The return on investment is a multiple of the investment.

“I can’t commit to the time that a coach demands”. Actually, no commitment, no success. The price is the time required to do what’s necessary to improve. Coaching is actually very convenient: it can take place by phone, obviating the need for time-consuming office visits. After the first session, most last no more than 30 minutes, and take place weekly or as required.

“Coaches too often try to intimidate people.” Actually, a good coach is neither a buddy, a mentor nor an assistant. A coach offers leadership that compels you to be better.

“I can’t take direction from someone I don’t know personally.” A personal, face-to-face relationship is often unnecessary: coaching, as noted above, can unfold through phone calls and emails.

If you’re not sure if you’re ready for coaching, ask yourself, “Am I committed to my own success?” Be sure you define success in terms of concrete, achievable, measurable achievements. Expressing “success” in relative terms such as “more revenue” or “better marketing” sets a subjective standard that is difficult to discuss, let alone satisfy. The truly successful person wants and needs a target at which to aim. If you are willing to do what is required to reach the level of success you envision and will accept that success, it will come—by committing yourself as an active participant in the coaching process to achieve it.

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Good mentors:

• Act as a sounding board to troubleshoot problems
• Advise and inspire
• Assist with practice management issues (i.e. billing, filing, conflicts checks, etc.)
• Provide feedback on work assignments
• Share information regarding unwritten rules of behavior
• Introduce mentees to internal/external clients

Good mentees:

• Produce excellent work product
• Display good work habits
• Are eager to learn
• Are receptive to criticism
• Take an active role in developing the relationship
• Take responsibility for their own career development
• Understand that mentors don’t solve all their problems but rather help plan and execute career goals, and offer guidance to navigate difficult situations

Clearly, a mentee benefits greatly from the relationship. But the mentor benefits greatly, too. As you advance in your career, additional responsibilities will require your immediate attention. With the same amount of hours in each day and multiplying responsibilities, you have to use every available resource to get all the work done. By establishing yourself as a “go to” mentor, you will ensure you always have a cadre of smart, motivated associates and staff at your disposal.

Learn From The Management Styles Of Others

Think beyond simply participating in your organization’s formal mentor program—though you should do that too! Incorporate mentoring into your evolving management style. Whether you are a first-year associate or a senior partner, it is in your self-serving interest to embrace a mentor mindset and:

• coach associates and staff by providing clear direction on how to accomplish tasks
• counsel associates and staff by identifying performance problems and developing action plans to correct behavior
• empower associates and staff by providing opportunities to learn, be recognized and increase their visibility within the organization.

Think about the people you enjoyed working with throughout your career and what kind of management style they displayed. Incorporate into your own style the strengths you see in others. Most people agree that good mentor/managers respect associates’ time, provide challenging assignments, give detailed instructions and offer meaningful feedback. They demonstrate a commitment to client service and continuing to learn the law. Successful mentor/managers lead by example and generously share the glory of a job well done.

Be Clear About Parameters

Strong mentors/managers always operate under the principal that you can never be too clear. For every deal, case or project these parameters should include stated:

• Goals and Objectives. Too many busy attorneys delegate under the command and control style of, “Do this because I said so.” They believe it will take too long to explain the details. However, if all team members, from administrative support to senior partner, understand the overall objective (which typically can be explained in three sentences and in less than 30 seconds) or how their segment of the project ties in to the overall goal, they will be more invested in the project and better serve the needs of the organization. Toward this end, communicate exactly what needs to be done in a clear effective manner, and indicate specifically what you want the associate to do. Be sure to confirm that the associate is clear about the assignment. You may want to ask, “Will you walk me through how you will proceed so I know that I have explained the assignment properly?”

• Operating Procedures. Let people know how you want information to be shared (e-mail, voicemail, meetings), who else is working on the project and any other specific details. Most importantly, let them know how best to approach you if they need clarification or further instruction. Do not allow yourself to become a choke point or source of frustration for your team.

• Specific Deadlines. “ASAP” is meaningless. So is “In a few days.” Try, instead, “I need it in an hour,” or “I need it Wednesday afternoon.” Leave no room for ambiguity. Setting specific deadlines and allowing your team to manage its own workload will ameliorate your constant need to hover and inquire, “Is it done yet?” to the relief of both you and your team members. It is equally important that you adhere to team deadlines. Again, if you become a choke point, you will frustrate your team.

• Expected performance standards. Even if you believe people should know what is expected of them, take the 10 seconds required to state the obvious. Remember, you can never be too clear. Also, it is important to hold yourself to the same high standards you set for your team. Lead by example. Avoid barking out orders while rushed. You need to provide others with an opportunity to absorb the information and ask questions. Avoid thinking out loud when giving instructions: it causes confusion. Finally, try not to over explain or talk down to people. They will start to believe that you think they are too dumb to get it right the first time—and people rise or fall to the level of expectation.

• Progress Reports. Provide on-going feedback to allow for corrections as the project progresses. Capture “teachable moments” along the way to strengthen your team. Investing in their career development is the best way to ensure your own success as a manager.

By developing a reputation as an effective mentor/manager dedicated to the career development of those junior to you, people will clamor to work on your projects. You will maximize your leverage and have the needed time to perform higher level tasks.

Mentees Need To Be Active

Solid mentor relationships evolve naturally. They may start out as part of a formal mentoring program or simply as a result of working closely together. Some will be short term; others will last a lifetime. You need mentors at every stage of your career, even as you mentor others. Think in terms of developing a Board of Advisors throughout the course of your professional life.

Being mentored is not a passive activity. Mentees must take an active role to ensure the relationship develops. A mentor can only offer guidance if he or she understands the mentee’s career objectives. Seek your mentor’s input as you develop your action plans; and ask for ideas, suggestions and course corrections to ensure the successful execution of the plan. Mentees should also consider what information, contacts or resources they have that might benefit their mentors and offer to share it.

Mentees should feel free to ask for what they need but understand they may not always get it. A mentor’s job is not to solve all of the mentee’s problems or to say what they want to hear. Sometimes, the most helpful thing a mentor/manager can tell a mentee is, “You are wrong,” or “You’re not ready.” A mentor/manager should not hesitate to provide sometimes hard- to-hear feedback. In the end, the mentee may decide not to heed the advice, but having the feedback will at least enable them to make an informed decision.

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