In a series of short excerpts from a new book, Dan Warburton shares his insight on how law firm owners and senior managers can increase their profits by being better at delegating their workload. In the first extract Dan explains how he has developed his methodology, before outlining how firms might approach management and what styles could work for them in the second extract.
In our third and final extract Dan shares how firms have implemented his advice and what results they have achieved…
Loyalty leads to success!
When team members don’t feel loyal to you or the success of the firm, it’s probably because they don’t feel they are getting what they want from their position in the company. As a result of this, you’ll likely experience team members breaking their contracts and leaving their employment positions early.
So, how do you lead your team in a way that makes them loyal to you?
Garnering loyalty is not rocket science. Through many years of leadership training, and more than five years of hands-on practice with law firm owners, these three main points shine through consistently.
1. Listen fully. Leave whoever is speaking feeling heard and respected.
2. Conduct regular one-on-one conversations with team members, especially those who manage others below them.
3. Do what you say you will do, and by when you have agreed to do it.
Let’s start with number one – listening. Listening is the most vital skill any leader needs to practise if they are to inspire or motivate those around them and generate loyalty.
Listening
Listening really is the most undervalued skill when it comes to leadership and – when in conversation – it is not trying to be right or prove a point. It’s not trying to work out what to say next to impress. Listening is not waiting for your turn in a conversation, so you can then express your opinion and try to ‘win’ the discussion. Listening is also not happening if you let yourself drift off into a daydream about something while someone is speaking to you.
Listening is:
- Aiming to leave whoever is speaking feeling heard and respected.
- Being more interested in leaving team members feeling important (rather than impressing them).
- Being interested in seeing how you can help.
- Being so ‘present’, when in conversation, that all your other concerns disappear.
- Replying in a way that clearly demonstrates you were listening.
These steps can prove most difficult during a heated discussion and when points of view about how to handle something are very different. Even in these moments, the art is to ensure that whoever speaks to you is certain you ‘get’ their experience, and that you empathise with their viewpoint (even if it seems ridiculous) before offering a suggestion or a solution. If you don’t ensure someone who feels frustrated or angry ‘gets’ that you acknowledge their feelings, or the situation they are in, before responding, it usually doesn’t matter what you say – it will likely be ignored.
I’d like you to think of the last conversation you had with one of your firm’s fee earners or heads of department, and reflect on the five points above. Then, ask yourself for each: did I practise this?
If you didn’t, then this is the gap for you to close. If you practise listening fully when conversing with your team members, and practise each of the five points above, you will quickly deepen your relationship and level of connection with each team member.
Subsequently, this becomes a solid foundation for the relationship you have with each colleague that you can build from; a foundation that will cause each team member of yours to feel like reciprocating by listening more intently to your views and requests. In turn, each team member will start to demonstrate a deeper level of care towards doing what you ask of them, and care towards client needs.
About the author
Dan Warburton has spent more than 25 years developing and implementing advanced leadership and management strategies and helping business owners achieve new levels of success. Since 2020, Dan has specialised in guiding law firm owners on how to use delegation skills to gain extraordinary results in their firms. It is not uncommon for Dan’s clients to gain a revenue increase of more than 100% in less than a year while more than halving their workloads. In Delegate Now to Supercharge Your Profits, Dan brings those decades of expertise together in a must-read, practical book.
