In law firms the route to being elected a managing or senior partner by your peers is often used for one of two essential reasons. You prove yourself either by being extremely good at your chosen speciality such as corporate law, billing excessive hours, or you have the best client relationships and are a “rainmaker”.
But neither of these qualities, whilst entirely laudable in their own right and valuable to the firm, are necessarily reasons why that person has the capability or even inclination to take on the challenging role of leading fellow lawyers successfully – a task that due to the idiosyncrasies of some professionals has been described as herding cats! Here, for example, is a blog on the unique characteristics of professional firms.
This applies to all professionals not just lawyers – see this ACCA blog that provides a perspective from the accountancy world observing that Leadership requires a mindset shift, with strategic vision accompanied by powerful implementation skills and plenty of resilience and Many firms have undervalued the importance of leadership capabilities, choosing their leaders according to who bills the most.
Given this surely it is better practice to seek out or even recruit suitable people who display the right characteristics and then recruit them and if necessary train them – send them off to business school for an MBA. And what should their capabilities be, what should be the reason for their selection?
Here is a Harvard Business Review article 6 Traits That Set Top Business Leaders Apart that lists the following general characteristics:
See also this Forbes article 16 Essential Leadership Skills For The Workplace Of Tomorrow which adds earning others such as respect, empathy and flexibility.
All of these seem to me to apply equally to leading a professional team. There are however some differences in “managing equals” which are explored in depth in this CASS Business School research Who’s in charge? Exploring Leadership Dynamics in Professional Service Firms which concludes that the qualities of effective leaders of firms include:
• Highly respected for their skills as a professional
• Do not appear to be seeking power
• Able to inspire loyalty and commitment
• Strong personal vision – able to communicate it
• Able to build consensus and act decisively
• Transfer responsibility but intervene selectively
• Comfortable with ambiguity and conflict
• Spend a lot of time “massaging egos”
I think with professionals it is about gaining trust not telling colleagues what to do. As the American author Ken Blanchard says The key to successful leadership is influence not authority. This is absolutely the case in the professional world.
But neither of these qualities, whilst entirely laudable in their own right and valuable to the firm, are necessarily reasons why that person has the capability or even inclination to take on the challenging role of leading fellow lawyers successfully – a task that due to the idiosyncrasies of some professionals has been described as herding cats! Here, for example, is a blog on the unique characteristics of professional firms.
This applies to all professionals not just lawyers – see this ACCA blog that provides a perspective from the accountancy world observing that Leadership requires a mindset shift, with strategic vision accompanied by powerful implementation skills and plenty of resilience and Many firms have undervalued the importance of leadership capabilities, choosing their leaders according to who bills the most.
Given this surely it is better practice to seek out or even recruit suitable people who display the right characteristics and then recruit them and if necessary train them – send them off to business school for an MBA. And what should their capabilities be, what should be the reason for their selection?
Here is a Harvard Business Review article 6 Traits That Set Top Business Leaders Apart that lists the following general characteristics:
- clarify the complex
- embrace new thinking
- balance confidence and humility
- unite around a mission
- set high standards
- avoid distractions
See also this Forbes article 16 Essential Leadership Skills For The Workplace Of Tomorrow which adds earning others such as respect, empathy and flexibility.
All of these seem to me to apply equally to leading a professional team. There are however some differences in “managing equals” which are explored in depth in this CASS Business School research Who’s in charge? Exploring Leadership Dynamics in Professional Service Firms which concludes that the qualities of effective leaders of firms include:
• Highly respected for their skills as a professional
• Do not appear to be seeking power
• Able to inspire loyalty and commitment
• Strong personal vision – able to communicate it
• Able to build consensus and act decisively
• Transfer responsibility but intervene selectively
• Comfortable with ambiguity and conflict
• Spend a lot of time “massaging egos”
I think with professionals it is about gaining trust not telling colleagues what to do. As the American author Ken Blanchard says The key to successful leadership is influence not authority. This is absolutely the case in the professional world.
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