how law firms can win the hearts and minds of lawyers
A recent blog post from Susan Abbott’s customer experience crossroads alerted me to a Deloitte study and report entitled: It’s 2008: Do You Know Where Your Talent Is? (pdf). The study looks at the “emerging talent crisis” and related “contest for human capital” in the new marketplace – an increasingly competitive global market characterized by “creative and technological advancements” and imminent vacancies created by a wave of Baby Boomer retirements.
Although the report offers a wide variety of insights and examples relevant to law firms on a quest to attract, develop and retain talented practitioners, I found its coverage on The Disengaged Employee particularly important to the legal profession.
Against a backdrop of some eye-opening statistics, the report addresses steps managers can take to “reduce the losses caused by an exhausted and demoralized workforce.” Notably, the report identifies “workplace relationships” – specifically, the employee-boss relationship - as “a crucial and often overlooked source of disengagement.” To remedy this problem, it suggests that organizations make leadership development a priority when revamping their “talent strategies.”
After reading the Deloitte report, I came across an interesting CareerJournal.com article that meshes well with the report’s message. Titled Construction Firm Rebuilds Managers to Make Them Softer, the piece focuses on the positive impact that executive coaching has had on the managers and employees of one construction company, the Kitchell Corporation. Kitchell started its coaching program in 2001 in response to “a looming management shortage.” According to the article, its executives believe that “the coaching is producing better bosses and more motivated staff.”
