legal sanity

I went off the blog track for a bit to be with my family during the kids’ school break. In that time, I was invited to give programs on work-life synergy at the University of Michigan (my undergrad alma mater) and on business relationships at Harvard Law School and New York Law School. The latter two programs are geared towards helping students navigate the often challenging transition from academia to life as practitioners.

I’m excited about this opportunity because law students are very interested in exploring the idea that work can be financially rewarding and meaningful.  As I’ve noted before, meaningful work and work relationships are energetically filling rather than depleting. They uplift us and gives us a sense of wellbeing and contentment.

These bright and motivated students likely know the statistics on lawyer attrition. But, they may not be aware of the steps some firms are taking to address this problem through lawyer engagement and experience management.

This law.com article on upward reviews sheds light on one of these initiatives. Upward reviews give associates an opportunity to “provide input on the management and leadership performance of partners with whom they regularly work.” In turn, partners learn how they can “improve their management skills and retain top talent.” It’s a win-win proposition.

Dan Hull adds to this conversation at his blog, What About Clients? He suggests that everyone – firms, clients and lawyers – benefits when firms compel junior associates to regularly share their thought processes with the senior attorneys they work with.

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I've covered the topic of happiness here from a few different angles:

• happiness is happening
• to your happiness!
• the money-happiness connection
• setting boundaries to avoid lawyer unhappiness

Over at his always-engaging (and nicely redesigned) blog bailey workplay, Chris Bailey points to a BBC article titled Why are Dutch children so happy? The piece investigates what earned the Netherlands the top spot on a roster of 21 industrialized countries featured in a recent UNICEF Child Wellbeing Report (pdf).

One factor cited is the Dutch parent-child relationship. Apparently, parents in the Netherlands are “very open and communicative” and “go out of their way to please” their children. So much so, that “there can be a lack of balance between the happiness of the child and that of the parent."

Reflecting on the article’s findings about happy Dutch kids, Bailey asks: “How much is our own happiness tied to having things go our way? Can there be happiness in our challenges and struggles?”

Cluing us in on how he’d answer his own questions, Bailey says: “Ask whether the pain of quitting your job might not be the first step toward finding your own soulful work. Remember that happiness sometimes means taking the hard and painful path.”

I think that there’s something to Bailey’s struggle-happiness connection. It often takes a jolt for us to see that we’ve been stagnant and unhappy in our work life and elsewhere. When that jolt comes – in the form of unexpected bad news, a business defeat or a financial downturn -- we realize that we’ve been stuck and need to make (and struggle through) a change for our own happiness and wellbeing.

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During the summer, I wrote a post about affinity groups – workplace groups typically formed as part of larger diversity efforts to connect lawyers around such common denominators as race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. I suggested that firms seeking to curb lawyer attrition and build esprit de corps could take the concept a bit further and sponsor affinity groups around a host of shared interests like books, sports, travel and music.

By acknowledging and fostering these connecting points between employees of all levels, firms would send the potent message that they see and care about the humans behind the titles and roles they play at work. And lawyers would gain a sense of visibility and value that comes from being able to express and explore their outside interests on-the-job.

Firms could also import the affinity group concept into their organizational learning initiatives. Lawyers in need of better business development, communication and leadership skills might respond more quickly and favorably to a learning system that reflects and draws on their shared interests.

To spark the formation of interest-oriented affinity groups, firms could create an online and/or offline space where lawyers could access and share content akin to this Fast Company article on 12 must-listen-to podcasts for creative knowledge workers. The podcast coverage includes art history, blues music, museum artifacts and culinary arts.

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Over the years, I’ve regularly posted on three related topics:

• Employee Engagement
• Employee Evangelists
• Lawyer Experience Management

All three distill down to a core element of mutually-beneficial relationships. Regardless of the nature of the relationship -- co-workers; employer-employee; leader-team member; or service provider-client – this mutuality derives from identifying, openly acknowledging and acting on our own, and one another’s, needs, interests and strengths.

Over at her excellent blog, Management Craft, Lisa Haneberg points us to her recent fireside chat (a/k/a podcast) with speaker and best-selling author Marcus Buckingham. As I’ve noted before, Buckingham is an authority on how people can play to their strengths in the workplace. In this podcast, he “shares several stories and suggestions that can help everyone enjoy their work more fully while benefiting the organization in a deeper way.”

As I listened to it, what stood out for me was Buckingham’s finding that, today, less than 2 out of 10 Americans believe they employ their strengths in the workplace most of the time. This is despite the popular company refrain that “our people are our greatest asset.”

Buckingham proposes a solution. He says that it all boils down to you and me (that is, the onus is not on the organization or its leaders). We are the experts on our own strengths and weaknesses. Strengths are activities that invigorate us and weaknesses are activities that deplete us. According to Buckingham -- and it makes total sense -- we can be really good at lots of different activities; but we need to be honest about how they make us feel before declaring them strengths.

So, if we want to work in strengths-based businesses, teams and relationships; each of us needs to discover our strengths and then see if and how we can engage them through our work. Buckingham has a new book coming out in March that will help us identify or strengths and put them to work.

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Over the summer, I wrote a post about lawyers as user-innovators. Reiterating my beliefs about the genesis of law firm evangelism, I noted that, in many ways, lawyers are the first-line consumers of their firm’s brand and business cultures. I then asked: What would law firms look like if they considered their lawyers a potential community of user-innovators and actively nurtured that potential? What positive shifts in the firm’s environment, service model, and employee commitment and morale would result?

Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users helps answer this question in a post titled Don’t ask employees to be passionate about the company! Sierra suggests that firms don’t need lawyers who are passionate about the firms they work for. They need lawyers “with a passion for the work they’re doing.” Accordingly, firms should “act like a good user interface (UI)”: They should make it easy for people to do the work that they’re passionate about and then let them run without interference.

As for client relationships, Sierra points out that “caring about the user” and their positive experience is part and parcel of being passionate about our work. So, employees are happy and engaged. Clients are happy and engaged. And the firms? According to Sierra, it’s a win-win-win proposition because, by “letting employees express the passion they have for their work [firms] end up with employees who'd never consider going elsewhere.”

For more insight into tapping the lawyer evangelist in you and your firm, join me and eight other presenters (including bloggers Larry Bodine, Ed Poll and Gerry Riskin) live on the afternoons of March 26 – 30, 2007 for The First Annual Lawyer Mastery World Wide Tele-Summit. During the 5-day, 10-hour event, you’ll learn breakthrough ideas, innovations and discoveries that will help you get the most out of your career, your business and your life in the law.

I’m giving a program on XE Factor: Relationship Skills for Success. The Summit kicks off with a powerful 90-minute panel session during which all nine program presenters will discuss their vision of the legal profession and law firm of the future. I hope you’ll join us.

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Since 1994, the College of Law Practice Management has promoted and honored “innovation in law practices around the world.” As part of its efforts, the College sponsors the InnovAction Awards, “a worldwide search for lawyers, law firms, law departments and other providers of legal services who are currently engaged in some extraordinary innovative efforts.”

Entries for the 2007 Awards are now being accepted. The winners will be presented on September 8, 2007 at the College’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

To learn about the application and selection process, visit the College of Law Practice Management online. If you’d like more insight into the College’s important mission and work, you can check out its new blog and the latest issue of its InnovAction eZine (pdf).

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What lawyers say and do while handling a legal issue often doesn’t reflect how they really feel about the matter or the client behind it.

Aligning all three aspects of practicing law – our words, feelings and actions – can be a tall order. Even when we “walk our talk” as tough negotiators or savvy client advisors, our emotions might not support this public persona. As much as we try to keep our feelings out of the mix, over time, this misfit tends to compromise our comfort and contentment with work.

My own desire for greater fit compelled me to start my own law firm and learning programs venture. This blog is also an avenue for exploring ways to connect words, feelings and actions. I’ve discussed that nexus in posts on ensuring law firm-associate fit and choosing fit over prestige; and I’ve alluded to the role it plays in spurring or curbing lawyer discontent and depletion.

Another opportunity for aligning words, feelings and actions recently knocked on my door.

Like so many other people, I’m committed to making a positive contribution to the world. I talk and think a lot about what I can do to act on my sincere intention. I’ve driven an Audi for years. It’s a great looking car. When I’m at the wheel, I feel important, hip and successful. With my lease term nearing an end, I started looking into my options.

Driving around town, I kept seeing hybrid cars. The bulb went on. After doing some research, I calculated that I’d save about 250 gallons of gas a year if I traded my Audi for a Toyota Prius. Taking this opportunity to reduce the size of my eco-footprint, I bought the Prius two days ago.

I’m very happy I did. I had a wonderful purchasing experience and it’s a great car all around (I’ll do a follow-up post on the customer-centric service model that’s made me an evangelist of Joni and the sales team at Penn Toyota in New York). Buying the Prius made sense on many fronts. But, most importantly, it’s given me a chance to edit my personal storyline to better align my words, feelings and actions.

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