Knowledge
Working Successfully with your Professional Managers
Law firms have increasingly become aware of the management challenges they face. As a response, many of them have hired professional managers. It started years ago with office managers, followed by IT managers, marketing and HR managers, knowledge managers, up to general managers and chief operating officers... Hiring managers may work, but retaining them may is often the real challenge. Just look around at the number of professional staff leaving their job... Is there a widespread "malaise" among law firm managers? Is the hiring of managerial talent doomed to end up in failure? What can law firms do to retain their talented managers? Here are some suggestions.
1. Target the right level of talent. If what you need is a management assistant, do not hire a manager. If you need a charismatic change manager, do not hire a secretary. For example, some firms decide that partners will keep the authority on the marketing strategy of the firm. They may need help to get things done, but they do not want an outsider to take decisions on their behalf. If they hire a candidate with the credentials or the potential of a marketing director, that will end up in frustration, conflict, and failure. Many professionals quit because they feel they are overqualified for the job. If you hire a manager or a director, make sure you are willing to effectively delegate real authority, and that you will not second-guess or subject to prior approval any decision that person might take. If such substantial delegation is not workable or not desired (many partners are reluctant to let go of any bit of authority), maybe what you really need (on top of learning to delegate) is just a management assistant.
2. Provide attractive career opportunities. You hire a young, talented and ambitious manager. What will that person be doing in three years? Are there any future career prospects within the firm? Talented professional managers may leave the firm after a few years if they see no opportunity for new challenges, higher or broader responsibilities, and the increased compensation that goes with them.
3. Communicate clear strategic choices. The HR manager of a particular firm was demotivated, as she felt she could not properly do her job in recruitment. Partners indeed had conflicting views as to whether the firm should be merely local or have an international outlook. The HR manager had therefore conflicting instructions on the profile of ideal candidates. Did a US or UK LL.M. matter? She only got conflicting answers. Was the command of English a criteria? Yes, or no, depending upon whom she was talking to. She felt unable to define a coherent recruitment policy, and eventually quit her job. A similar story happened to a marketing manager. The partners requested him to promote the firm, but when he asked them about the message he was supposed to convey (identity, values and strategy of the firm), he only faced closed doors. He quit.
4. Involve managers in decision-making. Do managers attend partners meetings or meetings of the management committee? Some partners believe that managers should not be involved in discussions on management. Committee meetings and other working groups are "partners only". You cannot find a better way to demotivate your professional managers...
Antoine Henry de Frahan | 10 January 2006 |
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