1. 7 THINGS
01/02/2015
Law Firms Should Do With Their Staff—But Aren’t...
Grow Closer to Your Clients
Grow the Skill Sets of Your Team
Grow Your Fee Base
“...and stop looking for shortcuts; if you’re not doing these things you’re not
experiencing growth, you’re witnessing a ‘blip’...” Mike Barnes.

2. Typing – not using a keyboard; making sure they have the right typology for the right role. You see, at the
end of the day the ‘old Finder, Minder, Grinder’ description isn’t too far off. You need someone who can be
the ‘rainmaker’ and secure new clients, you need someone who can maintain existing relationships and you
need someone who can do the technical delivery and job administration to ensure that expectations are
met in a timely and profitable manner. Certain personality types have a preference for how they
communicate with others and in much the same way, how they cope with adversity. It’s what your team
member does when he/she is under pressure that counts.
According to Don Riso (r.i.p) and Russ Hudson of the
Enneagram Institute (New York) the three styles for ‘coping
with adversity’ are “Intensity” – “I need everyone else to
understand the pressure I’m under and the severity of the
situation” (Often creating even more damage by interrupting
the effectiveness of others and distracting from possible
solutions by focusing too much on the problem) -
“Positive Outlook” – “I’m sure everything will work out in the
end, I look on the bright side which keeps me happy” (often
slipping into complete denial about what’s going on around
them) and “Competency” – “let’s get a plan, break it down and
then just work our way out of this situation” (often to the frus-
tration of others by appearing so pragmatic that they are perceived as uncaring or ignorant of the severity
of the problem) Against the backdrop of how people cope are their roles and the comprehensive needs of
the organisation. In short, put someone with the wrong coping style and the wrong communication style
into the wrong role and the organisation will constantly struggle with the underperformance of perfectly
good people with adequate skills. Remember, skills and experience are useful, but only if they’re applied
effectively…
TYPING
Number 1:
SCOPING
Number 2:
Scoping – coach the team to look for the work ‘around the edges of the job’. All too often opportunities are
missed to provide a more holistic service because the team are focused only on the ‘issue at hand’. This issue
can generally be broken into two key components. 1. Lack of skills and training that restricts your team mem-
ber from knowing how to ask the open ended questions or 2. A firm mental ‘restriction’ that stops your team
member from feeling like they have ‘permission’ to be more open with their client.
This often has a lot to do with the ‘super ego position’ of your team member; that is to say, their internal
perspective of their ‘professional self-image’. Against this image are a set of (self-imposed) rules that can
often inhibit people from taking chances that allow themselves to grow professionally. These rules can
effectively ‘put the blinkers’ onto your team members when dealing with clients as they don’t perceive they
have ‘permission’ to discuss issues outside the immediate nature of the job in question.

3. At the heart of the matter lies a position of “you’ve come to me for my advice, I must have all the answers
and the sooner I can show you how to fix your problem the more important and professional I will appear”.
Further, in many cases where success has been achieved the
individual begins to over-identify with the role which locks
them into a hierarchal position within their organisation.
You’ll notice these people within your team by virtue of the
‘office politics’ and sarcasm with fellow team members.
Unfortunately your firms clients will pick up on the lack of
‘authenticity’ of these individuals which will only increase the
team members disruptive behaviour patterns as more and
more clients choose to buy less and less from your firm…
SCOPING
Continued...
SEE THE NUMBERS
Number 3:
See the numbers – encourage the team to understand the basics around ‘entity and period’ of
management accounting. Being able to have something to contribute to a business owners’ financial
problems enable your team to better position for commercial work (even if it’s delivered by someone else in
your team) this can apply even if the main discussion is centred on estate planning!
Again, this comes down to your team having a combination of
skills, confidence and resource that allows them to ‘widen the
arena of discussion’ WITHOUT moving into giving advice of an
accounting or financial nature.
It’s simple; if your team can’t ask fundamental business con-
cept questions then it shows they don’t understand business.
Don’t understand business, why should your clients include
your team as critical advisers in their life?

4. Speak Up! – Coach your team to become engaging presenters (not a stuffy university style professor –
anyone can do that!) The skills learned in platform presenting are central to all effective communication.
Aristotle used to break it into Ethos, Pathos and Logos; not a lot
has changed! Even in a one to one environment, the ability to
‘reveal’ the story or create a metaphor will allow the client to
better connect with the information being provided. Ask your-
self this question; “What do most people do with well-meaning
advice?” vs. “What do most people do with an idea they
developed for themselves?”
Facilitation is simply ‘making things easier’ and in the case of
working with your clients, your team needs to learn how to
‘make it easy’ for clients to decide to act. Their decision to act
not only influences their agreement to engage your teams
services for money but it means they’re more likely to swiftly
act on the information provided and achieve better outcomes
for themselves.
Correct Facilitation coaching will enable your team to understand the ‘bridge-permission-framing’ aspects
of presenting to clients, be it one to one or one to hundreds…
SPEAK UP!
Number 4:
SHOW THE LADDER
Number 5:
Show them the ladder – let your team know what lies
ahead for them but not in terms of ‘career path’ but more in
terms of ‘director competencies worked backwards’.
(To do this requires that you have in fact previously written down
the core competencies and measurable behaviours of a fully
competent and effective director in a quality legal firm)
Letting your team know the technical and ‘soft skills’ required to
be effective at different operational levels within your firm will go
a long way to helping your team reach the decision necessary for
‘willing self-improvement’. Here’s another question for you;
“When was the last time a team member of yours spent their own
money to develop themselves?” (Perhaps this could become a KPI
for team engagement…)

5. Show Them The Door! - If you’ve got a team member
that is simply stuck in a rut and resisting all attempts to
improve themselves, suggest that perhaps they may be
happier and healthier working for another organisation.
Let them know that an honest understanding of who they are
and what they are willing to do (and not do) is cornerstone to
everyone building a healthy happy life.
Why stick around if you’re not interested in growing as a
professional? (life’s too short) Sure, there’s proper procedures
to be followed here but let’s not lose sight of the need for
honesty in the workplace…
SHOW THE DOOR
Number 6:
COACH THEM
Number 7:
Coach them. Don’t just tell them, don’t just demonstrate, do the whole lot including the self-review and
feedback loops after structured rehearsal and ‘field observation’.
You can begin by identifying the ‘key skills’ that you believe have made you successful; one last question for
you “when was the last time you wrote down the 5 key things that you think contributes to your fee growth
and then worked out what the actual physical skill or
behaviour is that lies at the heart of that attribute?”
From there, you would know what to pass to your team by
way of COACHING rather than demanding.
Too busy to do this? Watch the money and the good team
members walk out the door…

6. “I coach
professionals to do
the things they
won’t do on their
COACH
Mike regularly consults throughout NZ to increase the leverage within professional
services firms and speaks on a variety of topics, including ‘Closing the Skill Gap’ and
‘What Blocks Professional’s From Selling’.
Mike considers himself a ‘coaching addict’ – “It’s WHO I am, not WHAT I do” explains
Mike, “It’s how I’m wired; it’s in every part of my life”.
Mike is a passionate exponent of The Enneagram Personality Profiling System, (He
attended in New York at the hands of the ‘masters’ Don Riso & Russ Hudson) which
allows Mike to explore the ‘blockages’ that stop people from reaching their own true
potential.
“I coach professionals to do the things they won’t do on their own” says Mike, “my
greatest sense of self-worth comes from watching others grow and knowing I played a
critical part in it”.
MIKE BARNES
The Professional Development Coach to Accountants, Lawyers & Financial Advisers
“The learning from this has been amazing!” says Mike. “The very real threat of
serious injury combined with the pressure of being a professional athlete is the
perfect place to find what really works, and throws out all the garbage that most of
the ‘self-help’ books promote”.
MIKE & KAYNE