Team development

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There is no doubt that the principals and partners of professional firms find the task of keeping and motivating the right people one of the most challenging aspects of practice management. And there is also no doubt that in many firms there are good staff who feel demotivated and dissatisfied with their working conditions. Staff loyalty in all professions has declined dramatically in the past 20 years. Your staff have expectations of their roles and the level of support they require. Graduates today want the opportunity to develop their skills and capabilities in a supporting environment. They are looking for structure, but also autonomy and the opportunity to learn by experience. They want to feel appreciated and they want interesting and varied work.

Certainly, both leading and managing are important factors for success of any professional team. For many professionals however, the combination of training and temperament equips them to cope more easily with technical work and management responsibilities than with leadership challenges. They need to work hard to cultivate the leadership skills essential if they are to be good team leaders.

Most practices do not provide their staff with any significant feedback on their performance, either qualitative or quantitative, unless something is amiss. The firm’s performance management process should be the vehicle for delivering the practice’s strategy. It should allow plans to be divided into achievable objectives. It should let people know how they contribute to the success of the practice.

Senior staff in professional firms need to use day to day coaching and as the first step to developing a performance-based environment. Essentially, the purpose of the coaching process is to close the gap between the individual’s current performance and the desired one. As a coach, you help your team members by assessing performance, discussing situations, defining achievable goals, exploring new initiatives and providing support in an ongoing manner. Unfortunately, principals and senior staff often do not have the training or experience to take on this challenging role.

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