Opportunity knocks

My article “Partners… no more” in the June edition of the Journal looked at the management problems caused by partners moving to another firm. I commented that this was a new trend as historically it had been regarded as professionally unacceptable for people to move between firms especially once they had become partners. That article concentrated on looking at the trend from the firm’s perspective, providing suggestions about how to tackle and manage it constructively. In this article, I will focus on the opportunities it creates for individual career development.

Good people always have the opportunity to move

It is a truism to state that the competitive advantage for a professional service firm lies in the abilities of its people. As a result, managers must never assume that people will stay. Good people in particular always have the opportunity to move.

Despite increasing numbers of graduates seeking entry into the profession, and a decline in areas of profitable client work, the pool of experienced people with excellent client relationship skills is limited. Given continuing pressure on fees, a shortage in Scotland of quality clients and variations in workloads, the most valuable professionals are those who are able to work flexibly, accurately and cost effectively. People with these skills are always in demand.

In addition, true professionals are not solely motivated by financial rewards, and experience proves that people will move from a firm if they feel they are not valued or recognised for their efforts. An individual may therefore choose to leave a firm for a number of reasons, which include:

• feeling undervalued or taken advantage of;
• frustrations about the way the firm is being managed;
• his or her professional values being put under pressure or not respected;
• a colleague being treated badly;
• a climate of conflict and “fiefdoms”;
• poor quality of work and clients; and/or
• no clear career route to progress through the firm.

However, in my experience, the most common reason why good people leave is because they feel that their professional values are being compromised. It is important therefore when identifying an opportunity to change job, firm or indeed career to remember the importance our professional values play in our quality of work experience.

Opportunities that change may create for you

Any change is unsettling, especially so when senior people leave the firm. As a result, more junior people will feel uncertain about what the firm intends to do and what it means for their career development. Given my earlier comments that good people are always in short supply, the first decision they need to make is whether they want to stay with the firm.

If the answer is yes, they then must decide what opportunities the change creates for them. Some may be obvious, such as promotion of an existing associate to partner. Many however will be obscure as most professional partnerships lack any formal career routes. In addition, in my experience, the remaining partners are often so upset about the situation that they fail to look objectively and constructively about what should be done. As a result, the individual may require to make the most of this opportunity by suggesting how he or she could shoulder additional responsibilities and/or a change of role and what support will be needed. It is essential to remember that this must be a two-way contract and that both sides benefit by the new arrangement. The individual will use his or her existing abilities and skills to tackle the current situation and will be helped by the firm to continue to develop in the longer term.

Given that there is an increasing chance that such an opportunity may arise, how can individuals best prepare for it?

Don’t shut the door

It is important from the outset of our professional careers to keep as many options open as possible. Career paths are no longer certain and few people have the luxury of job security. As a result, not many of us know where we will be working in five years’ time, never mind in 25 years. As the practice of law becomes more complicated, there is an increasing tendency to become “narrower” and more specialist, which can make it difficult for us to avoid being forced down a career cul-de-sac. How therefore can we maintain our usefulness in the long term?

In my view, it is important to view our professional development as incremental. Clients of mine still complain that lawyers focus on the process and not the outcome. It is our ability to interpret and apply the law to offer practical solutions to our clients that is important, rather than our ability to remember the law. Yes, we can become more expert in one area of the law, but it is not impossible to move across to another job. I have done that a number of times, as have many of my contemporaries. Some are sheriffs, some have gone to the bar, some have moved in-house with clients, and some have moved out of legal practice altogether. As a result, skills development in particular must always be viewed as transferable, with good communication skills and the ability to work with people especially valuable.

To help illustrate this point, I have developed a career profile applicable to private practice. It shows how opportunities to develop business and management experience can develop during the progression from trainee up towards partner level (see table). It also highlights that it is possible to change careers as the skill level of, for example, a “senior” professional is equivalent to a “line manager” in a commercial organisation.

Starting at trainee level, career progression focuses on building technical competence. Even at this early stage, there is a need to build skills, such as time management and teamworking. At junior professional level, the application of technical skills improves as well as the development of “softer” abilities, such as working well with clients. As people progress through the profile, they aspire to become associates and partners. For individuals to succeed professionally, it is therefore vital to see management skills as an important part of professional career development.

When partners or teams of people leave a firm, this can create opportunities for the people who are left behind. Individuals should reflect on what these changes mean for them and their firm in the short and long term.

It is important to see our career development as flexible. No one can say with certainty what his or her role will be in five years’ time. It is vital to ensure that our skills development is transferable, rather than assume that the job we do today is the job we will be doing tomorrow.