Leaders of professionals are more likely to give the right amount of time to do the job if the financial rewards are based on the performance of their teams rather than on their own individual professional or technical competence. The old adage, ‘Tell me how I am going to be rewarded and I will tell you how I am going to behave’ is pertinent. The way to encourage devotion to leadership tasks is, in part, to reward people for the successful outcome of those tasks.
It is relatively easy to reward leaders of professionals in a way that reflects the performance of their teams if the service is being provided to colleagues in, say, a large corporation. It is also fairly easy in those professional service firms where individual fee earning is not glorified at the expense of all else. There is a much greater problem for firms, still quite often found in the law and accountancy sectors, where individual fee earning is valued as the only truly worthwhile activity. In such firms there is often deep suspicion of, and irritation with, anyone who, for whatever reason, is not required personally to generate a ‘full load’ of fees. Indeed, individual fee earning is in a sense regarded as a virility symbol. Individuals prove their worth in one way only, through the generation of fees. For these firms, switching to rewarding leaders for team rather than individual performance is not easy. However, if they want team leadership to be valued and for leaders to give sufficient time to the work involved then this is probably the single most important step that they can take. Doubters among accountants and lawyers might reflect on one simple fact. They know that first-class leadership is a key determinant of success in their clients’ firms. Why do they think that it should be any different for their own businesses?
John Stapleton, Managing Partner of law firm Thomas Eggar, has this to say:
We now have team targets and we measure the team leaders’ performance on the basis of their teams’ successes rather than for their individual professional work. We believe that more value is added to the firm when teams are well led. In other words, we are not paying lip service to the importance of leadership. Our belief in it is enshrined in good hard measures and rewards.
If you work in an organization where your competence as a team leader, in addition to your performance as a professional and technical contributor, is rewarded, then so well and good. If not, why not argue the case for it to be done?