Some firms use psychometric tests, including reasoning, intelligence and personality profiling, as part of their selection processes. Generally speaking these are handled by trained specialists in the human resource function or by external consultants. The results and their significance are made available to other selectors, including the team leaders, for consideration along with the rest [...]

When you have specified the qualities that you are looking for, you can decide which of them should be assessed through the interviewing process and which ones should be judged by other mechanisms such as tests. This is an important step in getting the best out of interviews. In addition success is more likely to [...]

Dr Meredith Belbin has shown (1981), through his research, that all members of business teams have a dual role. The first is the functional one, which in professional service firms involves the use of technical, client relations, sales, marketing, administrative, management and leadership skills. The second role is what Meredith Belbin calls the team role. [...]

The wrong people are sometimes hired because selectors fail to identify the few abilities and attitudes critical for success. When you have to fill a vacancy in your team, or if you are involved in selecting trainees, make sure that a specification of the attributes required is drawn up. Precision in defining qualities is important [...]

Professional service firms with a good record for taking on able people usually place a higher value on basic ability and attitude of mind than on specific technical skills. When people are selected for traineeships, most of the technical skills are provided subsequently through training, coaching and mentoring. When qualified and experienced professionals are hired [...]

Most firms have ‘performance management’ or ‘appraisal’ systems. They often have a bad name. People complain that they feel like end-of-term school reports. Frustration is caused by endless form filling. They are often backward looking with little emphasis on career development. Appraisers sometimes complain that they feel like ‘God sitting in judgement’. They are uncomfortable [...]

Although there are one or two useful measures, such as staff turnover and retention rates, for the firm as a whole, they have little meaning if applied to relatively small teams. However, it is a good idea for you and your team members to review personal development goals and achievements. This is probably best done [...]

Some professionals still make the mistake of assuming that high-quality technical work means high-quality service. Of course the quality of work is critically important but the provider of professional services is probably judged more often on manner and style. Buyers of professional services usually ask themselves ‘Do I like and do I trust this provider?’ [...]

One way to do this simply and economically is to have periodic team discussions on questions such as these: What proportion of our highly valued clients, that is those generating above a specified fee level, are we retaining from one year to the next? What proportion of our fees comes from new services offered within [...]

Most professional service firms are partnerships and they either charge by the hour or on a fixed-fee basis for a specific service. There is a well-known formula governing profitability when hourly rates are used. This formula can be applied to a team as well as to the firm as a whole. It is: Average equity [...]

However effective you are as a team leader there is no way of avoiding periodic crises such as the loss of a major client, a significant business downturn, the loss of a highly competent colleague to a competitive firm or unethical or inappropriate conduct on the part of a team member. When facing any business [...]

Some conflict between team members is healthy and should be welcomed. If people debate matters of substance with each other and examine different points of view in a robust fashion then the team will benefit. Better solutions are likely to evolve. However, regardless of how technically competent your people are there will inevitably be occasions [...]

Most firms have a handful of very competitive and professionally able people who are brilliant at generating business and delivering results. They are often very creative and instrumental in driving the firm in new and more effective directions. Usually they are able to combine these considerable talents with being effective team players. If so, the [...]

It is easy to turn a blind eye to poor performance until it becomes critical. Postponing action is common. Finding excuses is not unusual. Seeking rationalizations is far from rare. Not infrequently, leaders fail to face up to uncomfortable truths about the poor performance of those who are not pulling their weight. The best leaders [...]

Leadership has a harder job to do than just choosing sides; it must bring sides together. — (Jesse Jackson) The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. — (Martin Luther King) The acid test of outstanding [...]

Teams are apart for much more time than they are together. Most professionals spend large amounts of their time writing, reading, calculating, designing, researching and in meetings with clients. Much of the time is spent on technical or professional matters and some on business tasks. It is part of the leader’s job to create a [...]

Typically professional service teams contain a huge amount and variety of talent and experience. Often it is utilized in a rather piecemeal fashion. In the good teams, time is put aside on a regular basis so that best practice can be shared. Investment in skill development, in this way, really does bring to life the [...]

Professional service teams need to develop new services from time to time; exploit new markets; develop their marketing effectiveness; look for ways to enhance client care; introduce new systems and processes to increase productivity; and change working practices to improve performance. Innovations are necessary for firms to remain relevant and competitive. A continuing stream of [...]

When a team comes together to make a collective decision on a professional or business matter it is very easy for the leader to fall into the temptation of sounding out views around the table and then calling for a vote. The attraction is speed and saving time. However, there are dangers. Voting splits the [...]

The box ‘Questions about team working’ provides a list of questions about the effectiveness of teams. How many of the questions can you and your team members answer with a yes? How many can you answer not only with a yes but also with the observation that you do it really well? Questions About Team [...]