Regular and frank communications between colleagues allow everyone to be better informed about results, proposed changes, day-to-day problems and so on. They also help to develop trust and build better relationships. Here are some suggestions: Help your team members to recognize and use their colleagues’ sources of information. Make sure that you are not the [...]

Listening well goes to the heart of the professional–client relationship. Most professionals, if asked, say that they are pretty good listeners, as otherwise they would not be able to do their jobs. That is generally true. However, as with most basic skills that we take for granted, there are things that we can do to [...]

One of the finest ways to communicate desirable behaviour or the need for change is by example. In tough times, when it is necessary to keep an eye on expenses, the senior partner of a very successful architectural practice flies in economy rather than business class. The team leaders in a high-performing accountancy firm have [...]

Here are some guidelines: Appeal to hearts and minds. Many professionals, especially lawyers, accountants, scientists and engineers, use the power of reason and evidence to persuade others. They use logical arguments, marshal data in support of their proposals and are good at rebutting those points with which they disagree. Articulate leaders can be very effective [...]

Give people a fact or idea and you enlighten their minds; tell them a story and you touch their souls. — (Old Hasidic proverb) I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. — (Alan Greenspan) [...]

New approaches only become embedded in the culture when it is clear that they work and are superior to old methods. Use lots of talk to hype up the validity of the new practices and promote and reward those who support and implement them. This model of leading change is, in my view, important to [...]

It is helpful to use the credibility afforded by early gains in the change process to tackle additional and bigger projects. It is important to re-emphasize shared purpose and to keep up the spirit of urgency. It is a good idea to involve junior people in more projects to assist the change effort.

It is useful to identify, publicize and reward early benefits that accrue during the change process. This encourages everyone to remain enthusiastic about working towards full implementation of the ultimate vision.

Get everyone, in their respective teams, to generate ideas to remove barriers to change and to improve performance within the vision and strategy framework. Ideas for improving structures, processes, service and working practices should be encouraged.

Communicating the vision and strategies requires repetition and the use of a multimedia approach. The key messages need to be repeated time and again with the use of different vehicles, for example meetings, presentations, speeches, in-house publications and e-mails. It is preferable to use language that is straightforward and jargon free. Inconsistencies should be explained [...]

An effective vision needs to appeal to both hearts and minds. The end product ideally results in a direction of the future that is desirable, feasible, focused, flexible and communicable.

Change, if it is to be effective, needs to be led by a mixture of senior people with strong position power, broad expertise relevant to the task and high credibility. To make change happen they need to create trust through carefully planned off-site events with lots of talk and joint activities.

It is helpful, first, to identify possible causes of complacency. These may include the absence of a visible crisis, the achievement of low performance standards, low candour about problems and favourable performance feedback coming primarily from within. Raising a sense of urgency is possible by, for instance, eliminating obvious examples of excess; setting goals sufficiently [...]

Professor John Kotter of the Harvard Business School has produced a research-based model for leading major organizational change (1996). Success in his view depends on the implementation of an eight-step process. The stages, all of which need to be followed sequentially, are as follows: Create a sense of urgency. Put together a team of people [...]

Many organizations these days publish statements of desired values. An example, from law firm DLA, appears in The DLA values. The DLA values  People Service Quality We bring the best out of our people by encouraging mutual respect, responsibility and teamwork. We invest in the reputation and careers of all of our people. We commit [...]

Providing strategic leadership is not a highly complicated process. Essentially it is about making time to create a vision of the desirable but attainable future state of the team’s business; identifying crucial conditions for success; making sure that work is not confused with achievements; and setting up development projects and action points to turn the [...]

Where there is no vision, the people perish. — (Proverbs 29: 18) Do not quench your inspiration and imagination; do not become the slave of your model. — (Vincent Van Gogh) Good leadership is about making things happen. The starting point is for you to help your team to develop a clear sense of direction [...]

Leaders of professional service teams are very busy people. Juggling the pressures of the leadership function with the professional work, client relations and marketing and selling activities is far from easy. If you find it difficult to manage your time effectively you can do no better than think about, and try out, the very practical [...]

Here are some simple tips for overcoming a reluctance to delegate: You may have a desire for perfection and feel that you are the only person who can do the work. If so, start by delegating parts of the tasks concerned and coach people to perform them to your satisfaction. You may reserve tasks for [...]

Professionals are more likely to devote the right amount of time and energy to the leadership job if it is clearly valued. In your firm, is there a belief, widely shared, that good leadership helps to produce first-class results? Is this notion rooted deeply in the culture of the organization? If the answers to these [...]