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Workshop Overview
Delegating for senior lawyers is often a challenge because the natural instinct is to not delegate!
Why?
- The client has asked us to do the work.
- If you want something to be done well, do it yourself.
- By the time I have briefed another lawyer I could have done half the task myself.
- I need to achieve my target hours
This workshop reviews the subject of delegation within a transaction or matter. Delegating is a key skill or behaviour required if the firm is to grow and junior lawyers are to develop and add value.
Successful delegation is also fundamental to a motivated team. This workshop explores the individual lawyer’s style of delegating. It reviews a variety of ideas for developing delegation in the context of a time pressured day.
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Pre workshop activity
- Meeting to discuss the participant’s needs and those of the organisation
- Draft workshop outline tailored to your needs
- Agreement of agenda
- Participants complete a short questionnaire and read the ITD Work Style Model in preparation for the workshop.
Duration
- Half a day to a full day, or two half days.
Typical Agenda
- Introduction and Objectives
- How not to delegate
- Impact of not delegating successfully
- Challenges of delegating
- Within the team
- With other departments / practice areas
- Benefits of delegating
- Different styles of delegation
- Understanding the work style of the person delegated to and their needs for a successful delegation
- Gaining commitment from your colleague
- Agreeing follow up
- Working across departments
- Participants’ actual delegation scenarios
- What to do if it doesn’t work
- Personal actions
Post workshop activity
- Participants leave with individual actions
- Email follow up of personal action plans
- Suggested conversation with their line manager on their actions
- Optional WebEx conference call follow up on these actions
- Optional 121 coaching
- ITD blog with further tips and suggestions
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Outcomes
By the end of the workshop participants will have;
- Reviewed the importance of delegation for both the participants and the firm
- Gained tools for deciding on the best way to delegate in the team & with other practice areas
- Ideas on adapting to the needs of their colleague
- Looked at how they delegate and how to improve
- Created personal action plans
Participant comments
- “Great session, I need to change everything about my approach.”
Call or email ITD to explore how we can help your lawyers can be better at delegating
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Improving Delegation for Lawyers – Case Study
This is a regional law firm. The training was for partners.
Background
One particular partner needed to improve his delegation skills. He is a brilliant lawyer, but impatient, direct and can be taken as terse in his communication.
Need
Simply for him to improve his delegation skills with a new senior colleague who he wanted to stay in his team. (Implication clear I hope)
Activity
We designed and delivered a 3 hour session based on the needs and experiences of the participants. So this was a discussion based session with ideas introduced at the appropriate place in the context of the participants’ experiences and challenges.
The agenda was similar to that above.
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Outcomes
The main outcomes of this session were:
- The training team were very pleased that the partner found the training to be perfect for them.
What the participants said
- “Excellent session told me exactly what I needed to know. Now I will go and do just that.”
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