WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM LEGAL LEADERS
This past week, my friend Alan forwarded me an article from Canadian Lawyer magazine. The article discussed leadership within the Canadian legal profession. As I read this article, I realized that the lessons for these lawyers could easily be applied to leaders throughout multiple industries and organizations.
See if you agree with me.
This study of the legal profession throughout Canada found that the challenges leaders face are becoming more complex, with many leaders feeling they are on the verge of being overwhelmed. To confront this challenge, leaders realize they must prioritize resilience and cultivate the ability to understand and implement new technologies.
The nationwide survey by a renowned consulting company found that leaders realize that they must grow their resilience skills. Leaders “must be mentally and emotionally prepared to handle increasing pressures while maintaining focus on strategic goals.”
If you want to learn more about the critical leadership skill of resilience, I encourage you to visit the website for Taryn Marie Stejskal, Ph.D., who has written and spoken about resilience for many years. Taryn has a wonderful website that includes many resources for leaders seeking to build their resilience muscles.
The Canadian survey also found that leaders value the ability to remain composed under pressure. This is a critical trait for all leaders because collapsing under pressure can bring on all kinds of negative results. Another way to view pressure is to think about it as putting us under stress. As you recall from my newsletter last week, it is when we are under stress that we fall into the Karpman Triangle – Persecutor, Victim or Rescuer.
Those Canadians surveyed also emphasized the willingness and ability to have difficult conversations. I have coached many leaders during the past decade who possess many wonderful leadership skills – delegation, time management, prioritization, public speaking, strategic thinking, balancing work and personal lives, planning ahead, collaboration, promoting “good conflict” or building a healthy culture. Yet so many of these same leaders struggle with having difficult conversations.
A sterling leader will tell me about a challenging situation at work and the words they wish they could say to their team member of their manager. When I ask why they have not made time and space to have that difficult conversation, leaders come up with many creative rationalizations or excuses;
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. They would close their ears and not listen.”
“I don’t think they are ready to hear what I have to say.”
“I am afraid of my boss’s reaction. She will get angry and take it out on me.”
There are many reasons why leaders steer away from having difficult conversations. Sometimes those reasons may be legitimate based upon time and conditions at work. However, when difficult conversations are avoided, the underlying factors beneath the need for the conversation will continue. No one wins. There are many books addressing this leadership skill. I recommend “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott and “Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most” by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen.
The survey consultants further found that technology is one of the key areas on which leaders need to focus because it is increasingly shaping the future of the legal industry. Most people surveyed agreed that AI and other emerging technologies will be critical for future leaders in every legal setting.
The same issues are facing every profession as we move into 2025 and we see AI-generated content everywhere. During the past several months, I attended two leadership conferences, and I was amazed at how much content was devoted to planning for and utilizing AI.
What are you doing now in your own leadership roles to plan for the productive use of AI in the months and years ahead? Who are you talking to? What online resources are you using? What books are you reading? Artificial intelligence will be a large part of management, leadership, team member interaction and customer relations in the next decade. What are you doing now to prepare?
The survey also addressed pitfalls for today’s leaders to steer clear of. It found that many new leaders make avoidable mistakes, often by trying to please everyone, overloading their agenda, or failing to delegate.
“Making promises – trying to please everyone” was identified as the number one mistake young leaders make. As I have written here previously, trying to please everyone never works. It actually makes things worse. Colleagues quickly realize your style and lose respect for you. Leaders cannot succeed as people-pleasers.
Please take into account the findings from this nationwide survey of Canadian lawyer-leaders. So many of these conclusions apply to our own leadership journeys, regardless of our location or our business. Take in these lessons and then use them to grow into a more effective leader!
If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!
-Larry