the opportunity to use the skills they’ve worked hard to
strengthen. If one of your associates shows promise in a
negotiations workshop, figure out how to get him or her
assigned to a deal where an actual negotiation is coming
up. When someone impresses all of the instructors in an
seniority of the group and sessions are almost always
divided by department or practice area. Although
level- and department-based instruction certainly
makes sense, it shouldn’t necessarily be the bread
and butter of your associate development programs.
WHEN YOU TRAIN PEOPLE IN
AREAS OF STRENGTH, THEY MAKE
GEOMETRIC, ACCELERATED LEAPS
IN LEARNING AND RELATED
PERFORMANCE.
expert witness deposition training, put that person on
a matter where he or she can prepare or examine a real
expert witness.
Group identity and accountability can also play a
pivotal role in experiential training for attorneys. We
know of one firm that provides income partners with
a group-based leadership development program. Small,
cross-office groups are established, and the participants attend focused, in-person leadership development workshops several times per year. In between
sessions, they connect by conference calls and support
one another in implementing new leadership strategies
into their daily legal practice, on topics from managing
associates to building client relationships to charting
their own career paths within the firm. They provide
one another with support and accountability that helps
them maintain their excitement about strengthening
their leadership skills. The lesson? Look for opportunities to match up your strong performers for group
learning—particularly across offices and practice areas.
It will strengthen their skills as well as your firm. (See
the Case Study on page 32.)
Get away from the lecture/instruc-tional format. These programs generally
involve a lecture (often recycled from the year
before), a PowerPoint presentation and a Q&A
period that is frequently skipped because the
lecture ran over. Instead of following this tired
recipe, add interactive tasks and elements—and
use your instructors to help assess who your
strong attorneys are, so that you can target them
for future strengths-based training.
Think twice about who teaches. Many law firms
rightly rely on internal expertise to round out their substantive training programs. But that doesn’t mean you
always need an equity partner to serve as instructor. In
fact, an associate instructor may connect better with an
associate audience. Notice which associates are really
engaged and “get it” during your training sessions, and
groom them to help teach.
Choose some “stars” for additional training.
Do you have a hands-on deposition skills program for
junior litigators? How about selecting one or two of your
high performers to take an advanced course, such as
trial training, that might typically be reserved for more-senior attorneys?
UPDATING TRAINING TO BE MORE
STRENGTHS-BASED
In addition to piloting small, strengths-based pro-
grams and incorporating experiential learning, bring
a strengths focus to your firm’s current formal training
programs. For many law firms, “formal” legal train-
ing involves rolling out a consistent set of courses,
year after year. Topics are generally geared toward the
Provide additional outside training for distinctive performers. Send a stellar tax associate for an
LLM. Provide external legal project management training to an attorney who shows natural skill at managing
complex matters. Or find a leadership workshop for an
associate gifted at motivating others.
Pay attention to the role of developing complementary strengths. Harvard researchers focusing on the development of leadership strengths have
confirmed that possessing five strengths basically guarantees that the person will be an effective leader. Conversely, they have pointed out that “one-trick ponies
