September 27, 2005
Roles vs. Goals in the Law Firm
What is it about us old people? And, by that phrase, I’m counting partners who just turned forty. Do we honestly think we have a monopoly on "how it should be done?" I am struck by the discussion of difficulties dealing with Generation X and Y folks. It seems that each prior generation always complains that members of the next one don’t "work like I did." The old saying is that we each march to a different drummer. How you do your marching has less to do with the generation you belong to and a lot more to do with your personal goals.
We have a tendency to judge others by our own standards. Just because you are willing to give up your Sunday mornings for lawyering doesn’t mean that those who do not are unmotivated. They are motivated differently. That is important to remember. While you are putting the finishing touches on a brief late some night, another member of your firm may be coaching the little league team, participating in a town hall meeting, working on a Junior League project, attending a class in Spanish or training for a marathon. They still get the brief finished on time.
Each of us allocate our interest and time differently, spread across seven life phases—job, family, religion, civic activities, health, recreation and self-development. Each phase competes against all others. Where we choose to spend our time and how we spend it depends on our individual goals. The question is not "is the person willing to work the same way I do?" The question is "can they make a positive and profitable contribution given their choice of the seven phases?"
Leadership requires matching the role you ask people to play against their individual goals. Sometimes the role and goal matching requires that a match be a determining factor in the recruiting or promotion process. However, that will result in the firm passing up some outstanding people—individuals that could have turned out to be your biggest rainmakers, future community leaders and even the top inspiring leader of your firm. Job-related activities can often combined with activities of the other seven phases. A well-rounded person can be more valuable than the individual that devotes an excessive portion of their energy to just their job. It is important that "role vs. goal screens" not simply be a process of measuring recruits and promotion prospects against "my standards." Do that and you will have a bunch of look-alikes and think-alikes who not only share the same strengths but the same weaknesses.
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Filed under HR by Tom Collins