Last October the Law Society conducted a career satisfaction survey of 344 of its member’s entitled Rethinking legal career development: How to enhance returns on talent. Some of the results were quite amazing and the following are quotes from the report:
“A lack of engagement with the strategic direction of the firm is a key driver of employee departure with only 48% agreeing with the company’s strategic direction and 56% feeling well informed about what is happening in the wider organisation in the 25-34 year old group compared to 67% and 77% respectively for the over 55 group.”
“Millennial mobility is an emerging risk for employers with 35% of 25-34 year olds saying they are likely to move on within the next 12 months.”
“Performance management is ineffective in one-third of organisations with only 48% of employees confident they are getting the training and feedback they need to develop effectively.”
“80% of respondents report being satisfied with the area of law in which they practice but only 67% of the 25-34 age group being proud to work for their organisation compared to 80% of the over 55 group.”
While it was not surprising to see pay listed at the top of key drivers for employee satisfaction, it was revealing to note that opportunities for personal development and involvement in strategic decision-making were ranked as numbers two and three by staff and fee-earners.
Staff retention
The report went on to conclude: “There are some emerging risks that employers will need to address in order to retain the best legal talent and facilitate and motivate legal professionals to perform at optimum levels. Law firms will need to change in a whole range of areas such as establishing a wider organisational purpose, feedback and mentoring and rethinking leadership and management structures and organisational development.”
Although the report makes quite disturbing reading, it confirms the belief that many, both within and beyond the profession, have held for some time—in order to retain and nurture staff firms must take a long hard look at their professional development and training programmes.
The UK’s legal sector is estimated to be worth in excess of £450bn comprising some of the world’s leading multinational companies. Yet continuing professional development for staff is all too often unstructured and measured not by what new knowledge or skills have been acquired, but solely by the number of hours clocked up by attending seminars mainly in their own field of law.
At the same time, firms dispense invaluable advice to their commercial clients in areas such as governance, leadership, management, strategy and ethics to enable them to build strong, well led companies. But in many cases, they seem to be either unable or even unwilling to implement such thinking within their own organisation.
Think like a corporate
These legal practices could do worse than take a look at the wider corporate marketplace. In the last 30 years companies have changed dramatically as they face the challenges presented by the global marketplace within which they operate. These organisations have adopted advanced management techniques and training enabling them to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.
The UK’s legal sector needs to do the same as a matter of urgency, engaging with and empowering their staff at every level, encouraging them to contribute and be a part of the firm’s strategic development. As Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, so aptly put it as long ago as 1988, “the continued existence of a company depends on the mobilisation of every ounce of intelligence”.
This was why we formed Dominic Regan Training in order to assist the sector in addressing these issues. From the outset we were convinced that a new approach was needed to provide development for the legal and professional services sector to equip it to meet the challenges of the 21st century. And the Law Society’s report quoted above confirms that this approach is needed.
This article was written by Nigel Tomlinson, Nigel is a founding director of Dominic Regan Training Limited and holds an extensive non-executive director portfolio. For more information on Nigel just click here