A Successful Day Strengthening Leadership Skills at ILTA’s 3rd Annual Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar - Part 2
Today I will share with you some of the great takeaways from the first session of the day, “Leading from the Future” in which panelists Rachel Shields Williams, Business Development Manager at Sidley Austin, Joy Heath Rush, Vice President of Client Development at Litera Corp. and Cindy Thurston Bare, Director of Knowledge Management at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe discussed their biggest leadership challenges, successful communication strategies and more.
The theme of communication emerged in the challenges and strategies for success used by the panelists. Joy Heath Rush shared her biggest challenge, leading remotely. She believes remote leadership succeeds with good communication and connectivity. A good leader must “communicate and live by the core values” of the organization, Heath Rush explained. Rachel Shields Williams expressed the importance of learning the communication preferences of your team and sharing your preference. Cindy Thurston Bare urged leaders to talk to everyone when making changes. She noted a Ritz-Carlton practice of talking to personnel at all levels of an organization to determine the complete impact a change may have. The panelists encouraged leaders to find the right opportunity for face-to-face communication to create a personalized communication style and warned against saving face-to-face communication only for bad news.
I spoke with Rachel Shields Williams after the seminar. During the panel she talked about her “mantra of positive intent.” In business development, attorneys sometimes ask her team to put together reports with little notice. Shields Williams has coaching conversations with her team about assuming a positive intent. The last minute nature of most requests is not intentional. She reminds her team we are all busy and should assume the best of everyone. This helps build clearer communication, trust and collaboration. I asked her if her team, many in the Millennial generation, struggles with the positive intent perspective. She explained she sees more sensitivity in the Millennials and needs to remind them, “don’t assume it’s about you.” She appreciates the Millennial generation because they bring new ideas and seek change for improvement. She sees her role as “bridging the gap” between the generations; she can advocate for change and new ideas as well as for lessons learned and patience.
Matt Homann stated, “The term non-lawyer is destructive to the (legal) industry” because it marginalizes and separates. We need to “change managing up.” He asked how we get a seat at the table for our emerging leaders. All three panelists urged leaders to guide and support those who raise their hand. Cindy Thurston Bare suggested giving emerging leaders opportunities to work on smaller projects to fail fast and fail often and ultimately grow into a great leader. Joy Heath Rush proposed giving an employee the opportunity to talk to a “top boss” but be there to support the person. Rachel Shields Williams shares with her team how she emerged as a leader, seeking multiple avenues for opportunities. When no opportunity exists inside the department find ways to develop new skills through volunteering with another department or outside the organization. She tells her team, you will start to get noticed.
Matt Homann asked, “What advice do you wish you had received on your first day?” The answers provide advice for all leaders to consider for their employees, new and seasoned. It’s never too late.
Rachel Shields Williams: “Introduce yourself to everyone. Focus on cross-functional teams, not just clients.”
Joy Heath Rush: “I wish someone had told me how we make money because I would have figured out how to make us more money.”
Cindy Thurston Bare: “I wish someone had sat down and told me what I could expect from my superiors. We ask our people to guess too much.”
In a rush to train people on the DMS, SharePoint, the phones and quickly accomplish the pile of work waiting for the new hire, we forget this advice. Knowing different teams in the organization, how we make money and what and when one can ask for help will create a better employee and possibly a future leader.
Filament produced storyboards for each discussion. These can be found on the Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar Storyboards page. See storyboards 2 and 3 for the “Leading from the Future” session. More ILTA leadership materials from the seminar, previous blog posts and more are available on the Downloads page of the leadership seminar.
Stay tuned for more summaries of sessions at the 3rd Annual Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar in the upcoming days. If you attended the Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar and want to share what you learned, please use the comments section below or contact me at joanne@iltanet.org and I will include your input in the next post.
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