Leadership styles and lawyers

By Delee Fromm
Delee Fromm Consulting Inc.
October 2011

As a lawyer you lead each day; you lead your clients, your juniors, and your assistants. You may even officially lead members of your firm or practice area. Perhaps in your spare time you lead community groups. Indeed some have called lawyers the “leader of leaders” . Despite the level of leadership required, very few law schools or firms support the development of leadership skills or styles. The value of leadership training cannot be underestimated with the high rates of dissatisfaction among young lawyers, the high departure rate for lawyers from the legal profession, the growing economic pressures on all law firms, and the increasing competition for clients.

One important facet of developing leadership skills is knowing the style or approach you prefer. Studies of lawyers have identified six main leadership styles . They are directive, visionary, pacesetting, participative, coaching and affiliative styles. Directive (do what I tell you) involves focusing the team’s attention on achieving immediate compliance and task completion while visionary leaders (come with me) give people clear direction, perspective and context for their work. Such leaders inspire others to act independently but in alignment with goals. Leading by example is the hallmark of pacesetting leaders (do as I do) who set high standards of excellence for those they lead. Creativity is stimulated and a sense of involvement created by participatory leaders (what do you think?). Coaching style (try this) works best with developing juniors while the affiliative style (people come first), which focuses on both professional and personal needs, creates harmony.

So is there a best style? The simple answer is no. Just as with negotiation expertise, the best leaders use a broad range of styles. They don’t have just one style they prefer and use most of the time. Rather the styles they use are selected based on objectives and in response to the lawyers they are leading. In short, they use them contextually. Almost 70% of the lawyers found to be the best leaders used four or more of the six styles compared with only 40% of the average group. The styles most used by the best leaders included visionary, participative, coaching and affiliative styles. Interestingly these styles all involve greater soft skills, emotional intelligence, personal interaction and collaboration than the pacesetting and directive styles.

Additionally, good leaders match their leadership styles with their objectives. So if you wish to develop strategy or generate ideas, you want to use the participatory style. If your goal is getting buy-in or increased morale, try the affiliative style. When quick action is required and there is limited time for discussion, like in a time of crisis, the most effective style is directive. However this style, which is effective for focusing attention and quick action, should not be overused, especially with lawyers.

So how do you become flexible and fluent with the six leadership styles? First learn what your default style is. Are you directive most of the time with your juniors or assistants? Or are you visionary? Do you allow your team to participate in discussions of how they can be more effective? Are you a coach to your team or do you set the pace through example? Whatever your style – discover what it is. Take some leadership training or coaching in the different approaches and styles. This will allow you to try the different styles away from the office. Watch others to discover their style– the head of your department, the managing partner of your firm, senior lawyers who lead on files or projects. There are examples all around. Once you are able to recognize the different styles around you, you are on your way to using them yourself and thus becoming the effective, versatile and successful leader that you want to be.

Delee Fromm is both a lawyer and psychologist who has taught and coached for over 25 years. She can be contacted at delee@deleefrommconsulting.com.