Essential Reading: The Trusted Advisor
David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford
By Ginger Grant
In the aftermath of corporate downsizing, scandals, mismanagement (both local and global), 9-11 and searching for terrorists, trust has gone missing from our corporate environments. Assuming trust was ever there in the first place, management now has to rebuild what was destroyed by short-term, bottom-line thinking. From a battered workforce, how do we gain back the trust that has been lost?
|
More Information
 For more details on The Trusted Advisor, including other reviews and ordering information, visit: www.trustedadvisor.com. |
David Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford help to answer this question with simplicity, common sense and a great sense of humour, in The Trusted Advisor.
Changing demographics are forcing a shift towards partnership in the workplace. Approximately 80 million baby boomers in North America are approaching retirement. The cohort that follows the boomers is approximately 46 million strong. How are we to handle a society with a vacancy rate of approximately 34 million?
There is no other time in history that has had four generations in the workplace. As such, to badly paraphrase Einstein “the thinking that got us here, can not be the thinking that moves us forward.” No one has handled this type of management problem because it has never existed. There is no expert available. Perhaps it is time to return to common sense. Maister, Green and Galford give us food for thought in The Trusted Advisor.
The traditional hierarchy of most law firms needs to be re-examined if any wish to retain their top talent. Hierarchy has actually been out for some time now, but law firms are slow to change. Some are already paying the price as talent makes lateral moves to firms that provide a more flexible structure. Top-down management does not work with today’s knowledge workers, be they lawyers or other professional staff. In fact, adherence to a top-down management approach can be fatal to your organization. Further, a top-down, command/control management structure erodes trust between the very people that must now work in partnership.
At the risk of oversimplification and certainly showing my Jungian roots, the fundamental desires of any individual may be classified into three main goals that are capable of providing individual and structural (cultural) stability. These goals are relationship, recognition and meaning.
In The Trusted Advisor, the authors provide a practical framework for interaction with external clients. I would suggest that you take the book’s suggestions a step further—what it proposes can be used by any senior partner as a developmental and/or mentoring guideline when dealing with associates.
Learning now equals loyalty. For any firm to retain its top talent, learning and development needs to be a primary focus. Traditional types of training don’t work. Development needs to be an ongoing process that is flexible enough to work with both personal and professional needs and that also incorporates generational diversity.
The approach taken by the authors to building trust is sorely needed. They are not afraid to tackle the sacred cow in most firms—fear of emotion. Without emotion, there is no commitment, no passion, and no dedication to the profession. The Trusted Advisor clearly states:
Marketing professionals are fond of pointing out three kinds of professional-client relationships, which correspond to three approaches to winning business. These are product/service-based, needs-based, and relationship-based approaches. It is usually argued that the best, the most evolved of these three types of approaches is the relationship-based mode. ... we feel a fourth type of relationship is missing from the typology, the trust-based relationship. The difference between this and the other levels is the human dimension, the recognition of the interpersonal, individual aspects of the relationship. (9)
In order to build trust, relationship skills will dominate any interaction. Trust is dependent upon repeated interactions—it is based in behaviour, not words. Demographics are producing a buyers’ market for all knowledge workers. Lifelong employment may be history, but expectations of trust are increasing. If your behaviour towards your knowledge workers does not match your position statement in the marketplace, you are directly affecting your bottom line. I see countless firms boast that “our greatest asset is our people”—a claim rapidly becoming meaningless in environments where billable hours increase, staff support decreases, and low morale is rampant among staff.
As the The Trusted Advisor suggests, relationships are built around trust. If there exists a values gap between partner and associate, you will find out that your associates have feet. If your firm values are evident both in advertising and in practice, and are consistent between belief and behaviour, you will retain valuable assets and attract more of them from firms that concentrate on advertising rather than associate development. You might be able to fool a client, but your staff knows the firm culture intimately and can communicate that knowledge freely in the marketplace.
An article by Frederick Reichheld in the December 2003 edition of the Harvard Business Review asserts that if you wish to build loyalty in your firm, trust is a fundamental value. Reichheld suggests asking clients a very simple question: “How likely is it that you would recommend (company X) to a friend or colleague?” What would happen if you asked your firm associates the same question? If you provided a safe environment to receive an honest answer, you could be in a position to build a corporate culture that clearly demonstrates trust as both an espoused value and a value-in-action.
A simple questionnaire with a guarantee of anonymous response might provide you with all the information you need to evaluate your corporate culture. Obviously, admitting that the members of the partnership are untrustworthy would be career-limiting move (fondly called a CLM) for an associate. But, if the partnership has little credibility with the associates, don’t you want to find out?
The father of the study of corporate culture, Edgar H. Schein, makes a very provocative observation when he says, “much of what we call today command-and-control systems have at their root the assumption that employees cannot be trusted” (Corporate Culture Survival Guide, p. 51).
The partnership like comes from an older demographic, when command-and-control systems were once the norm when workers were plentiful. Keep in mind that most partners became partners because of their practice in law, not their ability to keep abreast of management theory or shifting demographics. In our fast paced, global environment, who has the time? We need to give each other a break in the blame game.
That is why The Trusted Advisor is so important. Maister, Green and Galford return us to what is fundamental in any practice and in any profession—trust. The Trusted Advisor is a must-read for mentors and mentees. As you read the book, view your own ability to generate trust, both internally and externally. Ask penetrating questions as to the amount of trust evident within your firm. View your associates as clients before demographics forces your hand.
In The Trusted Advisor, the authors provide these major insights on trust:
1. Trust rarely develops instantly, except in the face of a powerful experience.
2. Trust straddles the ground between the relational and the emotional. While outstanding technical competence (or content) is a nonnegotiable, essential ingredient for success, it is not sufficient. Trust is a lot richer than logic alone, and it is a significant component of success.
3. Trust is a two-way relationship—it involves emotion as well as intellect. It is dynamic and fluid.
4. Trust is personal. We don’t trust institutions or processes—we trust people.
5. Trust requires being understood. Understanding takes time. Organizations per se are incapable of understanding—only their people can do so. Brand name recognition and reputation may get an institution on anyone’s short list, but only a person can keep it there.
How does your firm measure up against these five critical aspects of trust? How do you? Some definite food for thought.
About the Author:
Ginger Grant, M.A., is the President of Creativity in Business Canada Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in corporate culture, generational diversity and change management. Ginger is the only Canadian certified to teach the unique Stanford Graduate School of Business program “Creativity in Business”. Her new book, entitled “When Assets Have Feet” is scheduled for publication in early Spring. Ginger can be reached at: ginger@creativityinbusiness.org or 604-924-5360; http://www.creativityinbusiness.org.
Neither the author nor the CBA should be construed as endorsing any product or website listed in this article. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CBA.
In this document, any reference to "jurist" or "lawyer" includes, where appropriate, "Québec notary". |
