On September 29th, The Baltimore City Group held a timely interactive panel discussion on attorney coaching. The noon program, held at at Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP, was led by Anne Balduzzi, Founding Partner of Accelerate Partners LLC and Laura Perry, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Whiteford Taylor & Preston.
Many law firms are turning to experienced coaches like Ms. Balduzzi, an outside coach, and Ms. Perry, an in-house coach, to help attorneys reach their professional goals by building on strengths, developing skills, providing encouragement and increasing confidence. Coaching is all about giving key individuals the tools and supports they need so that they can develop the behavior and strategies to lead them to higher levels of success.
The panelists examined the pros and cons of using an outside consultant and in-house marketing and business development staff. In-house coaches have the special advantage of knowing the players and the politics of the firm. However, a good external consultant has the ability to coach around the internal politics. Whether you use internal resources or look outside the firm, one thing was clear that if you decide to bring in a coach, the internal marketing staff should be involved in the entire process.
In order to choose a coach, there should be good personality alignments, especially when it comes to one on one encounters. A good coach will prioritize business development opportunities, be efficient, organized and on time. The coach will be persistent, be objective, give feedback, and be candid. He or she will bring new ideas to the table, help attorneys set goals and help them to measure and achieve the goals.
All in all, a law firm attorney coaching program demonstrates the firm's commitment to helping attorneys win in today's competitive law firm environment.
Raychiel Webb is business development and marketing manager at Bryan Cave LLP.