The missing link

Developing successful client and industry teams

Bringing people together into teams is one thing, making them work effectively and efficiently for better internal operation and client service is quite another. Firms are increasingly using client and industry teams to compete more effectively in the market, and to organise and coordinate themselves internally. We are hearing from both law firms and their clients, however, that these teams are not always operating as effectively as hoped. Unfortunately, in some cases, such teams can be counterproductive, neither delivering substantially improved service for clients nor operating more efficiently and effectively within the firm. This can lead to a considerable waste of lawyer time and firm resources. This waste comes in many forms, such as countless non-billable hours spent in fruitless meetings; setting up false expectations with clients (who are then disappointed when these teams fail to deliver the benefits promised); and marketing and business-development time and money spent on initiatives that are not well thought-out, offer little return on the investment, and distract from other strategic priorities.

There are steps that law firms can take, however, to ensure their client and industry groups and teams function at a high level and deliver on the promises of enhanced client service, competitiveness and, ultimately, firm profitability.

First, firms need to gain an understanding of group dynamics – there is solid scientific research that shows that all groups and teams are impacted by the underlying psychological forces at play. Understanding these forces – or group dynamics – is a necessary component to being able to operate as a high-performing team. These dynamics involve issues of trust, inclusion, conflict resolution, dependency and productivity. Just as every human being passes through various stages of development throughout their life, so does every team – whether they like it or not. These stages of development are described below.

Stage one – forming
When a group comes together for the first time, people in the group will spend their ‘psychological energy’ dealing with issues of uncertainty, dependency (on the leader and/or on each other) and inclusion. They will generally behave in a tentative and polite way, and will not be able to devote their full mental energies to the work of the group. In the early stages, group members face a number of psychological issues that must be resolved before they can turn their full attention to the actual tasks of the group. Such issues are likely to include:

Can I speak up without consequences?
Can I trust the leader to do the right thing?
What do I need to do to be accepted by this group?
Is it worth my time to be involved in this group?

The greater the level of ‘uncertainty’ about these kinds of psychological issues, the more the group member has to turn their attention to these issues to reduce uncertainty and achieve a sense of equilibrium. This leaves less mental capacity to pay full attention to the actual work tasks. Thus, early in the life of a group, a leader needs to be more directive to help answer these questions and reduce uncertainty, which can be counter intuitive to many leaders who have more of a consensual approach.

Stage two – storming
Once a group works through dependency and inclusion issues, they next focus on establishing autonomous but complementary roles and positions, as well as handling conflict. This is the transition stage from individuals to a mutually dependent team. As team members become more comfortable with each other, they become more willing to state their own individual viewpoint about group goals and other issues. A team that is in stage two will devote an increasing amount of energy to staking out positions, testing to see if they can maintain their individual autonomy and still work together, and will slip into conflict with each other and the leader. This is a very important stage because if the team learns to work through their conflict and differences of opinion they develop a high level of trust and can turn their energy to issues of productivity and effective work.

During stage two, there is typically some friction among team members, as well as some criticism and other forms of ‘attack’ on the leader. Some ‘dependent’ team members take the leader’s side and defend him or her, and some ‘counter-dependent’ team members join in the attack on the leader. If you happen to be the leader of a team during this stage, it is helpful to know that attacks on the leader are common and there is a good chance that the criticism is not directed against you personally, but rather against you in the role of leader.

If you realise this, then you can more easily deflect the attack and guide the team into accepting their differences and agreeing to disagree. On the other hand, if you become defensive, take it personally, and start attacking the critics, you’re bound to exacerbate the situation and prolong this stage.

Stage three – norming
In this more mature stage, teams begin to build a higher level of interpersonal trust among one another. Then, supported by the increasing trust, members begin to agree on the team’s common work goals and division of labour, as well as identify clear roles.

As a team leader, this is the time to step back and act more as a supporter to the group. Since trust is high, members do not protest when an important function is delegated within the team and are actually keen to take on new tasks.

Stage four – performing
Teams at this level are highly effective. They spend their time and energy on useful and productive behaviour, and have a shared perception that the group will be successful. However, there is a risk of complacency and this is where team leaders have a key role to play in guarding against this. Set more challenging goals and tasks, and look at ways the team can learn more from others outside the group – for example, by bringing in new information and perspectives to the team from clients, colleagues or external experts.

Taking group dynamics and the broader research about how to develop highly productive client and industry teams and successfully navigate through the stages of team development, the following lessons can be learnt:

Team leaders tend to be more effective if they are more directive in the early stages, as this helps reduce uncertainty and provide direction. Ironically, team leaders will often start out with a highly consensual approach, asking team members what they would like to focus upon and side step requests for clarification. This results in increasing psychological uncertainty, not decreasing it, and leaves the team going around in circles. How many times have you come out of a team meeting thinking nothing of significance was discussed, nor a way of moving forward agreed? In law firms, many teams flounder in the early stages, which is why client and industry teams may start out with great ambitions only to lose momentum and stall;
It is important for team members to realise that conflict is natural and healthy and there are ways to manage conflict so it remains positive. As a team gains more confidence, team members will start to speak up and give their opinions. Invariably there will be different opinions and often people will challenge the opinions the leader correctly put forward to provide direction in the early stages. It is important for the leader to be aware that these challenges are common and rarely personal, but are received more by virtue of being the leader (much in the same way that teenagers challenge parents). If a leader has this awareness, then they can more easily deal with the challenge in a calm manner, by keeping the discussion to facts and allowing modifications to be made to their ideas and direction;Most effective teams spend only 75 per cent of their time accomplishing their task (determining goals, roles, actions) and the remaining time on group maintenance (focusing on the group dynamics, interaction and communication). As a team leader it is helpful to check how much of your time in reality is focused on the task and the group maintenance. Contrary to what you might think, by spending a little more time on group maintenance you are likely to ensure a higher degree of task execution;
Clear and agreed goals are critical to the success of a team and a well functioning team will revisit and revise its goals. Team leaders and members will have learnt that goals are adapted throughout the stages of team development and that you can be most productive when clarifying and not hanging on to old goals;
Well-defined and effective roles are also important. This means defining everyone’s role, not just the leader, and also recognising that different roles will be required at different stages. This gives people on the team a clear sense of their value and importance to the team, as well as a yardstick for accountability;
Team size matters. An ideal team has five to twelve members. This gives everyone a chance to participate and be heard. Above twelve members, it is too easy for one member to get lost in the crowd. Above 25 members, a group will not be a true group, but rather a vehicle for exchanging information. To productively accomplish the work, these larger groups and teams need to be broken into smaller sub-units;
A written plan is essential. Rather than leave things to chance, effective teams work from a charter of some sort, usually a business plan. The process of developing a plan causes teams to establish priorities, determine needed resources, understand how success will be defined and measure their progress. However, keeping such a plan simple is key, so it doesn’t end up on the shelf as a polished but rarely actioned tome.

Group dynamics
In conclusion, the most successful law firms are learning that one of the secrets to success is not only to create industry groups and client teams, but also to support these groups and teams with training and coaching in group dynamics and effective team work. This enables the teams to really deliver on expectations and contribute to the firm’s long-term profitability and competitiveness. Sometimes even a small amount of awareness goes a long way towards helping teams work through issues of dependency, trust, inclusion and conflict. Understanding the impact of group dynamics is the missing link needed to develop high-performance groups and teams in law firms.

Terri Pepper Gavulic and Julia Hayhoe are co-heads of client development practice at Hildebrandt International. They can be contacted at tpgavulic@hildebrandt.com and jhayhoe@hildebrandt.com respectively.