Thought leader

I have to confess to a mix of feelings at this time of the year – seasonal melancholy overwritten by a renewed sense of anticipation. The cause of this condition is not the changing colours of the foliage but rather the arrival of the annual intake of new trainees into my firm. I recognise that both emotions may be attributable to my age.

The new trainees arrive well-turned out, fresh faced and far better equipped than my generation to commence a career in the law. I feel so damned inadequate next to them. However, although extremely bright and equipped with a starter tool kit from law school, they are obviously far from the finished product – no GM crops here.

What we are able to raise with this crop will really depend upon the training and development that we are able to offer these young lawyers as they progress in their careers with us. The measure of success will ultimately be the roles that they enjoy within the business some years hence and how well those roles are then discharged.

Not so long ago, I was flabbergasted by the remarks made by a senior partner of a top-100 law firm. I had observed that there did not appear to have been many new entrants to their equity partnership within the last three or four years and enquired whether there was a queue of thrusting young partners knocking on the door to equity. He responded by saying: “No, frankly there’s nobody good enough.” What an absolute indictment of any firm. However, I suspect that his firm is not alone in its mentality. I know of many firms who shout long and hard about the strategic value of IT, marketing, business development and finance but really ignore their biggest asset by treating the personnel in their practices as cannon fodder. They will happily spend a small (or not so small) fortune on the technological equivalent of a magic wand but when it comes to their biggest business asset they think they can get by with a large whip.

Surely, HR must have the most fundamental strategic importance to any firm. Get the HR strategy right and the appropriate skills and behaviours required by the business will be developed. That strategy can produce both short-term increases in performance coupled with an enhanced ability to recruit and retain, in addition to the provision of the resources that a business needs in the long term. The returns are real and tangible. On the other hand, the ramifications of failing to unlock the potential of the people in a business will be serious and possibly fatal. As the song says: “You’re going to reap just what you sow.”

Ultimately, the firms most likely to succeed will be those that are able to attract and retain the highest calibre of talent and unlock the potential that is hiding within the workforce.

Michael Shaw, managing partner, Cobbetts