Structuring and managing a performance development programme

It’s all very well knowing that you need to develop partners fee-earners and support staff. But what are the essential elements of a successful performance development programme? And what are the common problems to avoid? Jo Larbie explains.

Times are changing and transformations are occurring within the profession of human resource development (HRD). Trainers have concentrated on enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees managers and others with whom they work. The primary vehicle for achieving this output was the design and delivery of training programmes. We do not have to look very far into the future to know that this will no longer be the focus of the work done within the HRD profession. The trend labelled ‘shift from providing training to improving performance’ means that we are moving away from providing skills or knowledge and towards a focus on performance improvement. But just what does this mean in practice?

What do we mean by performance development?

Performance development has been defined as “the science of improving human performance in the workplace through analysis and the design selection and implementation of appropriate interventions”.

Performance needs are the ‘through the job’ requirements that describe what people must do if business objectives are to be achieved. Performance needs clarify what people must actually do to achieve desired results.

On the other hand learning needs define the skills or knowledge that people must have in order to perform successfully. Work environment needs identify the systems and processes that surround performers in their work environment. It is vital that these systems and processes encourage rather than discourage the desired performance. In essence learning and work environment needs are enablers of performance and the actions required to improve performance are derived from these two sets of needs.

Clearly the focus on performance is not new. What is new are two elements that are receiving greater emphasis due to the needs of business:

1. The need for partnership with management

As noted above training functions have traditionally operated more in parallel to management than in partnership with them. In today’s fast changing environment this cannot continue.

2. Linkage to business needs

The identification of performance development needs should begin with the present and future needs business objectives and goals of the firm at the forefront. Once the business goals are defined a performance development consultant works with key partners to answer the question “What must people do more better or differently if this business goal is to be achieved?” In this way the performance requirements that are defined and addressed are certain to be linked to the business and operational goals. The second benefit is that by focusing on business needs you begin to adopt a more strategic and proactive manner rather than reactive one. This is because entering at the business-driven needs level reduces the probability that solutions (regarding improving performance) have already been decided. The situation is solution free until a realistic assessment has been made.

Imagine that a group or department has decided that it is going to move into a new market. Where is its people going to get knowledge of that market from? What are the new legal knowledge and skills they will need? By approaching it in this way performance development becomes integral to the success of the team and the business. This is a performance focus approach in action and illustrates the critical need for HRD consultants to work closely with key partners.

Therefore in designing a performance development programme you need to start by bringing performance improvement back to the strategic goals of the business. Many firms continue to think of ‘training’ from a regulatory point of view and what they have to do rather than what they need to do for the development of their business as a whole. Performance development should be planned and structured.

Even in a small firm you need to have a committee where people come together regularly to discuss common and specialist needs. Otherwise you could be organising what is potentially a very good course but one that is not actually relevant to where the business is going. Beware however of solely focusing performance development activity on qualified staff. You need to take a longer-term view and ensure that performance and management development covers all employees.

There should always be somebody within each department who takes ownership and responsibility for getting involved in both performance-improvement needs analysis and the implementation of performance development programmes. As performance development managers can only do so much you need someone on the ground with technical know-how such as a professional support lawyer (PSL). PSLs have a working knowledge of the individuals in that department and can act as a channel for ideas in order to get people involved and committed and to make sure that performance development is focused and relevant to that department’s work.

Common problems

There are many common problems that crop up when designing performance development programmes such as those associated with using internal lawyers to present performance improvement sessions. For instance they may know their subject but be poor communicators or they may be in such demand in terms of their client work that they cancel so that internal performance development ends up with a poor image. There is also the quality issue where you might save money by using an internal presenter but the audience might not receive any fresh ideas.

However this is not to say that using external presenters is entirely problem free. If performance development managers have not clearly thought out what they want presenters can be poorly briefed which leads to an image problem of ‘irrelevant’ courses. The more you can get partners and other fee-earners involved in terms of telling you what they need the more relevant and focused their learning is going to be.

There are also senior practitioners who have an attitude of ’there’s nothing you can teach me’. Ask yourself would you go to see a doctor who has not updated their knowledge and skills since leaving medical school? So how do you meet their performance development needs? Think about one-to-one coaching that will enable them to specifically tackle the things they need to now - whether it’s how to manage conflict or personal organisational skills. If you have the resources specialist ‘clinics’ for senior practitioners provide exceptionally good value and raise the profile of those who participate. Get a prominent specialist in their field to present and chair the ‘masterclass’.

Another method that works well is to have somebody come in and work with your senior people either in a small group or a one-to-one setting. Advanced drafting might be the topic. Again this depends on your resources but if you do this once a year then as long as it’s what senior practitioners want it’s worthwhile. Smaller firms should be asking themselves if there are other local firms that might be interested in joint programmes with them thereby sharing the cost.

Essential elements

Performance development must be competence-driven so there will be core knowledge and skills appropriate to staff at different levels. What do you expect a newly qualified lawyer to be able to do? A modular approach works well. It provides a foundation on which you can build knowledge and skills. It also has the advantages of a rolling programme. You can accommodate new joiners and it also helps with recruitment and retention which in today’s legal market is a real issue.

Investing in people is not always about money. Establishing individual career development plans for everyone in the firm might sound idealistic but it can make a real difference to morale and motivation within a firm if you actually invest time in sitting down at some point in the year with everybody. Link it to your performance review management system and business goals. Even the most cynical practitioner welcomes the opportunity to talk about their development needs. It is also essential to follow up such initiatives every six months and to review how people are doing in relation to the agreed plan.

It is a good idea not just to see what potential competitors are doing but because there is also best practice that can be incorporated into law firms. Our tendency as a profession is to have a real block on looking outside the law.

The staff-wide survey mentioned in Ray Franks’ article (Managing Partner July/August 2001) could also be of benefit in law firms. The responses of partners and staff would provide a wealth of information on their performance and management development needs. This data plus knowledge of the individual and firm’s business-driven performance development needs would enable the firm to produce a more relevant and effective programme that addresses the behaviours that impact on firms’ productivity and profitability.

Once you have a strong quality programme you might want to think about promoting it to clients either by inviting them to attend or to contribute directly. If you were running a workshop on property development for example you could invite a property developer along to chair it. As I said at the beginning lawyers need to be more client-focused – and the more they can find out about their clients’ business the better.

In order to structure and manage career development within your firm you have to recognise that learning happens in many different ways. Given that performance development can often be viewed as an overhead you also have to look at what types of approaches and methods that suit your time and work constraints. Distance learning may be suitable for technical knowledge development but is it really suitable for management development skills?

Because the same approach is not going to work for everybody you need a degree of flexibility. There are many forms of training available including coaching mentoring masterclasses and group courses.

Whatever you choose your business objectives and goals should always drive your performance development criteria and action plan.

Jo Larbie solicitor is director of ValuePlus specialists in performance and management development services for professional services firms. Jo can be contacted on 0115 9623450 or jo.larbie@valueplusconsultants.co.uk.