OnLive Learning
1 Contributions by OnLive Learning
PRACTICE NOTES
This Practice Note offers guidance on preparing an appraisal form that can be used to evaluate and review an individual’s performance against both objectives and core skills (competencies). It supports assessment against goals and the core capabilities needed to deliver them.
Why are appraisals important?
An effective performance management process typically focuses on the following:
aligning your workforce closely with the strategic aims of the business
improving overall employee performance
supporting employee development and ongoing retention
driving improved overall business results
Creating a competency based appraisal process
It is important to recognise the appraisal form is not a script to be followed slavishly, but a tool that underpins and steers the conversation and creates a structure for capturing what was discussed. The dialogue matters more than the paperwork. Competencies describe the behaviours employees require to carry out a role to a high standard. They concern how objectives are
Practice Management
163 Contributions by OnLive Learning Experts
PRACTICE NOTES
Practice Note: delivering learning and development
This Practice Note sets out guidance on a range of approaches to delivering learning and development (L&D) and includes:
factors to consider when selecting learning methods
learning methods
learning styles
Factors to consider when selecting learning methods
A broad spectrum of learning, training and development options exists to address learning needs. The selection for each identified need will hinge on several elements, including:
the nature and priority of the learning need
the location of the learner
the level of seniority and qualifications of the learner
the subject matter
organisational culture
evaluation of the effectiveness of previous learning activities and events
costs and budgets available
learning styles
When shaping an L&D programme, it is vital to recognise from the outset that a single approach will not suit everyone. You may need to
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
This Practice Note sets out the reasons to track and evaluate absence within your firm, the legal points to consider when putting monitoring in place, and how to select and roll out the most suitable absence management system for your firm.
For further information and guidance about absence management, see:
Practice Note: How to develop and implement an absence management strategy—law firms
Practice Note: Dealing with long-term or chronic sickness
Practice Note: Sick pay
Precedent: Example absence management strategy—law firms
Precedent: Sample operational objectives for implementing an absence management strategy—law firms
Precedent: Absence strategy effectiveness audit
The purpose of monitoring and assessing absence
A structured approach to tracking and reviewing absence lets you collect qualitative and quantitative evidence to pinpoint the most cost-effective actions for managing and limiting the impact of absence on your firm.
puts absence in sharper focus and keeps absence management on the business agenda
helps you determine the most
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
This Practice Note explores techniques that will help you present with assurance and authority, build trust with your audience and convey a message that is remembered for all the right reasons. It applies to presenting both in person and online, and it complements the Practice Notes: Presenting with confidence—in person and Presenting with confidence—virtually.
Why presenting with confidence is important
A self-confident speaker earns the audience’s confidence, which then bounces back, further lifting the speaker’s own assurance. Stand-up comedians commonly open with a burst of rapid-fire gags the moment they step on stage, signalling ‘trust me, I know what I’m doing, and I can make you laugh’. The first few minutes truly shape the tone for the entire session, so be sure to project confidence immediately.
Adopting a clear, assured voice throughout will enable you to:
build confidence—a confident tone reassures your audience of your
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
Why do some people push your buttons?
Practice Note: Improving your assertiveness draws on Eric Berne’s Transactional Analysis—see Improving your assertiveness—What drives your behaviour?. This Practice Note develops that approach to clarify why certain people or contexts press your buttons. If someone throws a tantrum or slips into a sulk, they are generally showing very childlike behaviour, and it is often described in those terms. Childlike responses can evoke a Parent stance, leading us to try to take charge or to mollify the other person. It can also be the case that, in some encounters, childlike behaviour prompts a Child reply, complete with protests such as ‘but they started it’. The hallmark of Child mode is an avoidance of taking responsibility for your own actions. Likewise, acting in a highly parental way can call forth a childlike reaction. Put bluntly, treat people as
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
Communicating your viewpoint with calm assurance is vital for any legal professional, yet many of us at times feel far from assertive. This Practice Note sets out what may trigger fluctuations in your assertiveness and what you can do to support yourself.
What is assertiveness?
People often speak about assertiveness without clearly stating what they mean. Collins defines it as ‘the quality of being able to express one’s opinions or desires in a clear and direct manner’. Assertiveness involves trusting yourself and standing up for your own rights while still respecting the rights of others. It is founded on the belief that other people’s needs and rights are just as important as our own.
Assertive individuals can express themselves confidently, explain their position and what outcome they want, without slipping into passive, aggressive or manipulative behaviour. Those with strong assertiveness skills show genuine interest in and care for
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
Practice Note
All regulated law practices and practitioners are required to behave in a manner that promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. This goes beyond mere compliance with legal and regulatory duties. Quite simply, it is the ethically correct approach. Additionally, it can build public trust in the legal sector and deliver advantages for your firm’s commercial performance. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) expects you to act proactively and take proportionate steps to foster a diverse workforce across every level of your firm. This Practice Note shares guidance for firms on drawing in diverse talent to join them. It explores what is meant by diverse talent, varied methods for recruiting such talent, the value of employer branding, and where responsibility for attracting diverse talent should sit. Further material on particular elements of diversity and inclusion (D&I) is available in Practice Notes:
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
In a high-performance culture, people are deeply engaged, energised and aligned with the firm’s aims. This culture lifts client satisfaction and overall firm performance. In a highly competitive job market, it helps you attract and retain top talent.
What is a high-performance culture?
It is an organisational environment that puts excellence, engagement and continuous improvement first. It aligns individual and team values and goals with those of the firm, enabling the firm to exceed client and business objectives.
a clear vision and set of values shared and understood across the firm
engaged, empowered people who take ownership of their roles
an environment that encourages continuous learning for individuals and teams
accountability and recognition that reward the required behaviours and performance, address gaps and hold everyone fairly to account
Culture is set from the top. Whatever the mission and values say, people look to
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
Whether you’re a fan or a critic, social media isn’t going anywhere. Handled with care, it can strengthen your personal brand on the web and help you build a robust online identity. Yet, as the press has repeatedly shown, charging in without thinking can see things go wrong with alarming speed. This Practice Note helps you shape a social media presence that works for you and your organisation, and offers guidance on:
what others can view
defining clear social media objectives
your voice and tone
ways to spark original content ideas
developing resilient online networks
insights from Chris Hadfield—‘How to be a zero’
getting to grips with hashtags
knowing when not to post
What can everyone else see you doing?
A simple rule still stands in this fast‑moving space: if you wouldn’t voice it to a room full of
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
What used to be called ‘training’ is now more commonly known as ‘learning and development’ (L&D), recognising that people learn in many ways and not merely by going on courses. This reflects that learning happens in numerous formats and settings, not just through classes. L&D spans structured and self-directed activity too. L&D represents any chance to learn within the firm. It includes, though is not restricted to:
attending training courses
completing online tutorials
viewing webinars
on-the-job coaching
mentoring
reading
carrying out research
Regulatory requirements
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) obliges solicitors and registered lawyers to keep their competence to perform their role. For details on the SRA’s continuing competence regime, see Practice Note: The continuing competence regime. Firms that hold, or are working towards, Lexcel — the Law Society’s voluntary practice management standard — must have an L&D policy in
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
Learning and development (L&D) is a major outlay for every organisation. Given the breadth of possible options available, you must set out a robust business case for planned L&D initiatives to evidence their impact on the bottom line. Doing so helps secure upfront investment and prove continuing value to the organisation over time. Every L&D intervention must align tightly with corporate objectives to justify any expenditure.
The challenges of building a business case for L&D
The main difficulty is that, although L&D costs are usually simple to quantify, the benefits or ultimate return are often hard to pin down and attribute. When outcomes are poor, lack of training is an easy target, but when things are going well it becomes difficult to show precisely what training has delivered. It is therefore essential to identify the potential L&D contribution before
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Coaching is a collaborative endeavour. While a coach should be suitably trained, the coachee also needs a clear briefing on what to expect and how to draw the greatest benefit from the meetings. Being offered coaching is a valuable opportunity and reflects genuine investment in your development, so it’s crucial every coachee knows how to make the most of each session.
In this Practice Note, we will explore:
what to expect from a coaching session
your responsibilities within the process
defining what you want from the coaching relationship
how coaching develops more than skills alone
how you can enable your coach to support you
useful actions to take between sessions
the ways coaching can assist at every stage of your career
how to use feedback to learn and grow
five top tips for getting the most from
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Coaching is widely discussed across commerce, and rightly so, as it ranks among the strongest methods a manager can draw on to build and enhance the team’s skills. While coaching meetings may stand alone as distinct events, they can sit within a broader style of management and oversight.
This Practice Note examines:
what coaching is—and is not
coaching versus mentoring—the differences and similarities
the abilities an excellent coach requires
purposes coaching can serve
getting to the core of the matter
keeping coaching focused
posing brilliant coaching questions
establishing a coaching programme
For more on coaching, see Practice Notes: Becoming a coaching manager, Coaching for coachees, and Popular coaching models and methodologies.
What is, and isn’t, coaching?
Coaching is a versatile yet structured method designed to help people progress and mature in their careers. Rather than giving answers, the coach poses
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Coaching can be approached in numerous ways, with a range of tools available to help you gain the most from every session. Employing a varied mix of frameworks and techniques supports meaningful progress and structured dialogue; yet, since there is no absolute right or wrong, select whichever approach and/or tool(s) best fit your specific context.
In this Practice Note we will consider:
the O Shaped Lawyer concept
the GROW coaching model
setting SMART goals
the MAPS model and when it is most effective
how the ‘5 Whys’ method can assist
positive goal setting—what it means and why it is effective
using goals, markers, my part/and your part at the close of a session
For further reading on coaching, see Practice Notes: An introduction to coaching, Becoming a coaching manager and Coaching for coachees.
The O Shaped Lawyer
The O Shaped Lawyer concept was founded by Dan Kayne, a former General Counsel for Network Rail, and was
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Although structured coaching sessions away from the workstation are highly worthwhile for all involved, managers can also weave coaching into everyday tasks. Nurturing a coaching mindset and meeting each scenario with a coach’s perspective can swiftly elevate skills across the team.
In this Practice Note, we explore:
how to cultivate a coaching approach to management
the ‘Growth Mindset’—what it means and how to foster it
goal-setting—from five-minute to five-year plans
integrating coaching into your day
establishing coaching boundaries
what to do when coaching goes off track
five essential tips for coaching
For more on coaching, see Practice Notes: An introduction to coaching, Coaching for coachees, and Popular coaching models and methodologies.
How to develop a coaching approach to management
For managers or supervisors, leading with a coaching lens can transform how you guide your team...
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
This Practice Note sets out guidance on running an appraisal meeting. See also Precedents: Preparing for your appraisal meeting—appraisee and Preparing for your appraisal meeting—appraiser. The core of performance management is the relationship between manager and employee. Both should be clear on what is needed to meet their own objectives and add value to the firm overall. Some organisations are moving away from the term ‘appraisal’, and you may notice social media advocating dropping them entirely. Whatever label you use, and whatever format they take, regular conversations with your people are crucial building blocks of a healthy workplace culture.
Why are appraisals important?
An effective performance management process focuses on:
aligning your people with the business’s strategic aims
enhancing individual performance
supporting development and retention
delivering stronger business outcomes
recognising and celebrating strong performance
being crucial for remote staff to stay
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
This Practice Note offers guidance on presenting with assurance when you are in the same room as your audience. Communicating ideas clearly and effectively is essential to put your message across and influence others. For advice on presenting virtually, see Practice Note: Presenting with confidence—virtually.
Planning
Evaluate your audience’s needs
Presenting is about forging a connection. Before you draft anything, plan with the audience front of mind and:
consider who the audience is, eg:
is there a mixed level of knowledge?
is it a multinational group?
establish your objectives and future actions
anticipate reactions, questions and objections
assess what information you need
Invest time in how you will communicate your message so it lands and keeps attention; this is central to an
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
Continuous improvement (CI) is currently in vogue within management, yet the prevalence of management-speak can leave non-CI professionals perplexed. Do not be put off; CI’s core principles can be brought into legal teams to boost efficiency. This Practice Note sets out to cut through the jargon, show how it works for in-house lawyers, and bring the ideas to life with a case study.
What is CI?
CI is often defined in overly complex terms, but the idea is straightforward: keep looking for better ways to run your processes, methods and procedures. The objectives are to:
remove bottlenecks
streamline processes as much as possible
save time and money
Changes need not be dramatic; a sequence of small, well-judged adjustments—frequently called ‘marginal gains’—can rapidly accumulate. CI tools and techniques help you repair processes that have stopped working effectively, and reassess those that seem fine but could be
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
There are five essential stages to enhancing efficiency:
identify (define) which process requires improvement
quantify the issue
assess your information
refine the process
control, ie embed the revised process so it becomes business as usual
Management consultants commonly describe this as the DMAIC framework. This Practice Note takes you through Step 3, ie examining the causes of the problem you spotted in Step 1 and measured in Step 2. For more information on continuous improvement and the phases in improving efficiency, see Practice Note: Simplifying continuous improvement—law firms. This Practice Note builds on the case study used in Practice Note: Continuous improvement—law firms—step 2—measure the problem, which concerns a firm’s new client process.
Step 3 asks you to interrogate the information you have gathered to:
investigate the root cause
prioritise the issues
explore and evaluate a range of
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
The five steps
This Practice Note outlines a straightforward five-step continuous improvement (boosting efficiency) framework and shows its application through a case study about client complaints.
The five steps in this efficiency-improving framework are:
define (ie identify)
measure
analyse
improve
control
Management consultants often refer to this as the DMAIC framework. It is an excellent framework to follow when enhancing an existing process. It takes you through each element in sequence and ensures the process has been considered from every angle.
What does each step involve?
The table below sets out each of the five steps and illustrates them by reference to a hypothetical scenario, ie ‘we receive too many complaints’.
Define (identify)
Identify what the issue or problem is. The scope of the problem needs to be defined, and the symptoms stated clearly and succinctly. The problem may not be fixed at this point; you may have
Practice Management
PRACTICE NOTES
The principles of continuous improvement can be applied in law firms to boost efficiency. This Practice Note aims to cut through jargon and explain the ideas with a case study...
What is CI?
CI is often made needlessly complex, but it simply means continually seeking ways to refine processes, methods and procedures.
The aim of CI is to:
eliminate bottlenecks
streamline workflows as far as possible and thus
save time and reduce costs
Improvements need not be sweeping. A series of modest, well-judged tweaks quickly accumulates. CI tools and techniques help you fix processes that no longer deliver, and review those that appear adequate but could be refined for greater efficiency and cost savings.
Above all, CI is about:
involving people and gathering ideas
questioning entrenched, habitual practices
establishing measures to judge the success or failure of new
Practice Management
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