Why Cresco?

In recent years there has been a huge growth in identifying and implementing new management systems across the legal profession. Legal periodicals are full of talk about new IT systems that impact the bottom line. Conference organisers arrange global events to examine the latest thinking on legal sector strategy. Yet comparatively little attention has been paid to providing partners and senior staff with the ability and resources to inspire and lead their people – and this is a specific problem for law firms who rely so much on individuals for their output.

Qualities that have enabled individuals to attain promotion within law firms – high levels of intellect, precise employment of analytical abilities and the meticulous application of technical skills are not necessarily the talents that are needed to sustain senior roles. Aptitude for self awareness, empathy, self-regulation and interaction are often described as the soft skills but they are critical to effective leadership. These traits are not required just by leaders: as lawyers gain in seniority they are expected to develop all-round proficiency in marketing and selling, team-working, financial responsibility and so on.

Against this background, equipping senior staff with extensive non- technical skills is the one of the crucial ways in which law firms can gain enduring competitive advantage. How best to equip senior personnel with this enhanced expertise is the challenge faced by many law firms. Our response to this challenge has been the subject of lengthy analysis and our approach is carefully attuned to an evaluation of the needs of the sector.

At Cresco we:

• establish at the outset the objectives of our role through understanding the expectations of the law firm and the individuals with whom we work and then identify what will define success at the end of the process

• only use coaches and consultants who have worked in the legal sector (usually former lawyers) or who have extensive knowledge of how lawyers work and think

• work in small groups or with individuals. Classroom training can be very effective, particularly over a short term but its benefits typically wear off: to retain the payback of that training, the learning experience needs to be reinforced. Our experience shows that lawyers will learn wider skills best if they can explore new ideas and behaviour in their own time and space, learning from their experience in an intimate and discrete fashion

• believe that development of management and personal skills takes time (and effort). Sessions organised on a “little and often” basis are so much more effective than a week long course where so much information is inevitably (and quickly) lost. This method fits well with the extremely busy lives of lawyers where time pressures can be intense

• employ well established coaching and mentoring techniques, challenging individuals to draw primarily on their own knowledge and abilities.

• use, where appropriate , a range of recognised tools such as 360 degree appraisals, psychometric profiling and observational feedback to ensure objective analysis and feedback

Socrates said some 2500 years ago that people learn best when they take ownership of a given situation and assume personal responsibility for the outcome. A few things have changed since Socrates was teaching in ancient Athens but his views accord with Cresco’s ethos of being facilitators rather than teachers; this approach is very much in line with the current shift in the work place away from institutionalised learning to the acquisition of knowledge in an informal work-based environment.

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