New England Biz Law Update
Ask the Coach appears regularly in New England In-House. Two expert executive coaches, Dr. Lew Stern and Linda Lerner, share their thoughts and ideas in answering your questions on complex management and leadership issues and difficult work situations.
We are excited to be able to bring together the depth of experience and insights that these two coaches offer. The topics for this question and answer format will be based on your questions and those most frequently asked by their clients. Lerner and Stern will respond to one or two questions and we reserve the right to edit questions for clarity and length.
Have a question? Send it to: [email protected]. (No names will be published.)
Dear Executive Coach: I have just accepted a new position as the general counsel of a mid-sized company. For the past 14 years I have been a partner in a large law firm. Until now, my professional life has been spent in the large law firm environment and I am concerned about the new culture as well as supervising other attorneys. Previously I managed my own time and the work of a paralegal. I know my profession very well, but I do not know this company beyond its reputation and what I learned during interviews. How can I effectively transition to this new corporate environment?
Answer: As you suspect, being a partner in a large firm is very different from holding the position of general counsel in a mid-sized company. The corporate environment has both cultural and work style differences that are important to understand. People often fall into the trap of making assumptions about how to enter a new company and inadvertently offend others or start working on the wrong priorities. You have the advantage of appearing open to seeing this as an opportunity to be flexible in how you behave at work. Here are some practical suggestions for the entry process.
Don’t come on too strong. Everyone knows that you are the new boss and they will be watching your behavior closely as they try to get to know you. You can establish your credibility by sharing what you know without imposing previously tried solutions. Be sensitive to your new environment by observing the practices and the styles of other successful managers.
Listen more than you talk. This is a learning phase and it is hard to absorb new information when you are busy talking. Ask a lot of questions and get clarification of your understanding of how things really get done at this company.
Know your boss’s priorities. You need to understand what he or she expects of you and in what time frame. Which previously made commitments do you have to keep and which ones can you change? What meetings are you expected to attend and to which ones can you send a representative? What are your greatest challenges in the mind of your boss?
Meet with your new staff quickly. Do this both individually and as a team. Schedule all of these meetings within the first few days of arriving so that some members of your staff do not fear that their lack of an appointment means that they are on their way out or that you discount their importance.
Become a student of teamwork. One of your biggest challenges here will be to incorporate the team concept into your thinking and your behavior. Your career until now has been primarily focused on being an individual star where success was measured on your personal achievements. Now you will be an integral member of two teams: The "executive team" headed by your CEO and the "legal team" headed by you. Each team requires somewhat different roles as participant and leader.
Learn the culture. Talk with people who have been in the company a long time and also with those who, like you, are new department heads. The new ones will share the struggles they endured to assimilate and the unique challenges they faced will hopefully be fresh in their minds. Those who grew up in the company can tell you the war stories, the sources of pride and the true values that make up the foundation of this corporate culture.
Find out what you don’t know. Making too many assumptions can be deadly to your corporate career. Seek out the advice of the administrative staff as well as your direct reports in figuring out how to proceed with the initial changes you will want to make.
Get to know the key players. Seek out other executives and managers, both inside and outside of your area of responsibility, who have roles that are critical to the success of the legal department. Do not hesitate to ask for their support. When you give people permission to help you, you will be impressed by their willingness to comply. Do not forget to offer these other managers and executives your assistance as well.
Develop a plan. After sufficient time to establish the goals for your department, create a working plan that spells out the most important challenges facing you and your department and how they will be addressed. Corporations are often more collaborative than law firms. Therefore you should consider involving the key members of your team in developing this plan.
Take care of yourself. The first few months of a new job can be very stressful. It is therefore necessary to be sensitive to your need to deal directly with the personal side of the equation. Consider scheduling a regular exercise routine, make time for recreation with friends and try not to miss special times with family. Issues of work/life balance really do affect your performance over the long run.
Enjoy the ride. Although the highs and lows of being a new corporate executive will inevitably concern you, it is critical to remember that who you are is what got you here. If you can relax with that inner knowledge of your competence just long enough to enjoy the experience and even laugh at yourself on occasion, you will create the room to shine while actually having some fun in "Corporate America."
Dear Executive Coach: I’m the associate counsel and manager of intellectual property for a medical device company. I have 10 years in law and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. I just had my annual review with the general counsel. He has great trust in my ability in IP and my work with the company’s senior leaders but is concerned with how I am managing my IP department of about 30 people. He’s pushing me to hand off a lot of the work I get involved in and to get out of the day-to-day squabbles between junior people in my group. I don’t really trust my direct reports to manage much since they are more attorneys than managers. There are so many problems just trying to keep people in my department from "killing" each other that I really don’t have the time I need to address the strategic portfolio issues with the company’s senior team and our alliance partners. At this point, the 70-hour weeks and the constant stress are affecting my own health and morale. Sometimes I wonder if I really want to be a manager or just get out of the management game and focus directly on the IP issues where the general counsel and I know I can have the greatest impact. What should I do?
Answer: Your health, the well being of the people you manage, and the overall health of the company must come above all else. Your role is similar to many other leaders in similar situations. Based on the way you describe it, you may want to focus on two things: The IP strategy for the business; and building and leading an IP management team who can run the day-to-day department operations. If you don’t have experienced managers in IP, get some help to determine if any of your existing senior people have the potential, interest, and inclination to manage and be part of your management tam. You may need to go outside the company to outside counsel and others to find some experienced IP managers to bring in to fill any gaps.
You need to do is to decide if you want to be in a senior management role for the long term. If you decide you would want to be in that role, your priority must be to build an IP management team on which you could rely to take care of the day-to-day department management. You must also work on your own organizational and leadership skills. Over the next six months, your focus would be on building your management team, personally getting out of the details and interpersonal conflicts within the department, and on beginning to spend more time learning and becoming an IP leader. Your leadership role would be to focus on influencing the company’s IP portfolio and the strategic direction of the company.
You can’t do it all. And since something has to give, you need to focus on your own health and the strategic direction of the company. Let others handle the detail management so you can have the strategic influence no one else in the company can have.
Dr. Lew Stern is president of Stern Consulting, and is a senior level executive coach and leadership consultant with over 25 years experience working across many industries in the U.S. and abroad. He is the chairman of the board of The Executive Coaching Forum, and is a frequent speaker and writer. He can be reached at [email protected], or at 781-235-0205.
Linda Lerner coaches executive managers and professionals in various fields. Her coaching and human resources experience provide consulting on best practices to a broad range of businesses. Previously she was senior vice president and member of the Executive Committee at USTrust. She serves as chairman of the Stonehill College Human Resources Certificate Program and is principal of Lerner Consulting Services. She can be reached at: [email protected] or at 617-262-2260.
