“You’re the best!”
The two of our colleagues cried to their practice lead after narrowly
winning the deal over the competition. “We couldn’t have done it without you! “
As they celebrated, I couldn’t help but notice that their coach was the same
person who was pushing them to do their best in the pursuit and demanding to
bring the best out of the information they have to showcase and delight the client
with our extraordinary capabilities to deliver that project. The practice
leader is the one who is extremely focused in achieving excellence and tries to
bring the best out of all the odds. . If you're young and ambitious and driven,
don't run from the challenge, run towards it. If you're terrified of a star
manager in your organization, go find a project to do with him or her. Cram as
much learning as you can into the front end of your career. You may not love it
while you're going through it, but you'll carry that learning and success with
you as you move up the ladder.
Today ,when we embark on the CoP (Communities of Practice) initiative I would
like to roll the crystal ball and see what we would benefit if we do this
right.
A
well-coached, coordinated team would be able to achieve any (or all) of the
following possible benefits:
1. More effective practice development efforts
through pooling and coordination of individual efforts
2. Better utilization and development of professionals
through collective decisions on staffing of client work, allocation of
resources and mentoring
3. Collective development of tools, templates, IPs
and other practice aids to benefit everyone
4. More rapid and effective dissemination of
expertise and skills among the group
5. Better client service through greater ability
to put the right people on the right job
6. Better market image through development of a
collective reputation, not just the sum of individual reputations
7. Comfort of “belonging” to a small group rather
than being “lost” as one member of a very large group of professionals
8. Informal coaching on a “one-on-one” basis
acting as a source of help for personal growth rather than relying only on
annual performance appraisals
9. Improved profitability from focusing as a
group on ways to enhance billing rates and leverage
10. Critical mass of time and resources created to
develop innovative service offerings, which no individual could afford to do
alone
The success of CoP depends how truly we are prepared
to act as a team and not as a loosely affiliated group of independent
practitioners. They must make an informed, conscious decision to give up a few
degrees of autonomy in exchange for the benefits listed above. Naturally, the
precise role of the practice lead will derive directly from the objectives
chosen for the group. However, there are certain key choices that must be made
in any circumstance. For example, is the practice lead expected to do any or
all of the following?
1. Spend time with individual professionals
(senior or junior), serving as lead to help them develop themselves and their
practice
2. Be knowledgeable about the development of r
professionals and intervene (delicately) to “suggest” reassignments between
projects in order to build skills and advance their careers
3. Be in touch with clients of other
professionals in the group to help the professional to grow the relationship,
to monitor client satisfaction and to act as a “conscience” so everyone can
excel at client satisfaction
4. Monitor the profitability of assignments
conducted by members of the group and discuss the results with them
5. Devise methodologies to capture and share
knowledge acquired while serving clients both within the group and across the
firm
6. Spend time recruiting and interviewing
potential new staff (junior and senior)
7. Spend time following up and actively helping
members of the group execute their planned activities
8. Initiate and run regular meetings of practice
group members to collectively plan the group’s activities and initiatives for
the coming quarter
The next essential component of the practice leadership
is that how credibly we convey to our professionals that activities conducted
during nonbillable time are valued, monitored and considered as an essential
part of their performance. Much of what practice groups do, and what practice leads
try to get their team members to do, involves investment of nonbillable time in
activities that build the future of the practice. Obvious examples include
various kinds of innovation, development of tools, conducting training programs
and so on
Communities of Practice are undeniably
powerful, but it is equally a radical change of mindset for many of us. Done
properly, it can bring not only greater success but also enhancing collegiality,
mutual support and a winner in all of us.
