Speaking

Leadership | Performance Management | Change | Strategy | Organization | Team | Wellness | Diversity + Inclusion

Leadership

Leading in Crisis

Leadership is accentuated in times of crisis, whether that’s positive or negative. Let’s examine the seven things you can do right NOW to elevate leadership in your organization.

Leadership as Your Competitive Advantage

How often do you consider leadership as a profit center? Organizations don’t have a history of looking at how great leaders generate higher profits, and yet we know they do! Join in the conversation about how your culture impacts leadership, accountability, and engagement.

Replacing You….with You?

Generational demographics demonstrate the talent gap that would exist if there hadn’t been delayed departures after the economic crunch. Now is the time to address succession planning as this senior population once again looks toward retirement. Part of the process is identifying characteristics of your successor. Are you focused on finding someone just like you? Let’s talk about where succession planning and inclusion intersect.

Leading by Strengths

To be a good leader you need to know your own talents and abilities. In this playshop-style presentation, you will review your own Portrait of Personal Strengths© pre-conference inventory delivered by the speaker. From this inventory, you will discover your primary strengths and how they motivate you to lead and direct others in your life. Take away new insights and tactics for making the most of your assets at work or at home.

NOTE: This session requires attendees to complete the Portrait of Personal Strengths inventory before the conference.

Value This!

Culture is built from values. In particular, the values that are rewarded and tolerated. This time is invested on understanding your own core values, then exploring the values of your organization that are stated, and those that are honored. Shifting culture requires attention to values, and you’ll leave with actionable steps to shift yours.

Walk Your Talk: Meet on Your Feet

Meetings with movement create a better working atmosphere – inspiring creativity, reducing stress, and increasing happiness. Join in for a discussion, and participate in a walking meeting to explore how you can take your meetings mobile. Included will be latest insights in stress management, standing desks, and how technology fits into this concept.

Listening: The Lost Art

Do you find yourself trying to fix everything before you hear what’s broken? Are you forming an answer before the question is complete? Speaking is only half of the communications process. We will focus on refining your listening skills and responding with compassion and precision for the message you want to deliver.

Leadership Through Sport

Weaving the story of athletic performance with law firm management experience, we will be discussing the important tenets of leadership – accountability, responsibility and collaboration. You will walk away with ideas to approach your own leadership development, including challenging your current habits.

Culture Club: What Song Are You Singing?

Culture drives performance. We’ve all heard that one. If you want to have a meaningful impact on performance, start with shifting your culture to one you want. How do you impact culture? Join us for a musical conversation on measuring your current culture, and explore how to shift your culture into one that maximizes profit.

Managing Partner/Firm Leader Integration

Strong relationships are central to successful leadership. Communication is nearly 70% of a leaders’ job, so understanding your Managing Partners’ communication style is critical to your success. We will be uncovering the layers of leadership required for success, starting with communication and including motivations and strengths. We will discuss how culture is impacted by the relationships at the top – executive committees, administrative teams and task forces – and take back ideas to improve your relationships, and your leadership.

Leadership Beyond Management

Launch the new year with a shift in your perspective! What will your personal commitment be to yourself and to your organization as you grow your skill sets? Join in the conversation to discuss how your management know-how builds to enhance your leadership skills.

Stealth Leadership

Management requires leadership. Yet it can be difficult to lead with Managing Partners and Management Committees operating as the established authorities. We’ll talk about becoming a Stealth leader in your firm – managing up and down, and moving from managing to leading – working through our refrigerator judge along the way.

Surfing: Playing above the Waves

With so many facets in day to day management, it’s easy to be pulled by the tide and find yourself under the waves. By looking at how powerful we really are, and understanding how our thoughts influence the world around us, we can not only stay above water, but play in the waves of life. We’ll be doing some exercises to stimulate positivity and engage you in new ways of thinking.

Engaged Leaders Help the Firm Say I Do!

Leaders are the foundation of organizational excellence. We often hear about leadership styles, skills and attributes that are key to success, but how does one develop these, and are certain pieces more important than others? In organizations we see others ascend into leadership roles for a wide variety of reasons, sometimes with very mixed results. How does an organization develop the strong leadership foundation?

Disconnect to Reconnect: Communication in a Technology World

With technology operating as our primary interface, let’s discuss how relationships are built, or broken, with our internal and external clients. Part of our interaction will be the exploration of boundaries around technology, and how the values of your organization impact communication styles. We will explore the communication avenues of social media, email, and text messaging – walking the fine line between friend and foe for each.

Professional Presence

Professional presence is determined by your relationship skills, and the ways you choose to connect, express, and interact with others. We will be discussing elements of your professional presence including verbal, non-verbal and paraverbal communication, self-talk, and conflict skills. Plan for fun and interactions as we all grow together!

Job Coaching and Accountability

The role(s) of management continues to expand either by necessity or by carefully implemented processes of job enrichment, most often necessitating an individual’s need to retool. Revitalizing one’s professional skill set, however, represents a significant learning curve. In this session, explore the strategic elements of effective job coaching to increase the skill set and productivity of your firm’s staff and, ultimately, the profitability of your firm. We will discuss the skill set associated with effective job coaching, practice coaching skills, articulate the principles of job coaching accountability, and develop strategies for assessing coaching outcomes.

Performance Management

Doing More with Less

We are all stretching and stressing our resources to new dimensions. Our strongest ally in this marketplace is creativity and connection – getting the most out of our people and ourselves… without killing either of them! Fostering your most important asset – your people – maintains the stability and success of your
organization.

Get the Most from our People and Ourselves – Without Killing Each Other

Welcome to the “new economy!” We all have a new sense of “normal” which means stretching and stressing our resources to new dimensions. Our strongest ally in this marketplace is creativity and connection – getting the most out of our people and ourselves…without killing either of them!

Performance Anxiety: Managing the Tough Ones

Managing people requires tough decisions, and communicating through difficult situations. Let’s discuss strategies and tactics to deal with the performance challenges swiftly and effectively.

Let’s Make a Deal: Designing Winning Coaching and Training Programs for Your Firm

Ever feel like you are the only one who understands the value of professional development? What if you are tasked with creating a training program in your firm? What is coaching anyway? These questions and more will be discussed in this session on how to masterfully deal out the training and coaching necessary to evolve your firm and your people.

Change

Implementing Culture Change

Shifting client demands have resulted in shifting cultures in law firms, bringing about more focus on client responsiveness than ever! How does your firm respond to these demands? What happens to the internal culture of the firm? We’ll examine how to move the firm forward using coaching, accountability and employee engagement to create a culture of teams and client responsiveness.

Influencing and Engineering Change

Change – “the act of making or becoming different”. Making something different is the nemesis of the risk-adverse legal industry, having avoided it for many years now. Change is no longer an option. The first step is understanding your culture. Next we will discuss how change happens at the individual level, as well as the firm level. How do you know you are ready for change? How do you demonstrate your ability to lead change? Plan to engage in a conversation about your own response to change, and then explore how you can gain traction for new initiatives in your firm.

Managing Change: Beyond Pennies + Quarters!

Your role is critical to defining and impacting culture. You know the world is spinning faster and faster, so how do you develop and implement initiatives that you know are going to require change and have an impact on culture? Let’s first examine how we each process change, then evolve the conversation to how we can influence those around us, stakeholders, colleagues, and staff, to get on board. Leadership skills are ever-growing and change management is critical in the current fast pace of our economy.

Strategy

Strategic Planning: Let Me Tell You a Story

Numbers talk, and with careful analysis and presentation, long-range planning becomes as simple as telling a story. This session will provide you with my story, from the discovery of what numbers to examine, to the other elements that create a tale for your next strategic planning session. You will walk through the four elements of a solid financial projection for your service organization: Financing, Operating, Staffing and Strategic Planning. You will discover how each of these is affected by the economy, culture and other influences in your organization.

Strategic Planning for Small Firms: A Hands-On Experience

Strategic Planning is key for a thriving law firm. This program will include the larger discussion of the purpose of strategic planning in your small firm, and then time will be spent focused on your firm, specifically in the areas of legal staffing and succession planning. You will leave with a blueprint for addressing these
key aspects that you can implement immediately.

Organization

Elevating Performance Evaluations

How do we translate performance evaluations to performance improvement? Is using an annual review process the best motivator for performance and engagement? Join in the conversation as we discuss how to transition from an annual review process to something more meaningful, and more frequent.

Feed me…Feed me

Our newest generation seeks more feedback than ever before. The typical annual review cycle means your feedback skill is exercised in bulk once a year. Let’s examine what feedback is, how you receive it, and give it, and how to shift it to feedforward.

Team

Creating Collaborative Environments

As demographics and the marketplace continue to shift, the desirability of creating high performance teams within the enterprise is increasing across all ndustries. Unfortunately, work teams often perform sub-optimally as they have little training in group processes, effective participation, and the principles of teambuilding. In this session, participants interactively explore the nature of teambuilding and the techniques associated with high level outcomes. We will identify the critical elements of team building, prescribe methods for creating cohesiveness and enact components of optimal team decision making.

Growing and Developing Teams

As demographics and the marketplace continue to shift, the desirability of creating high performance teams is increasing. Unfortunately, work teams often perform sub-optimally as they have little training in group processes, effective participation, and the principles of teambuilding. In this session, participants interactively explore the nature of teambuilding and the techniques associated with high level outcomes.

Creating Administrative Work Teams

As law firms change to meet client demands, configuration of staff to meet current and future needs is an important topic. Secretarial teams are an option. But how do you transition traditional legal secretarial roles and secretarial management roles into self-directed work teams? What is the impact on the firm culture? Let’s create solutions to the changing roles of support staff.

Wellness

Stress Management for Success

Arrive at this session in comfortable clothes, and be prepared to participate in an energizing hour of learning, meditation, and stretching. This session will address the basic elements of chi (the circulating life energy that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things), and offer cues and practical applications for meditation as a part of your daily routine. We will spend time in this session stretching and you will feel your energy return. Take these ideas home and share them with your family, friends and colleagues. If you are interested in better management of stress in both your personal and professional lives,
this is one hour you can’t miss!

Striking a Balance

It’s about balance! We all know the importance of diet and exercise in managing health risks, but so is stress management. This session will be a very quick hour of information on diet, exercise, and stress management including useful strategies to create more balance in your daily life. You can bring this information back to your office to help increase the overall balance in your organization.

The Mind-Body Connection

Let’s talk about the business case for wellness in our organizations, and include the necessary element of the “me” in team. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, how can you possibly support an organization of 3, 10, or 300? This session will be a 75 minute journey that travels from the benefits of activity and importance of nutrition on a very personal level to using that individual knowledge as a benefit to your organization. Our journey will begin with the benefits of proper nutrition, and just exactly what “proper” means to fuel your body. This will carry through to specific points you can use to re-energize your mind and your spirit. Along the way there will be specific points on the need for personal health and well-being, and how those points lead to achieving maximum success in your organization.

OM-ing Your Way to Better Health

New technology and heavier workloads have increased the stress and pressure to perform. Study after study indicates that short breaks throughout the day lead to increased productivity. This session will focus on the mind-body connection, and using that connection to maximize your energy, performance, and production. You will learn more than 50 quick stretches and/or exercises you can do in your office. Take them home and share with your entire office – you might even see an increase in your bottom line!

MIND FULL? BE MORE MINDFUL.

Ever drive home and not remember how you got there? When you make a mistake, do you call yourself “Stupid?” During this session, you will participate in several exercises that are designed to demonstrate the power of your mind and the impact of self-talk. We will review techniques to keep your conscious mind active which in turn offers improved memory retention. You’ll walk away feeling invigorated with a renewed awakening of your senses.

Work/Play – Where’s the Balance?

You are more than your job title. Our jobs are more demanding than ever. The pressure to perform is at an all-time high. Study after study indicates that short breaks throughout the day lead to increased productivity. This session will focus on the balance between our minds and our bodies, and using that connection to maximize your energy, performance, and production.

24/7: Surviving or Thriving?

You feel the pressure to be available and on call during every waking moment of the day, and the sleeping ones too! Let’s look at what it takes to set boundaries that are healthy for you and your firm. In this hands-on session, you will explore the conversation that creates parameters for work and play. You will also take a look at how you play a role in the development of expectations, and what it takes for you to change that internal messaging. Along the way you will receive some specific tools for relieving stress, being mindful and present to your life – at both work and home.

DIVERSITY + INCLUSION

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: IT’S RIGHT FOR BUSINESS

We’ve been talking about this for a long while now. What happens if we don’t attend to the education and expansion of inclusion? What are the arguments for diversity & inclusion through the lens of business? We will explore the workforce, the ongoing challenges of shifting culture and mindsets, and create action items for your next steps.

D&I FOR SMALL FIRMS – YES, YOU CAN!

Small firms believe that formal D&I initiatives are unnecessary given their size, recruitment ethic, and culture. Yet, you can have a formal program. This session explores the value of and the means to build D&I programs for small firms. A shift in emphasis from diversity to inclusion is the first step. Learn how you can leverage inclusion in your office, your community and your clients.

MEET YOUR CLIENTS’ D&I EXPECTATIONS

Your clients’ commitment to supplier diversity us expanding, how is your firm responding? Clients are implementing a variety of mechanisms to encourage outside firms to embrace their corporate D&I values. This session examines the evolution and current status of client D&I expectations, and how you can prepare your firm to meet and surpass them.

D&I BEYOND DEMOGRAPHICS

You value diversity, yet change in your organization has been gradual. How do we reconcile this pace? We’ll identify obstacles to diversity strategies and offer solutions to redesign your initiative.

INCLUSION STRATEGIES FOR LAW FIRMS

This program addresses your firm’s diversity topics. What is your firm’s D&I strategy and why should you have one? How do you maintain interest? Where has your progress stalled? What are the best practices? Corporate clients’ diversity expectations will only continue to expand. Position your firm to successfully navigate client demands and build a sustainable successful D&I initiative.

UNDERSTANDING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

The objective of this program is to provide knowledge and experiential learning about unconscious bias. These biases exist in all of us, and raising awareness to them provides a stronger ethical foundation in the workplace. Included in this content is the experiential learning of personal bias, knowledge and understanding of what to do when you are aware of it, and how to reduce the risks associated with unconscious bias.

DIBs

I call DIB’s! That was a common expression in my house growing up, how about you? Let’s change the acronym a little, and deepen Diversity and Inclusion conversations with the concept of Belonging. Gen Z enters the workforce demanding a sense of belonging from employers. Are you ready?

Objectives:

• Understand how belonging fits in the D&I conversation
• Develop easy steps into understanding your current index of Belonging
• Leave with a couple of ideas to elevate your culture of DIBs

NEW(EST) NORMAL

Only a decade after we “right-sized” and focused on “efficiencies” we are at another juncture of managing costs and improving profitability. Layer on remote working, and what will our firms look like in the years ahead? Let’s talk about virtual offices, remote teams, and collaboration as we look into the crystal ball of our future.

I’M MICRO…AND AGRESSIVE?

Microaggressions are the unintentional hurtful words and actions that trigger emotional reactions. As we look to be more inclusive, and create belonging in our firms, an examination of microaggressions, and how to address them, gives leaders tools to move the needle on bias.

Objectives:

• Learn the different types of microaggressions
• Explore nine common areas of microaggressions
• Understand where to focus to create more awareness and shift behavior