Last week I led a monthly implementation session with a firm that I have been coaching for a few years now. The attorney was not on the call (home with a sick child) but it ended up being a GREAT call with the team. The topic was on how to handle the consistent “interruption of calls”. This is something that this particular firm has been struggling with for 6 months now. And not uncommon from most other firms out there. There’s a saying amongst team, “business would be great, but for the clients.”
A few minutes into the call I had to stop the team: “Time out, walk me through the process of how you route calls.” I had to reel the team back in. They were all talking over one another and throwing words around like “system” and “steps.” They were speaking into a huge amount of right/wrong – who said it should be done this way versus that way – what the receptionist is doing (and not doing).
What I loved so much about this implementation session is how easily a neutral, unattached party can simply anchor a group of committed teammates back to the process, after listening to them and keeping the reasoning to SERVING THE CLIENT. But the group lost sight of that, they were so focused on what the system said, what this teleconference said, at last year’s retreat someone at lunch said, etc. All the while, the clients weren’t feeling heard and acknowledged because each person was so committed to “the way.”
The role of a “coach” is to actively listen for the things not really being said while holding the space to lead the group back to the tools available to support them in implementing the breakthroughs achieved during the call – versus cramming systems to end the very, very necessary healthy debates. That is where the promised lands lay, in the healthy debate. The role of a coach is not to provide immediate solutions to end the turmoil. Systems are a phenomenal support mechanism – but only when the facilitator seeks first to understand.
Often on our CCI calls we hear the confusion between “Molly said, Dave said, so and so said”. The beauty of the CCI program is we are all going to have slightly different viewpoints on the minor details we find firms hung up on – because there isn’t one right answer, especially on such minor things like they were stuck on – should I take a message and hand it to Mickey, or should I have the receptionist better screen the call or should I take the info down and hand it to Mickey.
At the end of the day; declare a way you’re going to try on, test it, meet again in 30 days and make necessary refinements if needed. But until you decide to put an end to the “he said/she said”, that will always be a roadblock and quite frankly an excuse for not getting started. In all honesty, if your team leader commits to trying one standard approach that you will track and discuss in your weekly team meetings, you cannot mess it up. That is the birthplace of a system.
Molly L. Hall, Co-Founder, Lawyers with Purpose, LLC, and author of Don’t Be a Yes Chick: How to Stop Babysitting Your Boss, Transform Your Job and Work with a Dream Team Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Spirit in the Process.
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