Passion, People and Principles

The First 100 Days

post # 156 — August 9, 2006 — a Managing post

Patrick McKenna, my co-author on the book First Among Equals, has written a fabulous new 23-pagee-book called FIRST 100 DAYS: Transitioning A New Managing Partner.

Here’s an outline of Patrick’s step-by-step recipe:

1. Begin Before The Handoff (during the countdown before you officially take office)

Position yourself as a leader who is eager to listen to the opinions of your peers.
Build a working relationship with the departing Managing Partner.
Create constructive dialogue with key thought leaders and power brokers within your firm.
Tie up loose ends with key clients.
Try to deal with sensitive problems before you take office.

2. Plug Your Gaps

Figure out what you need to know and learn it as rapidly as you can.
Establish your advice network.

3. Establish Performance Standards

Negotiate your specific metrics for success.

4. Seize Your Day

Pay attention to personal habits.
Make symbolic gestures.
Convey basic information.

5. Set Your Agenda

Identify your one burning imperative.
Get critical partner buy-in.
Develop an action plan to implement your initiative.
Launch a pilot project.

6. Exploit Early Successes

Identify something that would not have happened had it not been for your burning imperative.

Patrick’s monograph is made up of 11 pages of his advice, followed by 11 pages of direct quotes from law firm managing partners reflecting on their experience. I showed Patrick’s monograph to some clients of mine outside the legal profession, and they agreed that it’s incredibly useful and well-written.

8 Comments

Leo J Bottary said:

First of all, I think much of this is spot on!Forgive me if I’m missing something, but where’s the part where he/she earns the trust of the staff. (The part where he manages people in the manner you so strongly advocate.)

In some recent posts, I’ve been citing Hal Rosenbluth and his book The Customer Comes Second – of course it’s the employee who comes first. Where does the employee rank in this scenario?

posted on August 9, 2006

Peter Macmillan said:

David

A very topical post.

posted on August 9, 2006

Leo J Bottary said:

True. And I understand the nature of the environment, but earning the trust of the staff? If you don’t make that happen in the first 100 days, it will take you the first 1000.

posted on August 9, 2006

Bill Peper said:

Leo rightly emphasizes the importance of gaining the trust of the staff. However, Patrick’s suggestions (at lease as far as I can tell, as I have not read the full article yet) only list concrete steps that new managing partners can take. Since gaining trust is a by-product of actions and interactions, it is ultimately beyond the direct control of managers. Any new managing partner implementing Patrick’s strategies within 100 days of taking the position (or even after 100 days in power) stands an excellent chance of succeeding in gaining the trust of employees.

posted on August 10, 2006

David (Maister) said:

(This is a replacement for some commnets that got ‘eaten’ during my site update. It should be read between Leo’s two posts above.)

Patrick can speak for himself, but his text does go into the issue of dealing with different “levels” of people.

Bear in mind that Patrick is writing initially about law firms, and there are all sorts of distinctions between partners(senior people), non-partner lawyers (junior people) and other non-lawyer employees (grudgingly conceded to be people.)

The general challenge in any business is, in your first 100 days, what priority would you give to senior people, junior people and ‘support’ people?

posted on August 10, 2006

Dennis Howlett said:

I remember when Craig Conway stood up at a PeopleSoft conference as the newly minted CEO. Afterwards I interviewed him and asked who he felt was his greatest competitor. His reply: ‘Baan.’ At the time, Baan was on the slide, was manufacturing led (PeopleSoft played to service industries) and didn’t have a credible HR app.

The lesson? It also helps if you have more than a passing understanding of the business you’re trying to run.

posted on August 10, 2006

Peter Macmillan said:

David

To continue my original post above …

The Economist of 15^th July has an interesting article entitled “That tricky first 100 days.” It describes a growing area of business for “transition experts” and recruitment firms working to ensure that new CEOs and other senior executives get the best possible start in their new jobs.

The article begins by introducing the concept of “onboarding”:

“Executives are now being judged more quickly than ever, it seems. This trend has spawned a business designed to help newly appointed corporate leaders to hit the ground running. … [T]his process has been named ‘onboarding’ (that is, helping a new executive successfully climb on board). … Onboarding focuses on three areas: getting up to speed, forging effective relationships and accomplishing what is expected.”

The article goes on to refer to comments from an onboarding expert, George Bradt of PrimeGenesis, who offers:

“The era when a chief executive could take a couple of years to get to know the business and then formulate a long-term strategic plan, is over.’ … Instead, a new boss should ideally have picked his new team and have a communications strategy – if not a fully worked-out business plan – in place on his first day in the job.”

The article concludes that although the cost of onboarding assistance can be expensive, “… it is cheap when compared with the costs that arise when a new boss goes overboard – perhaps after being made to walk the plank.”

While Patrick’s monograph may be viewed as part of this focus on onboarding strategies, do you see law firms taking advantage of onboarding services to the extent that their corporate cousins are? Interesting also to note that some executives are hiring onboarding professionals directly. I wonder how many new managing partners are likely to do the same.

Peter

posted on August 10, 2006

David (Maister) said:

From what I hear and see, quite a few managing partners of firms and practice groups do seek out (or are assigned) their own personal coaches to help with transitions, although, so far, it has not developed into a separate specialty and skill set. Mostly, it’s the “traditonal” law firm consultants who are expanding their services to include “taking charge” counsel.

The reasons for this are the old usual ones – in the corporate world, consultants who have worked in other industries are often sought out for their functional, specialty skills (like onboarding) even if they don’t have specific experience of the new industry that’s about to hire them.

That’s not true of law firms. Historically, and still today, law firms are very suspicious of ideas that haven’t been proven to be tried and worked in law firms specifically, and are even more suspicious of individuals who claim, without a law firm background, to be able to help.

I see this changing a microscopic amount, but not a lot. So, the summary is that law firm consultants who have already established credibility will probably begin to help in this area, but I don’t see the opportunity for new entrants to succeed. Law firms just don’t accept them easily.

posted on August 10, 2006