The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, initially believed that he did not need executive coaching. When he was advised to have a coach, his response was: "I don’t need a coach, I am an established CEO. Why would I need a coach? Is there something wrong with me?”

Like Eric Schmidt, many leaders and lawyers might be skeptical to engage a coach at first, thinking that the reason to hire one is because there is a problem. However, coaching helps anyone to further develop and grow, no matter where they are in their career.  

When it comes to the legal industry in particular, there is a general perception that what takes to be a successful lawyer is a firm legal foundation with excel-lent technical and writing abilities. In fact, a number of lawyers focus too much on perfecting these “hard professional skills” but then neglect other essential areas. 

Coaching for legal professionals is a a growing area where experienced coaches help lawyers to achieve their goals, many times helping mid-level associates to become partners, to become better communicators, networkers, business devel-opers, colleagues and leaders in their jobs - as well to become  more whole-some people overall. 

Coaching and training in the areas of communication, executive presence, feedback, emotional intelligence, management, amongst other topics not only helps people increase productivity and personal effectiveness, but also enhance wellbeing and success. Coaching and training help to improve law firms’ talent retention, culture and profits.

At FELIZ Consulting, a boutique training and coaching company based in Hong Kong, we work with a number of international and boutique law firms helping clients to be the best versions of themselves, to find more purpose and balance in the legal world and beyond.

Below are some of the many benefits of engaging a coach. We hope you will enjoy the read, the learning and the reflection; and perhaps you might even consider hiring a coach yourself.

1. CAREER PLANNING

A lot of times we are too overwhelmed by daily “to-do lists”, so much so that we neglect the importance of setting goals, small or big, and making it happen. Having both short-term and long-term goals are crucial for building a more meaningful and successful career and legal practice. Professional coaches help you define and prioritise your goals and therefore use your time more efficient-ly, working on your individual development plan, aligned with the Firm’s goals and your personal ones, as well. Spending time with your executive coach gives you the space and tools you need to think about where you are and where you would like to go. Coaches then help customise a career plan with you after listening to your needs. Lawyers, in particular, tend to be overwhelmed with  the day to day work, the billable hours and the pressure wanting to be partners. Therefore, they forget (or don’t prioritise) the task of designing a proper career plan to get there, to work on the daily habits and plans first with the big vision in mind.

2. PERSONAL BRANDING 

As many experienced lawyers know, having extensive legal knowledge and de-cent writing skills does not guarantee a stable legal career. In fact, in our expe-rience at FELIZ Consulting working with top international law firms, most of the feedback from partners is that a lot of lawyers are very good with the law and “hard skills”, but not as good with personal branding, executive presence, networking and the business development areas. Does it sound familiar? Just like marketing for a fashion brand or a hospitality brand, building a profession-al and memorable image and presence for lawyers is key to a successful career. A coach can help you to review how you are presenting yourself to others and (depending on the coach’s expertises) help advice about business networking, communication, impact, image and beyond. Practical suggestions such as dress-ing, body language, facial expressions, question techniques are given so you develop and adapt your personal branding to make more impact.

Just recently, I worked with a senior lawyer who was made partner after the coaching engagement. We had 8 sessions together and the lawyer's priority was to work on her personal branding on social media, as well as her presentation skills (from dressing/grooming and presenting with more impact). Being an ex-ecutive coach and also a certified image consultant, I was able to wear both my consultant and coach “hats” to assist this lawyer achieve her goals and get promoted. We were both excited and glad she achieved her goal after the coaching!

3. PRODUCTIVITY BOOST 

While an executive coach cannot do the work for you, just like a personal trainer can not do the exercise in the gym for you - they provide tips and tricks on how to focus and concentrate at work and boost your productivity. Some-times you just feel stuck and unmotivated with all the deadlines, or the “new normal” of the Covid pandemic. So, this could be a perfect time to revamp your working style, get more motivated and gain new productivity tools. Coaches can suggest simple techniques such as mindfulness exercises, gratitude prac-tice, the 4 Cs of self motivation, the platinum vs. golden rule to more elaborat-ed psychometric tests, feedback and time management tools. Each coaching re-lationship is different, each person is different and a good coach listens to the client’s needs first and help with a plan forward to boost productivity.

4. EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT AND COLLABORATION

Apart from dealing with clients, managing relationships with colleagues and stakeholders internally can be quite challenging. Therefore, it is important to develop effective management tools to better “manage up, down and sideways” (MUDS). This management approaches involve elements that play an integral role in the legal workplace and success of a lawyer. No matter which stage you are at in your career, you have to learn to manage first and foremost yourself. Afterwards, we need to work on managing others. Some key FELIZ tips are: if you are managing up think of prioritising, managing down think of delegating effectively, and managing sideways think of collaborating. Of course it is not as simple and as straightforward, but a skilled coach can share practical advice to better manage these relationships and to help lawyers get the most out of it.

5. OVERALL WELLNESS 

Multiple research studies have shown that lawyers have significantly higher risks of suffering from mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, as well as having issues with substance abuse. Working on a healthy mind is the foun-dation of any fruitful work. Apart from offering you professional insights, a good coach can also gauge your current stress level. Of course, in some cases, professional counselling is necessary, but a skilled professional coach can refer the client to the right help. In coaching, we work on emotional intelligence, re-silience and stress management tools for lawyers. One proven method of keep-ing one’s wellbeing and overall happiness state is a mindfulness practice. For more benefits of mindfulness, check out our other blog post “Six Remarkable Benefits of Mindfulness”. 

FELIZ Consulting has extensive experience working with lawyers, senior lead-ers, leading law firms and organizations such as King & Wood Mallesons, DLA Piper, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, White & Case, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, Securities and Futures Commission, Sainsbury’s, Electrolux and others. We use evidence-based train-ing materials and qualified coaches to help you and your teams develop at work and in your life. Beyond customised 1:1 coaching sessions for lawyers, we offer different types of training to suit yours and your Firm’s specific CPD/RME needs.

For more information, visit FELIZ Consulting website or drop us an email at info@felizconsulting.com