Do you look at partners and wonder how they got such a brilliant senior associate who just ‘gets it’? And how your life would be easier if you had that trusted and capable number 2?
The secret is that great deputies aren’t found, they are made.
In this episode, I dismantle the myth of the perfect ‘number two’. Your partners have developed and invested in their ‘number two’.
I explain that waiting for a finished article to arrive on your team is a losing strategy.
Instead, you need to actively invest your time to develop your junior members into the trusted support you need to get to partner.
Listen to this episode to discover:
- How to shift your mindset from finding talent to developing it
- Why investing time in your team is the best way to boost your own career.
- Why scheduled feedback is the most powerful development tool you have.
- How to explain the “why” behind your changes to train juniors to think like you.
If you find this episode useful, don’t forget to like it and then subscribe so you don’t miss another episode.
You can also listen to this episode on Substack and on Apple Podcasts
Hello and welcome.
Do you ever look at partners in your firm and think, of course they can delegate. They have a brilliant senior associate who just gets it or a brilliant senior manager or a brilliant director.
Do you feel like you’re stuck waiting for that perfect strong number two to land on your team so you can finally start delegating, shuffling work down with confidence?
If you feel like you can’t effectively delegate until this person magically appears, I want to tell you a secret I shared on a recent group coaching call.
Partners aren’t born with a perfect number two. They create and develop them.
This is the How to Make Partner podcast with me, Heather Townsend, the author of Poised for Partnership and co-author of How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life.
In this podcast, I’ll be highlighting some of the great stuff in our Progress to Partner Academy.
New episodes are released weekly, so press subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Right, let’s get into it. Let’s dismantle this myth of that perfect deputy.
One of the most common complaints I hear from directors, senior managers, senior associates is this. I don’t have that really strong kind of senior associate or strong team member.
You know that I can just give the work down to. I know that they’ll get it done and it’ll free me up to get on with the more kind of partner level stuff like being with clients, winning work, developing the team. And I get it. It’s a huge source of frustration and a major bottleneck.
So this leads me on to my first point. You have to shift your mindset from finding talent to developing it.
Now on a coaching call, a lawyer, I’ll call Simon, had a real breakthrough moment. He was complaining to me, that his partners have that strong number too. I don’t have that.
He realised he was waiting for a finished article to arrive.
The truth is that good partners actively invest time to create these strong deputies. It’s not about inheriting a good team. It’s about building and developing one.
This isn’t a nice idea. This is actually a non-negotiable part of your role as you move towards partnerships.
So how do you do it?
The second point is to understand that developing your team, whether they work for you all the time or just on a few jobs or very occasionally, is an investment that pays you back with more time.
Of course, it can feel like a catch-22. You’re too busy to train people, and you’re busy because no one is trying to help you. You have to break that cycle. You must plan and invest time to build up those junior members. And then it becomes that self-fulfilling prophecy.
The more you delegate and train, the more time you free up to effectively manage that delegation and develop your team even further.
Which brings us to the third and most practical point.
Use scheduled feedback as your primary development tool.
The biggest mistake most senior professionals make is just sending back the junior’s work with maybe track changes and expecting the junior to learn by osmosis. That’s not enough.
The next time you review a piece of work, don’t just email it back. Schedule a 15-minute call to walk them through the key changes. Explain the why behind your amendments.
Say things like, the reason I changed this phrase is because the client prefers more direct language. Or, I added this paragraph to preempt a likely question from the partner.
This is how you transfer your knowledge and train them to think like you. It’s the fastest way to turn a promising junior into your strong number two.
So let’s recap.
Stop waiting for a perfect number two or deputy to appear.
You need to shift your mindset and realize it’s your job to build and develop them. To do this, you must consciously invest your time in their development, knowing it’s going to free you up in the long term.
And the most powerful tool you have is scheduled explicit feedback where you explain the why behind your changes. It’ll help them do a better job with less rework next time.
Now, if you’re thinking, I get the theory, but I need a proper structure. I need more help for developing not just one person, but my whole team, especially when they’re not in the same office. I’m not their line manager. I just have a pool of resource to use.
That’s why we created the How to Create a Strong Hybrid Team course. It’s not like most team courses that assume that everyone reporting to you. It assumes that you just have shared resource that might be spread across offices or continents.
It gives you the frameworks and communication strategies to build a cohesive, high-performing team, no matter where they’re located. It will show you how to turn a group of individuals into a powerful unit, that you could trust to delegate to.
Now, I’ve popped a link to the Progress to Partner Academy in the show notes.
I’ve also put a code, podcast10, that will allow you to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
Also, in the show notes, you’ll find links to my books, Poised for Partnership, How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life, so you can easily find them on Amazon.
Now, that’s all for this episode of the How to Make Partner podcast.
Before I get on to your one action for the week, if you’ve enjoyed this podcast episode, please leave us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. This helps us get the word out to others who may need this advice too.
How about share it with one of your team?
Remember to hit subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s episode.
So what is your one action for this week?
The next time you’re reviewing a junior’s work, schedule a 15-minute call to give them feedback. Don’t just send it back with red lines through it. Talk them through it.
That’s your one action.
Join my Progress To Partner Academy and access all my courses and use the code PODCASTBP10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
Links:
Complete my FREE Partnership Readiness Assessment – to see where you have gaps in your own development – you’ll get a personalised report with actions for what progress your career forward
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Join Progress To Partner Academy and use the code PODCAST10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.
Buy your hard copy of Poised for Partnership or buy the Ebook here
Buy your copy of How To Make Partner And Still Have A Life
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