This is what I have done over the years to become a recognised expert in helping people make partner, and when they get You’ve got a crucial deadline, your project is at a critical stage, and you have the perfect person on your team.
Then a partner nicks your team member. Here’s how to stop this happening going forward
Have you ever had a key team member reassigned by a senior partner, leaving you in the lurch?
It’s a constant risk for anyone who manages assignments whether as a senior associate, director or even junior partner. It can leave you feeling powerless and scrambling to meet your deadlines.
This episode is all about taking back control by building a resilient team that can withstand internal politics. I’ll share my practical tips to make your team almost poach-proof.
Listen to this episode to discover:
- Why you should look for the overlooked “Steady Eddies” instead of the A-star performers everyone wants.
- How to talk with your partners like a peer, turning a resource squeeze into a collective problem to solve.
- Practical ways to be a great manager so that people want to work with you and are less likely to be tempted away.
- The importance of having a Plan B and C for your resources so you are never caught off guard.
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.
Have you ever had this happen? Maybe you’ve got a crucial deadline, your project is a critical stage, you have the perfect person on your team driving it forward, then you get the email. A senior partner needs them for something urgent.
Just like that, your key player is gone, you’re left scrabbling, you’ve got to do the work yourself. If you’re a senior associate, direct, or junior partner, this is a constant risk.
So how do you build a team that can withstand the internal politics and resource grabs from above?
Hello, 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 Still Have a Life.
In this podcast, I’m going to be highlighting some of the great stuff in our Progress to Partner Academy, a new podcast episode released weekly, so press subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Right, let’s get into the practical tips for building that resilient and almost poach-proof team. Now this was the conversation I was having with some nearly partners on a senior associate to partner program that I lead for a global law firm.
The challenge is to build that resilient team that you can rely on to service your client matters, projects and jobs, but you’re always up against the backdrop of your resource being reallocated onto a more senior partner’s job or client work.
So the first thing to do is think about who you want in your crew. After all, most of you don’t have the luxury of a fixed team that always works for you. So I like to think of it as a crew.
You know, our instinct is always to have the star performers, the best players, the A-star players. But the problem is everyone wants them.
We all know who the good ones are. And that’s going to make them the most likely to be reassigned, the hardest to get onto our matters and jobs. Instead, look for what I like to call the steady eddies. These are the solid B performers. These are typically competent, reliable, but they are overlooked because they’re not seen as a star performer.
Maybe somewhere at some point, someone, if they didn’t do well on a job, they got, you know, they got a, you know, a black mark against their character. And as a result, they’re not seen as a star performer anymore.
Now, the thing is with that steady Eddie, often all they’re needing is the right support, the right development, the right maybe amount of one-on-one time, maybe that little bit of extra love to become that real star for you. And actually, the more they work for you, the more they want to work for you, the more that they develop under your tutelage and guidance, the more they’re going to become that star performer.
But they’re going to want to work with you, so they’re less likely to be poached. The next thing is, second, when you see that resourcing squeeze coming, when you can see that the department is busy, when you can see that my people are probably going to get nicked, you need to sit down and talk to your partners, but talk to them like a peer.
Don’t ask, can I keep my pass and don’t nick them? You know, that makes you sound moany, whingy, whiny. What you have to do is think like a partner. Frame it as a collective challenge.
How are we as a group going to get everything resourced and out the door at the right quality? This demonstrates partner level type thinking that you’re thinking about the firm and department as a whole. And also it encourages that collaborative solution.
After all, if you try power play, it’s just not going to work.
Now, the third tip is to be great to work with. And your reputation as someone to work with is one of your best defenses. When your team members genuinely want to work on your projects, they are less likely to be tempted away. This means being respectful of their time, giving them clear instructions, being fun to work with, but also helping them do the bits they enjoy and want to develop their skill set in.
It doesn’t mean being a pushover. It doesn’t mean that you do the boring bits. You know, there might need to be times where you have to say, look, I know this bit is not interesting, but this is how it fits into the bigger picture. It’s a key part of this job. And of course, you should always have a difficult conversation with them if they’re not performing to standard. But it also means actively selling the benefits of your work and being part of your crew working closely with you.
So what are they going to learn? What exposure will they get? How will you help them build their career in the firm? You know, you want to make sure that working with you seems like a massive positive.
My next tip is, and it sounds a bit weird, but if you have lots of great pieces of work, it’s easy for people to want to work with you because you have lots of great pieces of work. So, you know, how are you going to make sure that you are on the happening, the hot projects, that you’re bringing in the work or partners are bringing you in on the stuff that’s strategically important that other partners are going to notice.
Some of that might be starting to win your own work. And if you’re always marketing yourself, you’ll always have a warm pipeline and you can pick and choose which work you want. Now, it’s marketing yourself internally to other partners, to other departments, but also externally.
And the more work you have coming through you, the more that actually… You can pick and choose what you’ll do and maybe what you’ll pass on to your peers. And then my last tip is finally to have a plan B and C.
You know, you’ve got to build that resilient team.
So that means not being dependent on a single person. So start building relationships with overflow support now before you need them. This could be trusted people in other departments or offices or locations in your firm. It might be somebody in that shared pool of resource that you’ve maybe not worked with that often. Maybe they’re new.
How can you start to build your crew before you need them? And in that way, when a key player gets reassigned, because they will do, you won’t panic. You’ll just simply activate your backup plan. So building a resilient team is a much needed skill that will demonstrate your readiness for partnership.
It’s about being smarter with who you choose, how you communicate and how you prepare for the inevitable challenges.
Now, if you’re listening and thinking, OK, I get the strategy, but my real challenge is in the day-to-day management required to develop and retain these people. That’s where we can help.
A resilient team is built on strong leadership.
Inside our Progress to Partner Academy, we have a whole suite of courses designed for this, including how to delegate like a pro, how to excel as a line manager, and how to create a strong hybrid team. These resources give you the practical tools to build a loyal, effective team that people won’t want to leave.
I popped a link to the Progress to Partner Academy in the show notes for this episode. Also in the show notes, you’ll find links to my book, Poised for Partnership and How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life, so you can easily find them on Amazon.
And as a thank you for listening, there’s also a link for a 10% discount on annual membership for our Progress to Partner Academy.
So that’s all for this episode of the How to Make Partner podcast with me, Heather Townsend.
What is your one action for this week?
My idea is identify that one steady Eddie in your firm, somebody competent but happy perhaps overlooked and diarise, get that 15-minute coffee with them and to start talking, get to know them.
Can they become your next future star performer?
Now, if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or maybe even a comment on Substack.
This help gets the word out to others who may need this advice too. So remember to hit subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s episode, or even share this with someone in your team that you think could use it.
Thanks for listening.
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.
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