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Identifying Your Top Performers and Getting Them on the Bench Presented by Sam Allred

Learn the best practices for identifying, measuring, and developing your firm's top performers in this comprehensive guide. Discover proven strategies for coaching and safeguarding your future leaders.

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Identifying Your Top Performers and Getting Them on the Bench Presented by Sam Allred

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  1. BestPractices 2013 Identifying Your Top Performers and Getting Them on the Bench Presented by Sam Allred Director at Upstream Academy, LLC

  2. The theme of this year’s BestPractices Conference is Developing, Coaching And Safeguarding Your Firm’s Greatest Asset. We can’t possibly do this unless we first understand who the firm’s greatest asset really is.

  3. What does this quote mean to you? “Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.” Jim Collins

  4. What does this quote mean to you? “It became real obvious to us a long time ago that we weren’t having the kind of success we needed keeping the best and brightest and moving them into positions where they could be leaders in the firm. We determined we were not going to feed internal growth or grow by merger if we didn’t have a manufacturing plant to produce leaders.” Bob Bunting

  5. The best process for identifying, measuring and developing a firm’s bench strength is the Bench Strength Exercise. Let’s first review the steps in this exercise and then discuss proven strategies for developing your firm’s future leaders.

  6. BENCH STRENGTH EXERCISE Schedule a partner meeting or retreat Ask the partners to write down the names of individuals in the firm who they feel could be partners in the next 5-7 years Using a data projector, display the names for the group to discuss

  7. BENCH STRENGTH EXERCISE Go through each name and ask the partners to ballpark how many years it should take this individual to become a partner Reorder the names from closest to partner to furthest away Add columns labeled “strengths” and “weaknesses” to the right of each name

  8. BENCH STRENGTH EXERCISE Openly discuss each individual on the list and identify strengths and weaknesses Identify who is best suited in the partner group to help coach each individual towards ownership Establish a system of accountability to monitor and measure progress

  9. BENCH STRENGTH WORKSHEET

  10. KEY POINTS REGARDING THIS EXERCISE • Your bench strength ratio is the number of individuals in the firm who can become partners in the next 5-7 years divided by the total number of partners in the firm. • If you currently have 20 partners and the bench strength exercise yields 15 names, you have a bench strength ratio of 75%.

  11. KEY POINTS REGARDING THIS EXERCISE • Ideally, a firm would have a bench strength ratio between 100 and 200 percent.

  12. KEY POINTS REGARDING THIS EXERCISE • When discussing strengths, think of those attributes or talents that help you envision this individual becoming a partner. • When discussing weaknesses, what things stand in the way of you voting this person into the partnership right now?

  13. KEY POINTS REGARDING THIS EXERCISE • A firm’s bench strength isn’t just the sum of those who hold the title of Supervisor, Manager, or Senior Manager. The real measure of bench strength is those individuals who the partner group is confident have what it takes to become partners.

  14. Too many firms have erred in believing the value of this process is in identifying the bench strength list. Knowing your firm’s bench strength is but the very first step in developing, coaching, and safeguarding these individuals.

  15. Let’s discuss nine high performance strategies for developing, coaching, and safeguarding your very best people.

  16. HIGH PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES Those on the bench strength list deserve the best coaches you have in the firm. Be cautious about letting individuals pick their own coaches. Coaches should meet with these rising stars regularly, be open and honest with them, and be appropriately demanding to move them out of their comfort zones.

  17. QUESTIONS How can a person’s comfort zone be a major impediment to his/her career? What are some examples of staying in our comfort zones?

  18. HIGH PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES Openly discuss any existing managers and senior managers who did not make the list. These are your career managers and senior managers. You will struggle to develop leaders in the firm if you have more than 25% career managers and senior managers.

  19. QUESTION Why is it so difficult to develop leaders in the firm when more than 25% of your managers and senior managers are never going to become partners?

  20. HIGH PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES Beware of parity and remember that we never treat anyone as special when we treat everyone the same. You need to give special attention to those on your bench strength list.

  21. Understanding the hiking principle.

  22. QUESTIONS What are the fears partners have in treating those on the bench strength list in a special or different manner? What could be some evidences that those on the bench strength list are being treated in a special way?

  23. QUESTION What are the pros and cons of bringing the bench strength group together and telling them they are the future of the firm?

  24. HIGH PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES Coaches should be willing to help rising stars mitigate weaknesses and help them set goals that play to their individual strengths.

  25. HIGH PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES Use one to two partner meetings each year to review progress on your bench strength development program. All individuals in the bench strength program should receive the same evaluation given to partners.

  26. QUESTION What system of accountability is needed to ensure coaches are helping those on your bench advance and grow?

  27. HIGH PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES Scheduling should begin each year with those on your bench strength list. What do they most need to help them progress in their careers? Those on your bench strength list need to experience regular doses of shadowing opportunities.

  28. QUESTION What should happen to an individual’s charge hour budget once he/she is identified on the bench strength list?

  29. THE LITMUS TEST Those on your bench strength list are your A clients, so to speak. They need much more time with the partner group. Shadowing needs to happen. Active coaching needs to happen. Their career trajectory should be noticeably different from their non-bench strength peers.

  30. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

  31. Thank You! sama@upstreamacademy.com

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