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Retention through Connection: Using Mentorship to Strengthen Your Firm

byDr. Heather Carroll

Training, coaching, and mentoring can all be powerfully effective ways for you to help grow your firm and your team. You want your team to be their best, and by investing in them and providing opportunities for them to increase their skill level and excel in their positions, you will ultimately increase their motivation, productivity, and overall commitment to you. Effective mentorship is directly related to higher retention of your key performers. It sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? So why do mentorship efforts at so many firms fall short of reaching these desired outcomes? The answer is that, generally, firm leaders don’t understand what mentorship truly means or how to design an effective mentorship program.

First, let’s talk about the difference between training, coaching, and mentorship. Are they interchangeable terms? No! But they each have a critical place in the plan for developing your firm.

  • Training is specific and skill oriented.

    Training should have a plan, a time frame, and set outcomes. Training should also have specific measurements in place to evaluate success. Training is generally instructor-led.

  • Coaching is less specific but still skill-oriented.

    Coaching is broader, longer in term, and typically should be more collaborative than training.

  • Mentoring entails building a long-term relationship between the mentor and the mentee.

    Mentoring is more than skill building in a specific area; rather, it is meant to provide the mentee with a larger, global understanding of how to be successful. A great mentor relationship may span an entire career.

Mentorship has key purposes that play a specific role in law firms and for attorneys. While young lawyers can be trained on the formal rules governing legal practice, mentorship can familiarize them with the informal rules that will guide their daily decision-making. Mentorship guides young attorneys in their ethical acculturation. This is more obviously beneficial to the mentee (the protégé); however, it is beneficial to you as a firm leader as well when you consider your own need to have your new associates develop into strong, successful, well-rounded representatives of your firm and your firm’s core values.

The cost of getting it wrong

Improperly designed mentorship plans can actually have a potentially detrimental effect on your team. For a mentee, having a perception that their mentor failed them can be very detrimental to their job engagement. A bad mentorship experience can even weaken the mentee’s chances of overall success. The mentee can be left with feelings of resentment toward their mentor and toward your firm in general. In addition, studies have shown that a failed mentorship can be equally detrimental to the mentor. The mentor may feel a deep failure personally. In return, they may suffer from a loss of confidence and even creativity in their own work.

How to get it right

If you want to institute an effective mentorship program at your firm, there are a couple of things you can do to help ensure its success. Keeping these points in mind will help you accomplish the goals you wish to achieve by instituting a mentorship plan.

Willingness: Both parties to a mentorship relationship must be interested and willing to be a part of the relationship. A mentor should want to be a mentor. A mentee should want to have a mentor. Start by building a collaborative and learning culture within your firm. Set the expectation that knowledge sharing and cultivation tie to your core values. In the end, if both parties are not willing participants in the process, then you will not be set up for success.

The benefits of the relationship to the mentee may seem obvious, however, many potential mentees may be very resistant. A mentee must feel they are in a place of needing mentorship. It’s important to introduce them to the idea carefully and thoughtfully without belittling them or making them feel inadequate. Additionally, some potential mentors can be resistant to the idea of taking on their role. What’s in it for the mentor? Just a bunch of added responsibility, right? There are some benefits for the mentor as well. More responsibility could potentially come with more compensation. Additionally, the recognition alone of being chosen as a mentor can be very motivational to a team member.

Personality fit: When pairing up a mentor with a mentee, consider their individual personalities. Do they have anything in common? There needs to be a good personality fit to help them build a solid relationship. Hopefully you are hiring for your culture, and hopefully your team members all share your firm’s core values. Bringing in the right personalities to your firm to start with is the foundation for this fit.

Nevertheless, for this tighter knit relationship to work, it must be a good, natural personality fit between the mentor and mentee. Consider what they may have in common, what their individual communication styles are, and their complementary strengths and weaknesses. If you know they simply won’t gel, consider a different pairing.

Common goals: What is the goal of this initiative? You should all have outlined goals. What do you, as the firm owner/ leader, see as the potential benefits? What does the mentor hope to gain? What does the mentee believe they will garner from the relationship? These goals should not only be determined in the beginning, but they should be communicated openly.

If there are competing goals, you are setting the plan up for failure. Work towards creating a set of common goals to which all involved can aspire.

Leadership skills: You just hired a new associate. You decide to pair them up with your most experienced and successful trial attorney. This individual is such a great attorney, undoubtedly, they will make a great mentor, right? Unfortunately, not always. Being great and successful in your own job does not automatically equivalate to being a great teacher or leader.

If you are considering designing a mentorship program within your firm, take the time to pinpoint who you would like to place into the mentor roles. Then, take some time to develop them as leaders first. This is such a crucial step that is often overlooked.

Access: Does everyone at your firm get a mentor? Just certain positions? Does your team know the answer to these questions? If you design a mentorship program within your firm, make sure it is equitable. In a recent study done on the importance of mentorship in the early stages of career development among attorneys, it was noted that significantly fewer female attorneys reported having had a mentor than their male colleagues.

Those findings could be significant on many levels, however, at minimum, it provides an example of the need for equitable access to any mentorship program that you design for your firm. Failure to do so could not only carry legal consequences but cause significant harm to your firm’s culture.

By keeping these points in mind, you will be much more likely to develop a successful mentorship plan for your firm. Developing key performers and ensuring they stay loyal and committed to you and your firm is presumably one of your top goals. Having a highly effective team is a key to success. In order to be the best, you must have the best team, so integrating training, coaching, and mentorship should be among your firm’s top priorities.

Learn More About The Author

Dr. Heather Carroll
https://vistact.com/who-we-are/heather-carroll/

Dr. Heather Carroll

Operations Consultant
Vista Consulting Team
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Ciera Parks

Ciera Parks is a Human Resources Executive with 15 years of experience working in higher education, manufacturing, nonprofits, cannabis, e-commerce, and technology. Ciera advises and partners with businesses on their HR needs to develop strategies that improve workplace culture through customized alignment and training. She has a proven track record of success in developing people strategies that drive performance, improve efficiency, and increase profitability. On top of this, Ciera is well-versed in building effective organizational structures and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics.

Ciera’s professional accomplishments in the human resources field include a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Development and a Certification from the Society for Human Resources Management. Ciera has also been elected as The Community Involvement Director and Professional Development Chair for two of Amazon’s employee resource groups (ERGs), been selected as the Director for Diversity & Inclusion by CHRA, and is the President of neXco’s National Cannabis Chapter. These honors are a result of her commitment to leadership and skill development for all workforce populations.

Merrill Hodge

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Scott Miller

Capping a twenty-five-year career in which he served as chief marketing officer and executive vice president, Scott Miller currently serves as FranklinCovey’s special advisor on thought leadership, leading the strategy, development, and publication of the firm’s bestselling books and thought leadership. Miller hosts the FranklinCovey-sponsored On Leadership with Scott Miller, the world’s largest and fastest-growing weekly leadership podcast, reaching more than six million people. Miller also authors a leadership column for Inc.com, hosted the weekly iHeartRadio show Great Life, Great Career with Scott Miller, and hosts and moderates FranklinCovey’s Bookclub.com series with world-renowned authors.

Miller is the author of the multivolume Mess to Success series, including Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow, Marketing Mess to Brand Success: 30 Challenges to Transform Your Organization’s Brand (and Your Own). He is the coauthor of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Everyone Deserves a Great Manager: The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team and the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights from Our Greatest Business Minds, which features insights from his interviews with the leading thinkers of our time, including Seth Godin, Susan Cain, General Stanley McChrystal, and many others.

Connie Podesta

Connie Podesta is a game-changing, revenue-building, sales-generating ball of fire whose rare blend of laugh-out-loud comedy, killer take-away strategies, and interactive, no-power-point delivery style have made her one of the most unique and memorable speakers on the stage today. 25 years. Two million people. 1,000 organizations. Hall of Fame speaker. Award-winning author. Seven books. Former Radio/TV personality. Therapist. Expert on the psychology of sales, leadership, change, accountability, and engagement. Amazing ROI. Plus (what we all could probably use in today’s crazy world )… a Comedienne.

Kendall Abbott

Kendall joined the Vista Team in 2022 as an Operations Consultant. With a keen eye for operations optimization, she specializes in areas such as intake, client touch points, and departmental organization/structure.

Kendall has worked in the personal injury realm for the last seven years, serving as the Firm Administrator and later the Director of Office Operations for a prestigious plaintiff firm in North Carolina. There her leadership mission was to implement solid systems and processes that created an optimal client experience, encouraged firm growth, and expanded the firm’s reach.  Prior to becoming the Firm Administrator, Kendall created, developed, and managed the firm’s intake department.  Her deep expertise in all aspects of a successful personal injury law firm will help her guide Vista clients toward new levels of growth.

Bill Biggs

Bill joined the Vista Team in 2022 as a Culture Architect | Leadership Strategist. Bill is also serving as the CEO of Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers and is considered one of the nation’s most innovative thinkers in law firm leadership. His unique perspective on culture and ability to inspire and multiply leaders has created a movement reshaping firms across the country. He is the founder of the Law Firm Leadership Summit, host of the Transforming The Culture of Law Podcast, limited engagement consultant to select firms, and is relentlessly committed to spreading his message of Love Your People & Demand High Performance as a platform for organizational success. He is also the President of Biggs & Associates serving high value sports professionals and franchises as a brand and messaging strategist. His distinguished client list includes Heisman Trophy winners, NFL HOFers, NBA champions, Olympians, and many of the top teams in college and professional sports. Bill is a Phi Kappa Phi graduate of Texas A&M University and completed his executive training through the CORe program at Harvard Business School.

He lives in College Station, Texas, with his beautiful wife, two sons, and a herd of dogs.

Tim Mckey

Tim co-founded Vista Consulting in 2009, along with his partner Chad Dudley. Vista’s aim was to help plaintiff law firms reach their full potential. In December 2017, Tim acquired Chad’s interest in Vista. Tim and Chad remain very close friends to this day! Tim has decades of CPA experience with local, regional, and national CPA firms. However, it is through Tim’s prior consulting practice that he found his passion. He has worked with many business owners, assisting them with defining and attaining success in their business and personal lives. Developing a management philosophy with business owners along with the associated systems and processes that assist in delivering outstanding management to Vista’s client teams is Tim’s forté.

Dr. Heather Carroll

Dr. Heather Carroll holds a Doctor of Business Administration in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She specializes in areas such as job satisfaction, motivation, burnout, and organizational commitment, particularly as these workplace factors apply to the legal industry.

During her nearly 20 years of legal experience, she has held many roles from Case Manager, to Litigation Paralegal, to HR Manager, to Firm Operations Administrator. The majority of Dr. Carroll’s legal experience has been in the area of personal injury. However, she began her legal career at a labor union by assisting in the negotiations of a new collective bargaining agreement between a major US airline and their pilot group. It was through that experience that her interest in team and operational matters, within a legal setting, took root. Many years, and a doctorate, later helping legal teams thrive through increased operational efficiency is her passion.

Dr. Carroll resides outside the Seattle/ Tacoma area of Washington currently. She is a military spouse and a mom of three.

Ryan LaRoque

Ryan joined the Vista team in 2014 as a Programmer. He has more than fifteen years of experience working in various finance and accounting roles with a strong background in IT and management information systems. Ryan codes in Visual Basic and is an expert with all Microsoft products. He works closely with Vista’s Operations Consultants to build out custom dashboards for our clients. These dashboards become integral in our clients’ success. Ryan is skilled at assessing and understanding our clients’ requirements and translating those into clear and concise reporting tools that allow our clients to improve firm operations.

Mary Ellen Murrah

Mary Ellen Murrah joined the Vista Team in 2019. Prior to joining Vista, Mary Ellen spent more than 16 years managing and marketing a national, legal case management software company. That position introduced her to thousands of personal injury law firms across the country. She was a familiar face at annual legal events and a frequent voice on topics ranging from legal marketing to data integrity. Over the years, she’s forged meaningful relationships with legal vendors, which has provided keen insight on almost every corner of the legal industry. She is skilled in identifying law firm business improvement opportunities and brings her extensive operations, team management, and industry knowledge to the Vista team. Mary Ellen has a true passion for tackling projects with common sense management. Her eye for detail, human resources experience, and deep operations skills are an asset to help law firms grow their businesses and help attorneys foster and maintain efficient, profitable practices.

Pam Travis

Pam joined the Vista Team in 2020 as an Operations Consultant. She began her career more than twenty years ago at a personal injury law firm where she served as Law Firm Administrator for close to a decade. In that role, she became intimately familiar with the nuances of personal injury firms and developed a keen eye for improvement and success. She then took her passion for data management and effective processes to a national, legal case management software company. There, she worked with hundreds of law firms across the country to help them implement a new system that allowed them to collect and analyze their data and institute seamless workflows. She then transitioned to the role of Training Director for a large personal injury firm where she served as project manager for a massive data conversion and software platform shift. Ultimately, she yearned to get back to her roots, traveling the country, meeting thousands of attorneys and team members, and helping them transform their business.

Stephanie Demont Mastroni

Stephanie joined the Vista Team in 2009 as an Operations Consultant. She brings her knowledge and experience in management and operational excellence to our team. Prior to joining Vista, Stephanie spent twelve years working for insurance claims departments and five years as a Chief Operations Officer of a multi-office, northeast, personal injury firm. She is admitted to practice law in Connecticut, New York, and Tennessee. Stephanie utilizes her experience to assist Vista clients in implementing tried and true solutions in law firm operations. She is an innovative thinker who can apply solutions to clients’ specific circumstances. Stephanie has a knack for assisting COO’s and Office Managers in challenging situations. She has polished coaching techniques and is skilled at helping her clients work through the decision-making process. She is extremely thorough, exhibits strong communication skills, and partners with key client personnel in delivering systems and accountability that drives results.

Terri Houchin

Terri joined the Vista Team in 2018 as an Operations Consultant. After joining a large, multistate law firm in 2004 as a front desk receptionist, Terri quickly realized that her passion for serving others was best utilized in the personal injury firm setting. She developed a love for the legal field. Terri’s passion and desire to understand all aspects of a personal injury case resulted in several promotions to Senior Legal Assistant. In 2015, Terri was selected to join a brand new personal injury firm as Senior Legal Assistant and Office Manager. In this new role, Terri was able to utilize her dedication to the profession and years of experience to help this firm quickly become one of the premier small firms in her hometown. Terri looks forward to helping personal injury firms meet their growth goals.

Amanda Hankins

Amanda Hankins joined Vista Consulting Team in 2017, bringing more than two decades of intimate experience working in personal injury law firms. Amanda’s career at a large, multistate law firm took her from Receptionist to Legal Assistant to Intake Supervisor to Medical Treatment Coordinator. This experience in working in every department of a personal injury firm serves her clients exceptionally well. She’s been there, she knows the struggles, and she knows how to drive progress. She also has experience working with one of the largest medical funding companies as a Business Development Manager. She has a true passion for customer service and loves working with law firms to teach them all avenues of keeping client satisfaction as a top priority.