I recently spoke to one of the most successful lawyers I ever coached. When I first started coaching her she had under $200,000 in business. Now, four years later she will generate over $2,000,000. She talked fondly about how much fun it was to get to know and work with her colleagues in the coaching group. She reminded me of a couple of exercises I created for her coaching group.

children running.jpgAfter listening to how well she remembered what we did and how well it worked for her and other members in her coaching group, I thought I would share them with you.

I told lawyers in her group to pretend their compensation depended on the amount of business the group brought to the firm. Then I divided them into three groups:

  • Group 1 was to brainstorm ideas and create actions that would lead to bringing in business that year (short term)
  • Group 2 was to brainstorm ideas and create actions that would bring in business in 1-3 years (mid term)
  • Group 3 was to brainstorm ideas and create actions that would bring in business 3 years and beyond (long term)

The lawyers I coached liked thinking of themselves as a firm within the firm and enjoyed brainstorming, developing and carrying out actions designed to bring in business.

I like to also divide lawyers I coach into three groups to brainstorm and discuss:

  • Group 1:What are all the potential sources of business and referrals? (e.g. law firm alumi)
  • Group 2: What are all the client development activities that take less than 20 minutes and you can do when you are busy? (e.g. forward an article)
  • Group 3: What are all the examples of client development tools? (e.g. LinkedIn)

What is the method in my madness? I want lawyers to think creatively and collaboratively. There is nothing more powerful than a group inspired to work together to achieve a common goal.