Managing challenging behaviour and Personal Development Plans

September 15, 2024|Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Management Skills, Marketing, Relationship Management, Strategy|

A few top insights from last week’s full day training session by PM Forum. The session covered a lot of ground including: management skills, strategic thinking, financial scenarios, marketing and business development (MBD) theories, developing MBD plans, soft skills, gaining internal buy-in and managing a team. I pick a couple of themes from each session for an article – as well as signposting relevant sources – to supplement the learning resources for delegates. For this session I selected two key topics: Future marketing and BD managers – Managing challenging behaviour and personal development plans (PDP). Other questions relate to: aligning firm and divisional strategies, benefits of different strategies, core marketing theories, segmentation and pricing.

Huge thanks to Norton Rose Fulbright for hosting this training session in its fabulous offices overlooking Tower Bridge and The Thames (we even saw a rainbow!). The hot food at lunchtime and hospitality were really appreciated.

Aims and insights of the delegates

Delegates, in a variety of roles, were from legal, accounting and consulting firms. Two were “accidental marketers”, having previously trained as lawyers. Another delegate had started her career as a personal assistant (PA).

Delegate aims included:

Understand the breadth of strategic and operational marketing activities to work more effectively with colleagues in the MBD team
Learn how to work more effectively with fee-earners and other stakeholders
Be more confident and assertive – especially speaking up in meetings Confidence – How to get a word in when people keep talking (kimtasso.com)
Manage a small but growing (often remote) team
Become more effective at delegation Delegation for leaders – a how to guide (kimtasso.com)
Develop a stronger peer network and more connections
Consider the next steps in my career

Some were attending a PM Forum training event for the first time. We hope you return!

At the end of the session, delegates shared their key takeaways and actions:

Key idea or insight	One action
Personal brand How to create and promote your personal brand – Kim Tasso	Develop my personal brand Provide feedback to fee-earners on their brand
Managing “difficult” behaviours Resources to help you deal with difficult interactions (kimtasso.com)	Tame my inner critic Dr Julie Smith (Mental Health Guidance) (kimtasso.com)
Visibility Be more visible – the PVI model (kimtasso.com)	Just do it!
Perception Future marketing manager – Summary of a workshop 2017 (kimtasso.com)	Write my personal development plan
Strategy development Strategy development insights – curiosity culture and change (kimtasso.com)	Use a new strategic tool
Non-verbal communication Non-Verbal Communication (NVC) – the basics (Video) (kimtasso.com)	Speak louder
Knowing the theory and frameworks supports your confidence Questions on confidence at work (kimtasso.com)	Use SOSTAC in a plan
	Read the strategy book

How to work with challenging fee-earner behaviour?

We considered the challenges of working with fee-earners. Whilst the majority of fee-earners are collaborative and supportive, sometimes there can be difficulties in the relationship with MBD professionals. Fee-earners may be resistant to change, closed to new ideas, arrogant, stubborn or biased.

Developing our emotional intelligence skills (especially empathy) is a great first step. What is emotional intelligence and why is it important? (kimtasso.com). There was a group exercise where we tried to imagine what senior fee-earners might discuss at a Board meeting.

Having a greater appreciation of different personality types and communication styles will also help. For example: dog, cat and bear personalities – Better business relationships (kimtasso.com).

Improved influencing and persuasion skills are something we gain with experience Influence and persuasion skills with Aristotle and Knights and Dinosaurs (kimtasso.com)

Several delegates identified the need to be more confident and assertive during interactions. These resources may help:

One delegate commented that her challenge was fee-earners who constantly change their mind. She prepares a brief and a plan and initiates implementation. And then substantial changes are requested. And this happens repeatedly. The short answer is to build education into the conversation. Walk the fee-earner through each step of the process in advance. And consider the decision points and options at each step. While it might take time at the outset, it will save time (and tears) once you get started. Another issue might be that the fee-earner keeps seeking the advice of his or her colleagues. It might help to include some of those colleagues into the initial planning discussion. Or you could adopt a more agile approach to your planning – communicating after each short “sprint” of activity.

Other resources to help you work with challenging fee-earner behaviour include:

Resources to help you deal with difficult interactions (kimtasso.com)

Soft skills – Dealing with difficult conversations (kimtasso.com)

Dealing with resistance to change (kimtasso.com)

fixed views and closed to new ideas (dealing with stubbornness) (kimtasso.com)

Dealing with “difficult” people – Nine strategies for dealing with arrogance (kimtasso.com)

What do you do when your boss is a micro-managing control freak? (kimtasso.com)

Confidence – How to get a word in when people keep talking (kimtasso.com)

Stakeholder management and buy-in session (kimtasso.com)

What do you do when a male colleague doesn’t like women? (gender bias) (kimtasso.com)

Future Marketing (BD) Manager – Ogres, Cacti and Dance the POLCA (kimtasso.com)

How do I deal with difficult partners? – Kim Tasso

How to build a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?

The HR teams in most firms will have personal development plan (PDP) templates. If not, line managers, coaches and mentors may have resources for you. If you’re still looking – here is some inspiration (and I used AI to help!)

Personal Information

Name:
Role:
Date:
Supervisor/Coach:

Career Vision and Goals

Short-term career goals (1-2 years) – these should be SMART
Long-term career goals (3-5 years) – you may want to visualise different scenarios and options taking account of your personal aspirations

Self-Assessment

Current strengths:
- Identify 3-5 strengths related to mindset, technical skills and soft skills. Think about your achievements. Seek feedback from others for balance. Review your past appraisals. Look at professional competency frameworks Preparing M&BD professionals for the future – learning, skills (kimtasso.com). Consider using skills assessments
Compare with others
- Consider other people in similar roles in other (smaller/larger) firms. Look at what they do and how they do it. Think about the role models you admire. Review research and benchmark data (e.g. International Marketing Benchmark 2024 from Meridian West (kimtasso.com). Browse job boards – including those in other sectors. Think about your similarities and differences
Consider how your personal brand will develop How to create and promote your personal brand – Kim Tasso
Areas for Improvement:
- Identify 3-5 areas for improvement that align with your career goals

Development Areas and Action Plan

The following example may help

Development Area	Description of Focus	Actions/Steps	Resources/Support Needed	Timeline	Measurement of Success
Mindset	e.g. Develop a growth mindset	Attend a leadership workshop, read relevant books	Leadership mentor, reading list	3 months	Increased resilience in challenges
Technical Skills	e.g. Enhance digital marketing skills	Complete a Google Analytics certification course	Training program, online courses	6 months	Certification completion
Knowledge	e.g. Industry-specific knowledge	Subscribe to industry publications, attend webinars	Subscriptions, conference attendance	Ongoing	Deeper industry insights
Soft Skills	e.g. Improve communication skills	Join a public speaking club, get feedback from peers	Peer feedback, external training programs	6 months	Confident in public presentations
Technology Skills	e.g. Master CRM tools like HubSpot	Attend CRM-specific workshops, practice with real-life cases	HubSpot tutorials, internal system access	4 months	Proficiency in CRM operations

Learning and Development Goals

Learning preferences and study habits
- Consider how you learn best and your learning habits
- Explore the learning resources available at your firm, in your industry and professional groups and in marketing and business development media
- Think how you will incorporate learning into your weekly schedule
Continuous Learning approach:
- Short-term: What specific skills or knowledge areas will you focus on over the next six months?
- Long-term: What learning resources (e.g. certifications, advanced courses, networking opportunities) will help you achieve your five-year goals?
- Reflection Plan: How will you ensure regular reflection on your progress (e.g., monthly journal entries, quarterly check-ins with a mentor)?

Note that the Skills Development – PM Forum provides lots of resources to help you

Mentorship and Networking Strategy

Mentor/Mentoring:
- Who can guide you in your current development? How will you seek feedback and advice?
- Remember that there is a free mentoring service for members of the PM Forum Mentor Match – PM Forum
Networking:
- What networking events, industry groups, or professional associations will you join to grow your network? Check out PM Forum events Events & webinars – PM Forum

Review and Accountability

Quarterly Review:
- What progress have you made? What adjustments need to be made to your action plan?
Yearly Review:
- How have you grown in your role? What new goals have emerged based on the market changes and your evolving career?

Here’s more professional services marketing career guidance: How to advance your career in professional services marketing (kimtasso.com)

During the introductory session on building a personal brand (How to create and promote your personal brand – Kim Tasso), delegates shared the sayings that reflected their personal values. It was wonderful to have contributions in Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Whatever will be, will be
Everyday is a school day
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
In order to learn, you have to just start learning
Fake it til you make it (in relation to confidence)
If you can’t hunt with a dog, use a cat
C’est en forgeant qu’on devient forgeron (It is by practice that you become a blacksmith)
Un pasito a la vez (One step at a time)

Other future marketing and business development manager questions

There were lots of questions and discussions throughout the day. I’ve highlighted a couple of the key questions.

How do you bridge the gap between firm strategy and divisional business development plans?
- The challenge here is alignment around common goals
- Be more strategic: Top-down or bottom-up, marketing (kimtasso.com)

Can you explain the benefits of different strategies?
- This required a lengthy explanation! In essence, understanding your external environment, internal resources and goals should help you select the strategy(ies) that will be most effective in helping you achieve them. There is rarely a “one size fits all” strategy. Some relevant resources:
  - Strategies for developing a private client practice – Business development (kimtasso.com)
  - Referrer Management Strategies – Rationale and Challenges (kimtasso.com)

There are so many marketing theories and frameworks, which would you consider the most important or impactful?
- Another excellent question requiring a nuanced answer
- Breakout discussions revealed that the most commonly used frameworks (many of which are summarised here: Marketing planning in a nutshell – simple and complex plans (kimtasso.com) ) were:
  - PESTLE Be more strategic – PESTLE, Positioning and Plans (kimtasso.com)
  - SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
  - Competitor analysis Pitching, differentiation and competitor analysis (kimtasso.com)
  - Ansoff’s product matrix
  - 4 or 7Ps
  - Client listening
  - Client profiling
- One group offered the following framework (5Rs)
  - Review the past and markets
  - Research opportunities and threats
  - Refine objectives and target markets and choose a strategy
  - Resources – stakeholders and budgets and time
  - Results and ROI
- The general view was the SOSTAC™ framework for strategic marketing planning provided a solid foundation
- This older book critiques the most common marketing frameworks The Marketer’s Handbook: Reassessing marketing techniques (kimtasso.com)
- This book provides an overview of the most commonly used strategy frameworks: Book review: The Strategy Book by Max McKeown (kimtasso.com)

I think I understand, but can you please explain segmentation?
- I remarked that segmentation is often a weak spot in many of the marketing plans that I see
- Segmentation is the process of dividing the market of potential clients into smaller groups based on similar interests, characteristics or needs. It enables you to then tailor your product, service or proposition more precisely to the needs of the market
- Many professional services firms use segmentation to identify a niche that they can then dominate
- It is further complicated in professional services as some firms have to manage consumer (B2C) segments as well as business (B2B) segments
- Many professional service firms use a segmentation strategy based on industry sector. They then manage a matrix of markets and sectors.
- Marketing and BD planning – Segmentation, Rock Stars and Engagement (kimtasso.com)
- Sales Targeting Toolbox for Professional Services Firms (kimtasso.com)

How important is the pricing in a pitch?

Pricing is important as it has a direct impact on profit
Typically, the firm will have an overall pricing strategy (typically around fee rates for different levels of seniority and expertise – or perhaps for markets) which is established by the leadership team with input from finance. Sadly, it is rare that marketing and business development input is sought as pricing (covering economics, finance and behavioural science) is a marketing discipline. Some professional services firms have pricing analysts
Tactical pricing decisions will be made for specific clients and tenders. Many factors might be considered including: how important it is to win (or retain) the work, the potential long term value of the client, the length of the client relationship, the need for cash in the business, the capacity of the fee-earners and the desirability of winning that particular work (for example, market entry or market leadership)
Negotiations after winning a pitch may focus on achieving further discounts for the client (e.g. in return for a particular volume of work or length of contract). Careful financial modelling should support these discussions as even a small discount can drastically impact profitability
There is a link between price and perception. If there has been a lot of investment in a particular branding strategy and positioning and the pricing is not aligned, credibility and perception may be affected

PS I promised to share the output of one group’s creative output on working more effectively with fee-earners

Is your partner just too busy?

Is the ego race getting silly?

The key is to get them really excited

And then they’ll be totally delighted

Make sure that you’re ready and prepared

With a plan where they won’t be scared

Always strive to show them the benefits

Or else you’ll never hear the end of it

There’s nothing like some friendly competition

So tell them what’s going on in another division

Aims and insights of the delegates

How to work with challenging fee-earner behaviour?

How to build a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?

Personal Information

Career Vision and Goals

Self-Assessment

Development Areas and Action Plan

Learning and Development Goals

Mentorship and Networking Strategy

Review and Accountability

Other future marketing and business development manager questions

Related posts on marketing and business development managers in professional services

Tags

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Book review: Unleash the power of storytelling by Rob Biesenbach

Future marketing and BD managers – Managing challenging behaviour and Personal Development Plans (PDP)

Aims and insights of the delegates

How to work with challenging fee-earner behaviour?

How to build a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?

Personal Information

Career Vision and Goals

Self-Assessment

Development Areas and Action Plan

Learning and Development Goals

Mentorship and Networking Strategy

Review and Accountability

Other future marketing and business development manager questions

Related posts on marketing and business development managers in professional services

Tags

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