In the second of two articles, Jo Larbie explains how to succeed in this challenging environment by building a supportive team that will deliver your firm’s goals - while making managing directors and managing partners look good. Becoming an effective leadership team Are you really a team or just a group of individuals who meet once a month? To function [...]
It’s a well-known fact that leading and managing within a professional services firm can be a thankless responsibility; these roles are often ill-defined and it can be tough keeping outspoken partners in-line. In the first of two articles, Jo Larbie explains how to succeed in this challenging environment by building a supportive team that will deliver your firm’s goals - while [...]
From the Archives At a friend’s instigation, I attended an evening event at the RSA. Modestly entitled ‘How to Change the Future’, the lecture promised to tackle ‘How we solve the seemingly intractable economic, social and environmental challenges we face in the 21st century’. Frankly cynical after a long day, I could hear my sofa calling. Having read and enjoyed [...]
First Flight is a search and selection consultancy specializing in recruiting Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. They have successfully completed in the region of 170 non-executive directors' assignments across all sectors – clients include AIM listed and FTSE fledgling companies, unquoted companies, mutuals, Friendly Societies, SMEs, growth companies, family-owned companies, investment trusts, not-for-profit organisations, UK subsidiaries of multinationals and angel/VC/PE-backed companies. Chris [...]
What was once more commonly known as outplacement is now increasingly being referred to as career transition. The latter more accurately describes the process as it focuses on the future, inherently enshrines the concept of change and implies that this is a journey, and not an event. Whatever the specific reason that people find themselves seeking alternative roles in their professional life, [...]
Making partner is not an end in itself but the first step in what one hopes will be a rewarding role and a happy personal and professional experience. Many firms now have quite sophisticated (or protracted at least) selection processes to admit new partners, and these processes often allow candidates to learn more about themselves and how they wish to [...]
Quite often when we talk about work-based performance we think about competence in fairly narrow terms and/or conduct, i.e. when someone consistently fails to meet expectations in terms of effectiveness in their role, or if aspects of their behaviour breach the expected standard. Such circumstances are usually dealt with by employing standard processes and approaches designed not only to [...]
Why professional ethics and integrity are key to excellent service, market reputation and, ultimately, business success? As a former HRD operating in a number of regulated environments, I was very interested recently to attend a conference which examined how private wealth and asset management firms were responding to changes in the regulatory landscape – and a little surprised that [...]