Customizable Management Training Workshops

Debbie Foster has been delighting and inspiring legal industry audiences for over 20 years. Offering topics ranging from mindful leadership to mastering communication—and a flexible format that includes both lectures and group activities—Debbie helps you take your management training program to the next level.

WORKSHOP FORMAT

AVAILABLE SESSIONS

Mastering Communication

Whether you are charged with leading others or just looking for more effective ways to get your point across, becoming a student of communication is critical. This session offers the actionable insight you need to deal with difficult people, influence others, resolve conflicts, and confidently convey the right message at the right time. Attendees will:

• Identify their unique communication styles.
• Discover the best ways to communicate with others based on their needs and preferences.
• Examine best practices for conflict resolution.

Dealing with Communication Breakdowns

A high percentage of practice-management and client-relations problems are caused by poor communication—from decreased productivity and preventable errors to dissatisfied clients and malpractice actions. The growing number of communication channels available in today’s legal organizations only compounds the problem. In this session, you’ll examine technologies and techniques that help you to improve your team’s internal and external communication, lower stress, improve customer service, delight your clients, and decrease your malpractice risk. Attendees will:

• Explore the impacts of poor communication on productivity, trust, and corporate culture, as well as reliability and professionalism.
• Discover ways to eliminate frustrating communication breakdowns.
• Develop techniques to improve internal and external communication.

Law Firm Leadership

Think the only leaders in your firm are the partners? Think again! The most successful firms rely on the leadership of key employees from every corner of the organization. This session will give specific examples of how employees at every level of the company can to turn everyday challenges into opportunities using the proven techniques of highly successful leaders. Attendees will:

• Learn to identify and leverage their own leadership skills to benefit the organization.
• Develop specific leadership strategies and techniques.
• Discover ways to support other leaders across your organization.

The Importance of Leadership AND Management

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” While this is certainly a great quote from Peter Drucker, there is more to it than that. To improve the leadership and management at our firms, we must understand the differences between the two, as well as the importance of investing our time and energy in developing highly effective leaders and managers. This session explores the distinctions between leadership and management and offers practical tips for improving performance in both areas. Attendees will:

• Learn why leadership and management are not the same.
• Discover practical ways to communicate and teach the differences between the two.
• Develop strategies to cultivate their own leadership and management skills, as well as those of their team members.

Transforming the Workplace through Mindful Leadership

Creativity and innovation are key to building sustainable, competitive legal organizations. The challenge for leaders is to create and foster environments that encourage out-of-the-box thinking, agility, and innovative change. This session introduces a mindful leadership model that helps legal organizations better respond to and evolve with changes in the industry and the workforce. Attendees will:

• Learn how to harness the power of the pause.
• Discover the power of action versus reaction.
• Learn ways to influence others to come along for the ride.

Managing and Mentoring a Team

Developing and mentoring a team are essential skills for a great leader. Law firm management professionals have the added responsibility of holding other leaders accountable for effectively managing teams. This session will focus on identifying leadership strengths and the needs of a team. We’ll also discuss how you can keep your teams healthy so they are functioning as productively as possible.

Attendees will:

• Identify their teams’ commonalities and differences.
• Explore the root causes of inefficiency and communication styles.
• Determine the best ways to apply tools, communication skills, and perspective to improve team productivity.

Finding Common Ground in a Multi-Generational Workplace

Does your firm have a mix of Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials? This session is all about understanding what motivates each group and learning to use this insight to help with workplace communication and employee retention. Learn how to use this valuable generational mix to your advantage in order to make your workplace more productive. Attendees will:

• Explore the differences and similarities of each generation in the workforce.
• Discover how generational communication styles affect productivity and retention.
• Develop specific strategies to leverage each generation’s strengths in order to improve the team as a whole.

8 Things Killing Your Law Firm—And How to Stop Them

The business of law isn’t what it used to be. Competition is up and margins are down. Clients demand value from their lawyers and are willing to shop around to find it. Lawyers face increasing competition from customary rivals as well as emerging online DIY companies that have commoditized many legal services. These pressures are forcing lawyers to re-examine their practices and processes. In this session, attendees will:

• Discover Lean Six Sigma, an approach that relies on a collaborative effort to improve performance by eliminating waste.
• Identify the most common types of waste in legal organizations.
• Learn how to find and remove waste in their own practices.

Click below to talk to one of our team members to discuss your event, and the fees/costs associated with Debbie joining you!