Talking Heads
PSMG managing partner Gail Jaffa chats to long-time colleague Diane Iselin of Troutman Pepper in New York about the challenges in adapting business cultures; the dangers of not being ‘present’, and why we all need to develop and guard our personal brand.
Talking Heads
This year’s PSMG summit featured a ‘fireside chat’ on 'The Future of Business Development' led by Alexander Low, MD of DCM Insights. We asked two panellists - James Davidge, head of origination at Taylor Wessing, and Raya Blakeley-Glover, global head of business development and sales, Bird & Bird – for a recap, starting with their use of the Activator mindset across their BDMC and fee earning teams.
Raya Blakeley-Glover, Global Head of Business Development & Sales, Bird & Bird
raya.blakeley-glover@twobirds.com
Q: What role is business development playing in Activator at your firm? And does this differ by role or function?
James Davidge (JD): We provided a playback of the study, its findings and how Taylor Wessing fared at the UK partner conference at the beginning of 2024. We've since given the same presentation to fee earner cohorts from newly qualified through to senior counsel, as well as to the whole BDMC team. It's especially important for the BDMC team to live and breathe the '3 C's' (Commit, Connect, Create) so we can better guide those we advise. But it’s also so we can have a greater part to play in business development – something that has evolved considerably in the last 20 years from PR and parties to being trusted advisers tasked with pursuing opportunities and driving change. Doing BD rather than working in BD is key.
Raya Blakeley- Glover (RBG): We are pursuing a full Activator training programme for our partnership, using a “train the trainer” approach, meaning our MBD team is delivering the Activator development system to the business. This gives our team new skills and makes them subject matter experts in the Activator approach, which they can also apply to their own roles. Beyond those delivering training, our MBD team across the entire function are fully embracing and embedding Activator. From pitch to BD to events, we want Activator best practice to guide “how we do BD” at Bird & Bird so that we can effectively implement change.
Q: What does success look like?
JD: Of course, the end game is profitable revenue growth. But it's the incremental improvement of all within the business that drives us. We want everyone to pursue the Activator mindset so there's marginal gains throughout the business. If everyone across Taylor Wessing improves by just 1%, collectively, that would add up to 1,200 incremental gains. More conversations, more joining the dots, more hunting in packs, more connecting with other partners and one another's clients, working proactively together. That's the aim.
RBG: I agree with James. While new opportunities and revenue growth are two important metrics, overall, we want to see our lawyers empowered and confident to sell the firm, develop their practices, and win work. And we want MBD to feel like they can use Activator to have a more strategic and substantive role.
Q: How are you tracking and measuring post-training?
JD: Our training has been a programme of sessions using a range of external speakers plus more toolkits and guides. So, it’s a little different to Raya's approach at Bird & Bird. We measure engagement through our Intapp dashboards which are shared across the partnership in board reports. Tracking BD activity, from conference and trip attendance to calls, meetings and referrals, the greater the spread, engagement and quality of these activities, moves us away from an anecdotal attitude to accelerating growth with analysis. Without the ability to accurately record, track and interpret data points, you're flying blind, so a decent CRM has also been key to drive behavioural change.
RBG: We’re using the Activator programme’s models of tracked BD commitments, ongoing coaching and measurement post-training. Participants make BD commitments at the end of their course, which are shared with their coaching cohort for accountability. Participants are also surveyed at three, six- and twelve-months post-programme, across a range of metrics including network growth, opportunities generated and more. Like James and Taylor Wessing, we’re looking at how DealCloud can enable partners to track and measure BD activities and collaborate more with each other.
“We want everyone within the business to pursue the activator mindset so there's marginal gains across the business. If everyone improves by just 1%, collectively, that will add up to 1,200 incremental gains. More conversations, more joining the dots, more hunting in packs, more connecting with other partners and one another's clients, working proactively together.”
“We want everyone within the business to pursue the activator mindset so there's marginal gains across the business. If everyone improves by just 1%, collectively, that will add up to 1,200 incremental gains. More conversations, more joining the dots, more hunting in packs, more connecting with other partners and one another's clients, working proactively together.”
Q: How are you maintaining momentum and embedding change?
JD: Consistency and communication. When we kicked off the study, we had two great partner board members sponsor our involvement. Mark Barron, head of innovation, and Emma Danks, head of growth and co-head of corporate. We made sure we had buy-in and support from practice and sector leaders, as well as the managing partner and BD teams before we kicked off our involvement, so it wasn't a big surprise when we launched. Because we did that, we have shared the learnings and findings across the business - not just within the confines of partners. That means we had much greater engagement overall, and still have that engagement and enthusiasm a year on.
RBG: We have an ongoing multimedia internal comms campaign to generate interest in the programme and share successes, which includes news stories, intranet pages, and highlighting programme participants as Activators in our network. We’ve also launched a sales app with BD tools, templates and inspiration, which includes great Activator content. Everyone in the firm has access and can use it to keep their training up or access specific resources when they need them. Finally, we’re looking at those who’ve been through the programme. Both MBD and lawyers can “teach back” the content to their teams to help embed what they’ve learned as on-going habits - and to inspire more people to try an Activator approach.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you’re facing with this programme?
JD: Time. As Alex Low and the DCMi team state, our fee earners are the doer-seller. So, time is precious, and limited. However, the findings and the succinct three pillars of the Activator mindset has I think made the '15 minutes' a day approach/'do the basics of these things consistently' seem a lot more scalable.
RBG: Making change stick. It’s great to have an impactful training session, but we’ve got to ensure we have the right infrastructure to take the training out of the classroom and into the day-to-day business development activities of both our MBD team and our lawyers.
Q: Why do you think it works and what has been the impact?
JD: One of the major parts is down to the fact our partners where part of it. Seventy-five per-cent in the UK, Ireland and Middle East took part. So, it was undeniable. But the study also featured just under a third of partners from the legal profession. Sometimes studies of this kind don’t quite have the same impact if it's a complimentary industry, but there's several of our peer group involved and that really makes it tangible.
RBG: Three reasons: (1) It’s data-backed and is based around a changing and more competitive market that we all have experienced. That really helps overcome scepticism and breaks down resistance to trying something new. (2) Measurement – Participants are measured before and after training, which allows us to really show that it’s working, both in mindset and behaviour. (3) Adaptability – The principles can work in a variety of contexts and at different levels. That helps us work around challenges like, “that doesn’t apply to my clients or practice,” or “that doesn’t apply to my role.” We share real, live examples of the Activator approach working from our firm to demonstrate how the content is adaptable and therefore relevant to all.