Did you set some career goals for 2007?  If so, you are like many lawyers who start the new year eager to improve their rainmaking, time management, delegation skills, and the like.  But, as January goes on they begin to fall behind…

Lawyer coaches help their lawyer clients set and reach attainable goals.  How do they do this? 

First, a lawyer coach help clients determine and define their specific goals, adjusting the goals along the way, as needed.  (If you want to set some goals for 2007 on your own, please refer to my post on Lawyers’ Goals for 2007.)  For many attorneys, finally articulating their goals is exciting and anxiety relieving; many attorneys have vague ideas about what they want to change in their lives, but have not yet figured out how to achieve that change.

Once the goals have been defined, then, like an Olympic coach, a lawyer coach holds her/his client accountable.  An attorney coach encourages and motivates the client.  And, when appropriate, the coach helps the client tweak the goals, all with the objective of giving the client the career–and life–that the client wants.

Last year I started working with a lawyer who heads her own firm.  Her law practice was stagnating, and her spouse had grown tired of nagging her to make it more profitable.  Through coaching, she articulated her goals.  We devised specific strategies for brining in new clients, making her support staff more profuctive, upgrading her office technology and increasing her visibility in the community. We then broke the goals into smaller, more manageable steps. 

Along the way I suggested other resources that she could use to improve her practice.  We worked on specific communication strategies that she could use to get more productivity from her secretary and paralegal.  We also created ways to encourage referals from more senior lawyers

Now she comes to each coaching session eager to report her progress–which is considerable.  Over the span of several months she developed a new website, efficient office systems, better delegation skills, publicity in several legal publications–and more business. 

Being accountable to me as her coach at each session (and often between sessions) helped her to achieve her goals.

Do you need a coach to help you reach your goals in 2007?