It’s our pleasure to reintroduce Jennifer Johnson Scalzi, Founder & CEO, Calibrate Legal, a management consulting and executive search firm focused on “helping law firms position themselves at the forefront of the next era of the legal industry.” Jennifer will author a series of blog posts that underscore the importance of talent and culture in today’s modern law firm – bringing to the forefront issues such as the hard and soft benefits people look for in their search; the role that innovation, collaboration, and data play in today’s legal landscape; as well as the generational differences that exist among them. We look forward to Jennifer’s commentary and encourage you to ask questions you may have for her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
By Jennifer Johnson Scalzi:
One of the essential questions we ask talent is, “What does it look like when you are at your highest and best – firm size, disposition, culture, etc.?” The question gets people to a place of thinking about how they would like to function in ideal job scenarios.
We then counter those thoughts with, “Keep in mind we all have to do stuff we don’t want to do in every job.” That always solicits a laugh, but it’s true.
When you take the time to step back and consider your best days at work – when you felt energized and accomplished – what happened?
There are common themes among the responses. Marketing professionals seek:
- Transparency – Law firms are opaque in nature and more often than not the marketing professionals are not dialed into the overarching strategy. If they do not understand the firm’s strategic plan and financials, they cannot help at the level either of you desire.
- Leadership – Business professionals want a firm led by a person or group of people who have a vision and are steadfast in achieving their goals. Those goals may be grounded in business principles that do not jibe with the law firms of yore, but they follow the proven records of businesses who came before them. They say what they will do and what they won’t do, and they stand strong, especially with vocal partners.
- Inclusiveness – Including business services professionals in the day-to-day conversations of the business is key. They pick up on nuances that others may not and then connect dots to the advantage of the firm. Excluding them from conversations – both seemingly mundane, e.g. an office move, as well as strategic, e.g. a potential merger – equates to playing basketball with one arm tied behind your back. Business services professionals want to be included; take advantage of the insights they alone can bring.
- Contribution – Marketing professionals want to make a direct impact and leave their imprints on something. When a key project or initiative goes well and can be directly tied to accelerating growth or driving value, they are professionally satisfied as well as personally fulfilled. When they are asked their opinion on topics large and small, they feel as if their voice matters and they are part of the business at hand.
- Action – It is an exciting time to be in the legal industry. Marketers want to be working for firms who embrace innovation and change management and allow business services professionals to be proactive.
The firms who pay attention to these themes and provide such a platform will have a distinct advantage in recruiting top tier talent.
Thanks, Jennifer for this interesting view of the marketing legal professional. Explore more perspectives and learnings in Intapp’s point of view on the Modern Chief Marketing Officer.