CLE Leadership & Management
Ideas, Resources, and Techniques for
CLE Professionals
A periodic e-newsletter
By Chuck Bingaman - chuck@chuckbingaman.com
#27 March 2006
Leadership  In his February “Human Factor” column in
Business 2.0, Jeffrey Pfeffer profiles the unique “leaderless” structure
of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the benefits it has found in having
no conductor! He notes two serious problems with strong leaders: others quell
their own—often valuable—voices and they tend to focus solely
on their own roles while failing to develop new skills. In Orpheus, by contrast,
everyone plays a range of roles, and the result is a sense of ownership that
delivers a collective mindset and spirit that is reflected in the quality
and creativity of the music. Make sure ALL of your CLE “players” are
treated like and held accountable as leaders--not relegated to obscurity
by those with titles and degrees that may hinder innovation and creativity
on everyone’s parts.
Management
May
1 is Law Day in the USA. Now is the time to plan for using
the day to remind your staff, your board and your customers of the importance
of the rule of
law and your organization’s role in it. How about a special homepage
on your web site for the day or week? How about a special note in all brochures
for a few weeks leading up to May 1? How about special listings of your board
or governing committee in brochures leading up to the date pointing out how
their contributions of time and effort support the rule of law? How about special
recognitions of your faculty members whose volunteer contributions make your
organization possible? How about a staff brain-storming session now in which
you ask staff members to work with you in finding ways to use this important
holiday to build your organization’s important role in the minds of lawyers?
For many additional ideas on marking this important day, see www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday. Deliver
managerial late winter “picker-uppers” for your staff with informal—but
carefully planned—feedback sessions with EACH staff member in which you
let them know that you notice and appreciate something positive that they contribute
to your enterprise. It doesn’t have to be a formal, “in your office
with the door closed” sort of thing—actually it’s better
done at their work area, quick, to the point and light. And NOT tied to compensation!
You’ll be surprised and pleased with peoples’ response to a little
positive recognition! We all need it from time to time! (Sort of the opposite
approach of a business owner I know whose employee development approach is “I’ll
let you know when you’re doing something wrong”! Needless to say,
his staff turnover is brisk!)
Make
sure the valuable tool of Reconsideration is in your CLE managerial toolbox!
That’s the valuable cluster of traits (including courage, flexibility,
ego control, and humility) that can enable you to recognize where a previous
decision or commitment needs changing in mid-stream. Maybe that course idea,
book project or technology initiative that looked so good going in doesn’t
look so good when you‘re halfway in or maybe that personnel choice looked
brilliant initially but isn’t working now. Reconsideration is OK! Changing
directions, even if you fear some will look askance at you, may be the best
path for your organization in the long—or even short—run. Consider
it!
Resources As
Ralph Elliott invited us to do in his Tucson ACLEA
presentation, I checked out his web site for helpful materials. In
fact, it provides
several terrific White Papers with valuable ideas every CLE staff should
read, discuss and use. See odce.clemson.edu/esm/eventmarketing.htm Want
some fresh, creative learning for yourself or your staff on hip design
for selling your CLE products and services? See Chuck Green’s
www.ideabook.com. It’s full of great papers, examples, downloads,
newsletters and practical ideas for spicing up your advertising pieces. I’ll
be attending the 20th Annual ABA TechShow in April and preparing a
detailed, personalized report for a few CLE consulting clients. My
report will distill a wealth of CLE programming, faculty, corporate
sponsor, legal technology, logo’d gift, and other valuable new
ideas for CLE leaders. See www.techshow.com for full conference information.
If you cannot attend but would like to discuss my preparing a detailed
report for you, please call me at 603-756-9268.
Please
keep in touch! CCB
Following 20 years as Executive Director of a major American CLE organization,
Chuck now consults and teaches on strategic planning, marketing, CLE executive
hiring, and management challenges with CLE and other legal organizations, law
firms, law schools and others. He also offers economical in-house training
through conference call courses for CLE and bar association staffs. He welcomes
your inquiries on projects designed to enhance your organization’s effectiveness.
You can contact
him at chuck@chuckbingaman.com, at 1-603-756-9268, or at P.O. Box 390, Walpole,
NH, USA 03068-0390. Past issues of this newsletter are archived at www.chuckbingaman.com.
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