Today, we’re talking about a sense of urgency in professional services firms. There are (considerable!) benefits to knowing when to speed up and when to slow down. Having the skill to do that can be a game-changer in terms of keeping your team productive and motivated, reducing turnover, maximizing the value of your business development efforts and retaining client loyalty.

This conversation explores the full range of situations where sometimes a sense of urgency is:
- Completely lacking and, as a result, leaders experience the frustration of lost opportunities
- Non-stop go-go-go because leaders have lost their ability to distinguish true from false urgency

In this episode, we share stories and ideas from our own experiences of ramping up our response rate to slowing down and making space for planning, coordinating and collaborating. We even suggest some specific ideas to try if you are running into typical inner obstacles like perfectionism, hypervigilance and people pleasing.

The tools we share (including leadership presence, communication strategies, priority management systems and ways to balance teams) have worked for us. So, we encourage our listeners to draw on these hard-won insights!

To learn more about Fran Jakubowicz, please go to SunHouseMarketing.com.

You're listening to Get in the Driver’s Seat! We’re telling stories about leadership moments in small to mid-sized professional practices. I’m your host, Sandra Bekhor, Practice Management Coach for lawyers, architects, consultants and other professionals at Bekhor Management.

Today, we're talking about something different. Creative hobbies and the benefits they can bring to lawyers and other professionals.

What do you do when you finally have some quiet time, after a long and stressful day of lawyering? For many, the answer includes some mindless scrolling, binge-watching, going for a run or diving into a great book. And sometimes that can be exactly what we need to give our minds and bodies a break. But other times, it leaves us lacking. We need something that goes beyond helping us slow down and, instead, actually fills our cup back up.

Well, in this podcast, Karen and I talk about how a creative hobby can be that something that inspires and energizes you every day, even on days when you feel drained or depleted.

In this episode, we share stories and ideas from our own experiences of leaning into art, including getting started, keeping it going, fitting it into a busy life, taking it with you wherever you go and overcoming fears of the blank page. We even suggest some specific ideas to try if this is all a bit new to you.

Despite what our teachers or society may have taught or told us over the years, we're all creative. You can do this. You might even love it.

To learn more about Karen Dunn Skinner, please go to https://www.leanlegal.academy/.

You're listening to Get in the Driver’s Seat! We’re telling stories about leadership moments in small to mid-sized professional practices. I’m your host, Sandra Bekhor, Practice Management Coach for lawyers, architects, consultants and other professionals at Bekhor Management.

Today, we're looking at DEI from a different perspective, completely. Rather than the shoulds of it, we're addressing the why and the how of doing it right.

The landscape of professional services firms is somewhat divided when it comes to the difficult topic of DEI. Some firms have policies. Some don’t. Some are open to learning more. Some are disillusioned, disappointed are disinclined. Further still, following the basic requirements may not have had much of an impact and, as a result, there are new or lingering concerns and uncertainty about the value of these programs.

Some of the questions that came up in this episode, include:

• Why it's in your interest to do DEI right.
• What does it mean to do DEI right?
• How can DEI make your firm stronger?
• What are firms getting wrong about DEI?
• What are the missed opportunities with DEI in professional practice?

Skillfully tackling this sensitive topic and sharing actual experiences with me is Michelle Davis. To learn more about Michelle, please go to mvdconsulting.ca.

You're listening to Get in the Driver’s Seat! We’re telling stories about leadership moments in small to mid-sized professional practices. I’m your host, Sandra Bekhor, Practice Management Coach for lawyers, architects, consultants and other professionals at Bekhor Management.