Strong leadership

CILEX chair Professor Chris Bones reflects on what makes an effective leader and what these standards tell us about leadership in the legal profession 

Leadership, integrity, ethics and role models in public life have all been at the centre of media coverage over the past few months. Whether we look at the travails of the prime minister, and indeed more recently the leader of the opposition, or the behaviour of elected representatives in our various parliaments towards those they work with, leaders, the nature of leadership in public life and the expectations we should have of those who represent us have been centre stage.

Alongside this, the past couple of years have seen another narrative on the nature of leadership, where the state, or organisations approved by the state, failed to take proper care of vulnerable children or adults, resulting in physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Without getting sucked into the debate on ‘Partygate’ in these pages or repeating the conclusions of the several reviews and other reports on leadership failures in the NHS, for example, I think there are some high-level themes that we can draw from the vast amount of airtime and column inches that have been applied to the issue of the behaviour of those entrusted with a leadership role, elected or appointed.

Clear expectations

Regardless of where we are and what we do, there are clear expectations that we have for those who take leadership roles in our society. They apply equally to community leadership in schools, churches and organisations such as the scouts, guides or youth sport as they do to those we elect to public office and who in turn appoint others to ensure that public services are delivered to agreed expectations. They are also true for leadership in law firms, in-house teams and the justice system.

People can be leaders, yet not be successful. In my work in business schools, I’ve always talked about effective leadership and as part of my teaching I ask people to think about what this means. Over the years, thousands of them have shared their thoughts on when they have been led well and less well, considering where the differences lie. Every time I do this exercise, I get broadly the same answers, identifying effective leadership as:

• Committing over time to a clear purpose to achieve a greater good than mere personal success and getting others to buy into that purpose and work to achieve it over time;
• Having clear and consistent values that are widely shared and supported and that underpin what you do and what you reward others for doing;
• Being transparent in decision-making and putting the greater good (the team, the firm, the public interest or the country) ahead of personal gain;
• Being consistent in the principles you apply to decision-making – predictability is important in building trust and understanding with others;
• Looking to unite, bring with you and engage those you lead around a common understanding of the issues to be addressed and the direction of travel taken to resolve them;
• Being willing to reconsider and change if the evidence says what is being done isn’t working – after all its not the detail of a plan that’s important, it’s the shared goal;
• Taking accountability for what goes wrong as well as what goes right and supporting your people to get things right; and
• Standing up for what’s right, challenging what is not and asking the questions that need asking to assure yourself all is as it should be. Meek acceptance of what is reported by those with power in organisations is poor governance: shining lights in dark places is an important part of effective governance. Never dismiss what you hear informally without testing for evidence first.

Looking back at many of your responses to the major survey we conducted last year, your experiences as employees in the legal sector suggest that effective leadership is not much in evidence.

“There is a leadership challenge in legal services and the justice system, and we are beginning to look for ways to address, and in doing so, improve the employment experience of our members” 

After all, leaders who adopted the principles above would not, for example, refuse to fund CILEX qualifications whilst funding those for solicitors, nor would they continue to under-recognise CILEX Lawyers for development into senior roles.

There is a leadership challenge in legal services and the justice system and we are beginning to look for ways to address, and in doing so, improve the employment experience of our members.

Future leaders

A large number of you are yourselves leaders in legal organisations or aspire to become one in the future. We as a profession want to provide far more leaders in the justice system and appear to have government support for doing this. As we move forward with the changes government is consulting on and support your aspirations to become leaders in legal services and the justice system, it is important to share these more general leadership standards and to think about how they might guide your own career aspirations.

I do so with one final ‘standard’, which is my own. I call it the ‘mum test’. If you’re unsure whether or not to do something in a position of responsibility, then think about it appearing all over the press or social media and ask yourself: what would my mum think if she saw that?

We have introduced the subject of ethics into our CPQ. We understand that this isn’t just technical professional ethics of the trust placed in you as a lawyer by your clients – it has a wider resonance. It’s about who you are as a leader as well as a lawyer. Both are equally important.

A final reflection and a contrast to where my thoughts started. The Platinum Jubilee celebrations enabled many of us to participate in recognising a leadership landmark as well as the longevity of our current monarch.

The Queen, our head of state, has little power today beyond that which adjoins ceremony. Yet the consistency, decency and integrity that marks the Queen’s long reign transcends any notions of personal aggrandisement and focuses our minds on leadership as service to a greater good: which, in itself, is worthy of our admiration and appreciation.