Below are my mid-year leadership thoughts on lessons I learned, particularly mistakes I made, as a law firm managing partner earlier this year during the start of the coronavirus.  As we are facing a potential second lockdown, we look forward to testing these lessons again and hopefully creating an even better model for leadership in a time of Zoom.  

Our Strategy to Thrive in, Not Just Survive, the Coronavirus Lockdown 2020 

In early March, like other businesses, we faced the potential of bleak times with the usual fears about slowing client demand for our services, clients not being able to pay their bills, and not knowing how long the coronavirus shutdown was going to last.  Our employees were aware of other law firms announcing rapid layoffs, or at least reducing employee pay.  Our vendors were also anxious about their business and whether their customers were going to pay.  Some of our clients privately expressed concerns about having sufficient capital to survive the crisis.  

To ward off these fears and focus us on moving forward—even if we can only manage one foot forward at a time—we adopted a four-point strategy as a firm:

• Positive Mental Attitude – Being vigilant about keeping a positive attitude, particularly under stress, goes a long way toward progress.  Bonus tip on this: Do not wait until adversity strikes; best to practice the attitude before you need it.

• Put Others First – A close cousin to positive attitude is being proactively “others focused” so that you do not find yourself looping on your own despair or fear about what might happen in the future.  Putting others first also creates a positive energy vibe within the group that builds on itself.

• Productive – Keeping productive, when times are uncertain, helps keep the fear wolf at bay while also moving the ball down the court.  For legal professionals that are graded on billable hours, staying productive is absolutely vital to maintaining a positive mindset through a challenge.  If there is not enough billable work, then do those non-billable projects that have been sitting around.  Whatever you do, do not spend much time worrying about whether there will be work in the future.  Just be productive now.  Create your future today.

• Perspective – Finally, maintaining perspective is another helpful tool during difficult times.  While the coronavirus lockdown may seem horribly painful to some, it will pass eventually.  We have survived much tougher situations.  

Armed with our “4Ps” strategy, we pressed through the virus lockdown from March to June.  While these tools did not make all of the pain go away, they made a tough situation much better.  This experience also made each of us better leaders and followers.  

Avoiding a Domino Run -- Taking a Stand as Business Leader

One thing that struck me early in coronavirus shutdown was the rate at which not only other law firms, but other businesses, began laying off employees, reducing employee pay, not paying vendors, and canceling contracts.  To be clear, I am not sitting in judgment on businesses that made these decisions.  I also am a part owner in a restaurant, so I was able to see the economic carnage firsthand.  These actions, however, caused me to worry about cascading failures in the economy, e.g., a domino run where businesses lay off employees and stop paying vendors, who in turn lay off employees and stop paying their vendors, and so forth.  

We made the decision in March that we would not lay anyone off, would not reduce employee pay, and further, would pay vendors on time.  We even went so far as to offer free or reduced rate services to clients, favorable payment terms, and in some cases, we provided services for no charge.  While I doubt our actions had much impact on the economy, we made this our little stand against the possibility of a severe domino run in the business community.  

I also found that simply calling colleagues, clients, vendors, referral partners, employees, and even competitors to just talk enormously gratifying.  There is a deep well of assurances (and commiseration) a phone call away.  

Rethinking Remote Work and Exploring Generational Differences 

I refer to this as my “leading by Zoom” phase this year.  Full transparency, I am an older Generation X member, who prefers to lead face-to-face as much as possible.  Email is great for communicating information.  But in person is how I became accustomed to project manage groups and inspire.  I find email, Zoom, phone calls, and other mediums difficult to appreciate someone else’s emotional state as well as to communicate mine.  That all ended with the Dallas County lockdown orders in March through May.  

We did the usual strategies adopted by other businesses: periodic Zoom meetings, Zoom happy hours and get togethers, quick phone calls, etc.  By early May, I was pretty much sick of Zoom and began looking for other ways to connect.  This led me to think about generational differences between Gen Xers and Millennials.  All of my bosses were either Baby Boomers or The Silent Generation, so I grew up where “face time” was a requirement of work (e.g., I had bosses that assumed if you were not in your office seat, you were not working regardless of what you actually were doing).  Finding myself in a Millennial-dominated workforce with 100% remote work was challenging to say the least.  

I ultimately came to the conclusion that remote work is doable, and can even be quite successful, as long as the human needs for connection and tribe are addressed.  This requires a flexible approach since different personalities have different needs.  

One of the positives of this experience is these lessons learned.  The lockdown confirmed that our technology supported remote working, and it further confirmed that a virtual working environment coupled with a physical office space presence also works quite well once you get the leadership right (the latter part is more important than the first part).  

Authentic Leadership or Vulnerability?

One of the biggest insights on leadership during crisis I received relates to the “F” word, feelings.  Whether you want to call this “authentic leadership” or simply “being vulnerable,” I found incredible value in sharing emotions as a leader.  Something as simple as “This is hard.  I’ve been struggling a bit.  How are you doing?” goes a long way toward making relationship deposits with others.  Fully listening to others is also a great gift to give.  If you struggle in this area, here is a simple technique to get you started: “I feel ‘X’.  Here’s why….”. 

A Fifth Strategy… Giving Grace

Based on discussions with other leaders, while some employees performed stronger during the lockdown, others struggled.  We adopted a suggestion from business guru Patrick Lencioni to give as much grace as possible to those who struggled during this crisis.  This can be difficult for leaders in times of crisis and clearly, each case is different.  But adversity is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate an organization’s values: how you treat those that struggle will be remembered later.  

Good News So Far

Much of our fears – clients not paying and severe decrease in demand for our services – never fully materialized.  April was brutal for collections, some clients filed bankruptcy, and work slowed down for a month or two.  But our worst fears never happened.  In fact, we were able to grow during the crisis by adding two more professionals, and several great, new clients.  

Since we are facing a possible second lockdown, what are your best lessons learned and leadership thoughts from coronavirus 2020?