For newer generations of lawyers, career satisfaction often means defining success on their own terms and taking an intentional path tied to a greater purpose. Many are seeking additional guidance to help them pursue their desired goals with more agency and ultimately achieve a greater sense of fulfillment.
Foley’s in-house executive coach Anjali Desai co-creates a path forward with each attorney she works with to uncover their intrinsic motivations, harness their innate strengths, and foster planning and accountability. Coaching is effective because it is customized to uncover the unique things that an attorney can do to achieve what they want in a confidential setting.
Desai offers all of the firm’s attorneys coaching services focused both on addressing their immediate needs or discreet issues, as well as their longer-term professional development goals. Through a process of self-directed learning and leadership, Desai supports our attorneys as they figure out how to be strategic and optimize their effectiveness as they pursue their professional goals.
Examples of topics that attorneys bring to coaching services include:
- Becoming more intentional about the substantive legal practice they’re building or the next stage in their career and developing a roadmap to get there.
- Eliminating barriers to productivity by enhancing time and project management skills.
- Raising their internal or external profile and developing a business development approach that fits with individual strengths and preferences.
- Developing their interpersonal communication skills to enhance workplace relationships.
- Implementing strategies to effectively lead, manage, motivate, and delegate to their teams.
- Aligning their personal and professional priorities to help them integrate and enjoy those aspects of their life.
- Managing stress and developing strategies to prioritize their wellbeing and self-care.
One attorney states: Coaching has been effective in “asking questions to make [me] think about the ‘why’ behind what [I’m] trying to accomplish.”
Desai recently was quoted in an article titled “As Young Lawyers Churn Through Jobs, Firms Search for Ways to Fulfill Them” published in The American Lawyer. The article discusses the increased pace of job-hopping among millennials and the shifts firms are making to increase junior lawyers’ satisfaction with their work-life balance. “Linking intentionality about their careers with their values and strengths can be a powerful combination in creating more agency on the part of these attorneys, which allows them to pursue their goals in a way that feels more authentic and connected to the underlying ‘why,’” Desai told AmLaw.
Listen to this episode of Foley’s The Path & The Practice podcast to learn more about Anjali Desai and attorney coaching services at Foley.
