Leadership And Business Acumen Accelerator For Lawyers

For lawyers who lead departments or practice groups and want the practical leadership astuteness, commercial awareness and business acumen to lead with more clarity, confidence and strategic impact alongside their legal expertise.

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'Rob spends time upfront getting you to understand where you operate today, how does the business and the team operate? Is the business designed to win? Is our culture right for us and is it working? And several other relevant questions. The great thing about this approach is before he has taught me any new capability, he has taught me to really understand where my challenges are in leadership. It has my brain identifying linkages between aspects of business and leadership I hadn't thought of. This is a far more effective way of learning in my view.'

- Mark Graham, The Counselling Foundation

Many lawyers who reach department or practice group leadership do so on the basis of excellent legal expertise and the trust of their senior colleagues. Few receive deliberate preparation for the commercial, people and cultural dimensions that come with the role.

There’s a myriad of responsibilities that open up on promotion to department leadership status. Financial management. The commercial logic of the department or practice area within the wider firm. The environment created for the lawyers who work within it. The shaping of team culture so that it helps and doesn’t hinder performance. The business case for investment in the department. None of these are legal subject matter. This programme supports development in all these areas.

You will benefit from this programme if any of the following feel true:

> You lead a department or practice group and want a practical approach to thinking about your leadership role beyond the legal work.

> You are a first time department leader and want to get oriented quickly and clearly.

> You have been leading a department for a while but have never had formal leadership development and want to bridge that gap deliberately and quickly.

> You find the people dimensions of leading a team of lawyers genuinely challenging.

> You want to develop the commercial awareness to manage your department with more financial clarity and strategic intent.

> You find it difficult to make the business case for investment in your department in language that lands with the managing partner or finance committee.

> You want to create an environment where your team is more engaged, more commercially focused and more inclined to develop the relationships that generate new business.

> You want to engage in firm-wide strategic conversations with more authority and more commercial credibility.

> You feel caught between your own fee-earning responsibilities and your leadership commitments and want a structured approach to navigating both more effectively.

What's Included

A thought provoking journey

A complete self-contained experience designed to be finished in a single sitting or broken into manageable chunks on mobile.

Short Focused Video Lessons

Stories, practical business teaching, immediately applicable techniques, real-world observations and reflective questions. Each video under six minutes, most under three. Around 4 hours total. Mobile enabled. Filmed across multiple locations. Each video either teaches, provokes or challenges.

Live Online Forum With Rob

A group session led directly by Rob Evans where you bring your questions, your specific situation, your challenges. This is a live conversation with someone who has worked operationally inside 150+ businesses worldwide and understands the professional services environment from the ground up. Direct access. Your questions answered.

Practical Ways Of Thinking

PPMCleadership™️, The Natural Cycle of Team Success™️, Activity Model Acumen™️ and a range of practical techniques and aide memoires for decision making, strategic thinking, relationship building and communication. All designed to be simple enough to remember and immediately applicable in your role.

How The Programme Works

An experience, not a lecture.

Where You Begin

Orientation And Business Context

Before anything else the programme establishes a way of thinking about your role, your organisation and your stakeholders that reframes everything that follows. You will examine the business ecosystem you operate in, the expectations of the various stakeholders you serve and how the best leaders think about exceeding those expectations rather than simply meeting them.

The Commercial And Financial Foundation

A practical grounding in how businesses work, how they are funded, how the financial picture tells a story about the organisation, and how the best operational leaders engage with that picture rather than leaving it to the finance function alone. Accessible and thought provoking whether you have a financial background or not.

The Middle

Stories, Observations & Objective Questions

The heart of the programme moves through a series of short focused videos, each one a story with a point, an observation from the real world or a practical technique drawn from more than thirty five years of operational experience across 150+ businesses. Each video ends with one or more questions directed at you and your specific situation. Some will be comfortable, some won't.

The Leadership Environment

PPMCleadership™️ and The Natural Cycle of Team Success™️

Two proprietary approaches for thinking clearly about the environment you have created for your people and where your team is in its development cycle. PPMCleadership™️ covers People, Principles, Mechanics and Culture. The Natural Cycle of Team Success™️ covers the management styles that best serve the phases teams switch between. Together they give you a useful practical lens for continually examining and improving what you have built around you.

Where You Arrive

Clarity, Challenge & Next Steps

The programme doesn't end with a summary, it ends with a challenge. What have you concluded? And what are you going to do differently?

A Note On Format

Every video in this programme teaches, provokes or challenges. You can complete the entire programme in a single sitting or in fifteen minute chunks on your phone. When you're done you'll see your role, your organisation and the environment you have created with greater clarity than the day to day allows.

Why This Programme Is Different

'This isn't training in a traditional sense. Every programme is a structured journey of practical teaching, guided reflection and immediately applicable thinking.'

Clarity First

Before teaching you anything new this programme helps you see clearly where you are. Most leadership development starts with answers, this starts with questions. Before introducing any new capability it helps you understand your current situation, your team, your commercial contribution, your strategic clarity and your culture. That clarity makes everything that follows land with more specificity and usefulness.

Real Approaches From Real Operational Experience

Every technique in this programme is drawn from direct experience and observation across 150+ businesses worldwide. PPMCleadership™️ and The Natural Cycle of Team Success™️ are not borrowed models given new names. They are original and developed from identifying the recurrent ingredients in successful teams and observing where other teams come unstuck.

Designed To Be Genuinely Enjoyable

Short sharp videos filmed across multiple locations. Personal stories, practical techniques and reflective questions throughout. Around 4 hours total. Mobile enabled and consumable in fifteen minute chunks. The more enjoyable the experience the more likely it is to positively change how you actually lead.

Direct Access To Rob

Every programme includes a live online forum with Rob Evans directly. A live group conversation where you bring your questions and challenges to someone who has been in the room with many businesses worldwide and will engage with your specific reality rather than a generic answer.

'Rob has packaged his experience and research into a well thought out framework'

- Lynn Murphy, Plugable Technologies

All the critical issues we face in building a business are dealt with cleverly and interestingly. It attacks them from a different angle, focuses our thoughts and highlights practical ways to develop in our roles and for our business. I feel this course is very beneficial.'

- Chris Griffiths, Travel A La Carte

'You always make me think'

- Gahn Lane, Pindrop

'I can hand on my heart say that this is the only self-reflection content / engagement I have encountered.'

- Mevin Anenden, Logicalis

'Thoroughly enjoyed Rob's way of presenting’

- Mark Graham, The Counselling Foundation

A Flavour Of Outperformance Highway Programmes

Highly Experienced International Business Executive

Real World Operational Focus

Rob Evans has spent more than 35 years working operationally inside 150+ businesses. He has worked with and within professional services firms, consulting practices and many other kinds of business.

He understands the specific challenges of leading a professional services department from the perspective of someone who had led commercial functions, managed the people dynamics of expert professional teams and seen at close quarters what makes professional services practices effective and commercially successful.

Based on 35+ years working inside 150+ businesses worldwide, it’s not theory. It's what Rob observed working and where he saw people and teams come unstuck.

'When I needed career advice at a major career junction, I turned to Rob for help and he quickly jumped on a call with me despite the time zone difference. I left that call with clarity and focus. I left that call feeling empowered, supported and super-sensible! I left that call knowing that I just needed to make my plan and execute it. It's all substance and no fluff drawn from his extensive and multifaceted career in the corporate world.'

- Yvonne Chin Irving, CET

'Rob has very strong strategic and operational credentials having worked extensively around the world and held a wide range of financial, operational and M&A roles'

- Extract From Corporate Stock Exchange Announcement

'I would thoroughly recommend Rob's courses. He is a very successful and astute business leader with a wealth of experience to share.'

- Mark Graham, The Counselling Foundation

Who This Is For

For lawyers who lead departments and want to lead them with more clarity and commercial confidence

This programme works whether you're new to the department leadership role or established in it, whether your firm is growing, transforming or under pressure, and whether your primary challenge is strategic, commercial, cultural or all three.

> Lawyers who lead departments or practice groups and want a practical structured approach for the commercial, strategic and people dimensions of the role.

> First time department leaders who want to get oriented quickly and clearly in a role that is significantly different from anything they have done before.

> Established department leaders who have been leading for a while but have never had formal leadership development and want to bridge that gap deliberately.

> Any lawyer in a leadership role who finds the people dimensions of leading a team of lawyers more challenging than the legal work itself.

> Law firms thinking about developing the business and people acumen of their department leaders.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

What can I expect from the programme?

You'll find our work guiding you to comprehensively examine your organisation, your specific operational context and your leadership through considered and candid reflection. We achieve this by sharing lessons of our experiences and reflections illustrated with personal stories, examples and other relevant commentaries. We help you relate this material to your situation through our use of carefully crafted questions. Our goals are to provoke thought, to help you analyse your situation, to help you find ways to enhance your commercial and operational contributions and to equip you with tools and methodologies you can apply day to day throughout your career.
How long will it take me to complete the programme?

You proceed at the pace that suits you best. Within the material many questions are posed for reflection relating to your organisation and your leadership. You take whatever time you wish to devote to reflection on each question. Your value comes from utilising the programme as best suits you.
Is all of the programme immediately available following purchase or is it made available to participants in stages?

We want you to succeed and success comes from action. All of the material is immediately available on purchase and remains accessible to you for 30 days. We encourage you to commit to moving ahead with your programme as soon as practicable after you've made the decision to participate. Your value from the programme will come from the steps that you take arising from the thoughts that emerge and decisions you make as you engage with the programme. The sooner you engage the sooner you will realise the benefits for you.
Will I have the opportunity to raise questions?

Yes. Every month we hold a live, invite only, one hour, online Q&A forum to provide you with the opportunity to raise any questions you have on the material. You will be invited to three monthly sessions scheduled following purchase. We will send you the invitations via the email address that you supply on purchasing your programme. We vary the times and days of the week on which forums are held to allow you the maximum opportunity to attend at least one of the three sessions to which you will be invited.
I work for a 'non-commercial' organisation, is the programme relevant to me?

Yes. Our programme is business focused and every organisation is in business. Business principles apply whether you work for a 'for profit' organisation, a public sector body or a 'not for profit'. Each has investors, customers, employees, suppliers and other partners and stakeholders. Each organisation has to deliver some blend of experiences and solutions to its customers and in so doing it is seeking to deliver a return to its funding providers, a return that could be in a financial form or in the fulfilment of obligations.
You've mentioned tools and methodologies, can you tell me more?

We have developed the tools and methodologies we share based on the lessons of our own operational experiences. We have intentionally developed them to be straightforward and memorable for your day to day use. They are frameworks for leadership, organising thought and operational execution. The tools and frameworks we share include PPMCLeadership™️, The Three Levels Of Endeavour™️, The Four E's Of Communication™️, The Five Cornerstone Principles Of Planning™️, The CulturalVEST™️ and The Natural Cycle of Team Success™️.