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Nine Habits of Highly Effective Practice Groups
By Ron Ousky, J.D. Minneapolis, MN and Diane S. Diel, J.D. Milwaukee, WI
Collaborative Practice Groups have been around as long as Collaborative Practice itself. From the time Stu Webb decided to “disarm” and refuse to go to Court he knew he was going to need to build a Collaborative Community in order to have Collaborative Cases.
During the 15 years since that first Practice Group was formed, there have been between an estimated 150 Collaborative Practice Groups formed around the world. In gathering the stories of what has worked for Collaborative Groups around the world, we have identified nine habits in particular that seem to exist, in varying degrees, in all the most successful groups. Throughout this article, we will walk you through each of these habits and help you understand how these traits have made a difference in these communities
Habit 1. Applying the Collaborative Model to the Group Activity. “Walking the Walk”.
Collaborative Professionals who have worked in developing Collaborative Practice Groups are often amazed at the similarities between group development and Collaborative Practice. There are many ways in which developing an effective group requires the same skills and principles that we emphasize in our Collaborative
Successful practice groups are aware of this dynamic and find ways to continually remind themselves to “walk the walk” in their group activities.
While it would be impossible to enumerate all of the similarities between managing Collaborative Cases and managing Collaborative Practice groups, here are a few examples to give you an idea of what we mean.
Some Similarities between Collaborative Case Work and Collaborative Group Work:
Effective Collaborative Groups set clear agendas and identify goals. Effective Collaborative Groups find a way to follow through on assigned tasks.
Effective Practice Groups continually remind themselves to look at the big picture and the broader interest or goals.
Effective Practice Groups understand that respectful communication is critical to achieving goals.
Effective Practice Groups find ways to separate ego and emotions from the business at hand and the ability to make decisions.
Effective Practice Groups avoid accusations and blame and focus on common interests.
Effective Practice Groups encourage brainstorming and the generation of many options before making decisions.
Effective Practice Groups understand the futility of arguing with each other and find more respectful and productive ways to communicate differences of opinion.
Habit 2: Planning. “If you don’t know where you are going, you will never get there.”
Effective Collaborative Groups devote significant resources to creating a “big picture” Many groups have been through the formal strategic planning process and others have developed their own strategic plans.
While planning processes vary from group to group, generally a good strategic planning process will include the following four segments:
- Discovery.
- Inquiry and Analysis
- Acceptance
- Implementation.
A. Discovery:
The critical first step is to take the time to find out your group’s main purpose. This often means assembling a strategic planning team that is willing to devote significant time (in either a retreat setting or through several meetings) identifying the real purpose of the organization. In larger groups this can involve surveying the entire group or even your broader community to get a clear understanding of your starting point. Generally, this phase of the process culminates in developing your group’s mission, vision and values. The broader and more exhaustive the initial discovery of the individual member’s values, beliefs and goals for the group, the easier the implementation of the other phases of planning becomes.
B. Inquiry and Analysis.
The next phase is to analyze your general purpose and to develop a specific plan for action. This is a critical phase in which your group will identify how it wants to spend its time and other resources.
Deciding what Not to do: One of the best outcomes of a good strategic plan is that it helps you decided what not to do. There are so many great ideas out there, that few groups have trouble identifying the vast array of great things that they could be doing. Rather, they struggle from the inability to decide which of these great ideas are the most worthy of their time and treasure, or they struggle because they attempt to take on every great idea at once.
C. Acceptance.
A strategic plan is of no value unless it receives overwhelming acceptance, not only by the planning team but by the full group. In larger groups, the planning is done by a few members. In all cases, there needs to be a process in which the full group makes a conscious decision about whether it will accept the plan. The more the plan is centered squarely on the discovery results of the members of the group, the more readily the group will accept the plan.
D. Implementation
The real test of a strategic plan is whether it is followed. The great fear is that plan will simply sit on a shelf and the overall mission and many of the strategies will be ignored. Effective groups find a way to design a clear and specific plan for implementation and accountability. Effective plans need both short and long term goals, and scheduled reviews to test how well the group is doing with the plan.
Collaborative Practice Parallel: Helping Clients Establish Goals.
The planning stage for your group is similar to the work you do with Collaborative Clients in helping them establish ultimate goals for their cases and directly parallels the need to set and stick with clear agendas. In Collaborative Cases, one of the challenges is to get clients to slow down and look at their overall goals as well as to keep with an agenda and stay on task. Clients are eager to move ahead to the solutions or devote resources to various short term crises. Similarly, in group development, members may not be eager to spend time and resources planning when there are immediate problems to be solved. Your group’s willingness to slow down and look at the big picture will likely make a big difference in the success of your group.
Habit 3: Vision: Imagining the Unimaginable.
“How far down the Rabbit Hole do you want to go?”
Effective groups are not afraid to dream big and have made been willing to identify bold agendas. Even when it comes to the difficult task of generating revenue for activities, these groups operate from an abundance mentality and develop bold initiatives based on what they can imagine doing.
Vision in Financial Issues: Scarcity vs. Abundance Mentality. Perhaps the biggest difference in visionary thinking comes in the area of financial goals. Many bold initiatives require significant funding and groups that operate from a “scarcity mentality” are paralyzed by the fact that they can see all the things that can go wrong. Visionary groups operate from an abundance mentality and find ways to get the funding necessary to do what needs to happen.
Collaborative Practice Parallel: Brainstorming. Visionary thinking in group work is similar to the brainstorming process in our Collaborative Cases. Clients often see only a narrow range of options and need guidance to help them take the time to explore all the possibilities. Similarly, groups that have had success take time to explore a variety of making things work.
Carving new ground. Visionary groups recognize that success may require your group to “boldly go where no group has gone before”. We are all on the cutting edge of an incredible revolution. If the fact that we are about to try something new stops us from moving forward, then we are defeated before we have even started. Every successful group I have seen developed something that no other group had done before. However, we have barely scratched the surface of the great new ideas that are still to come.
Dealing with the Naysayers: Every visionary group has its members who will give you reasons why a certain thing cannot be done. We have a word for them in our group. They are called “attorneys”. While it is dangerous to rely on professional stereotypes, it is hard to deny that attorneys often possess an overdeveloped sense of what can go wrong. Because a lawyer’s job is often perceived as protecting clients by warning them of potential problems, we sometimes spend the better part of our adult lives thinking of how things might go haywire. As much as these lawyers may try to check this caution at the door, old habits die hard. In Collaborative Practice, all members, including the attorneys, are asked to step beyond old paradigms.
Habit 4: Action: Developing a System for Getting Things Done
Of course, all the vision in the world won’t help you if your group does not know how to get things done. The ability to act on your ideas is a key ingredient that separates the effective groups from those that get bogged down.
The right people: Of course, some groups get more done because they have they have an abundance of great, organized, action oriented people in their groups.
The right systems: Of course, there is more to these action groups than having the right people. Successful practice groups develop good action systems. Effective groups develop a system for getting things done and enlist the help of the task oriented members of their group. This can require recruitment and some “letting go” by group founders, who are often inspirational leaders but may not have the skill set to follow through with specific plans. Identifying as many of these people as possible is critical to success. In addition to carrying a large part of the load, they help keep the general membership motivated by providing a structure for meaningful activity.
Practice Parallel: Using the skills of the entire team for the case. Returning to the “homework” set at the prior meeting for the parties and team members, and checking and rechecking to assure that all are “on task” and that the tasks continue relevant and meaningful.
Habit 5: Practice Standards. Placing a priority on high standards of practice.
Effective groups place a high premium on assuring that their members are well trained and have a high level of skill and commitment. They recognize that the growth of Collaborative Practice depends on providing outstanding service to families in the community.
Assuring Higher Standards through Training Requirements:
The most common way that groups attempt to assure high practice standards in their group is through requiring that their member verify that they have taken a certain amount of training. Most groups have some requirement that each member have a certain amount of training in Collaborative Practice, and many groups require mediation training as well.
Different levels of Training Requirements.
If you are trying to grow your group, it can be sometimes hard to create strict training requirements for membership. Setting meaningful training requirements is an evolving area in Collaborative Practice. The more successful the group is, the more likely they are to have meaningful ongoing training opportunities if not specific training requirements. Some groups started out by just having a one-time training requirement, and ultimately moved to annual training. The IACP has developed its minimum standards for training, found on the website at:www.collaborativepractice.com.
Making Trainings Available.
Of course, one of the challenges in having meaningful training requirements is that groups need to make regular trainings available to their members. While there are always trainings occurring somewhere, most members are reluctant to pay to go to regular trainings outside their geographic area. Therefore, these groups need to find ways to either bring qualified trainings into their area for regular trainings and/or provide adequate local trainings. Many groups use a combination of these methods, bringing trainers into their community when they can gather a large enough group of trainees to justify the cost, and then providing local trainings on a more regular basis.
Other Methods of Assuring High Practice Standards.
In addition to training, many groups attempt to assure high standards of practice among their group members, (or in their community) through one or more of the following methods:
- Mentoring.
- Subjective screening of members, (closed groups.)
- Case consultation/group meetings.
- Confronting specific reported instances of substandard practice.
Mentoring:
Next to training, the most common way that groups try to assure high standards is through having more experienced practitioners mentor newer members, either through a formal mentoring program, (where each new member is assigned a mentor) or through informal methods, such as circulating the names of attorneys willing to mentor new members.
Subjective Screening of Members.
Some groups assure practice standards within their groups by restricting their membership to those individuals that they feel certain will adhere to the high standards set by the group. This is generally described as a closed group model. Some communities have smaller closed groups within a larger Collaborative Community.
While small closed groups are often effective in assuring certain practice standards within that particular group, they are unable to assure high practice standards within their community. Larger “full community” closed groups, could, in theory, enhance the level of practice in the larger community. However, the reluctance to exclude professionals in a community often makes this goal difficult to accomplish.
Rewarding high levels of training.
Groups that want to encourage members to go beyond the minimal training requirements, find ways to reward members for extra trainings. The most common way to reward extra training is to post each members amount of training on the group website. This can help the better trained members get cases as clients learn to select attorneys based, in part, on their level of training.
Responding to reports of Substandard Practice:
Another method of attempting to assure high standards of practice in a community is to have some system of addressing reports of substandard practice. Every community that has Collaborative Practitioners will likely hear reports of individual members who did not adhere to the standards of their group. These complaints can range from something as severe as ignoring the attorney disqualification agreement to more subjective concerns such as an attorney who has a tendency to fall back into more adversarial patterns.
Many groups have developed systems for investigating and addressing these complaints through a wide variety of measures, including intervention strategies, mediating or collaborating solutions, to suspension or expulsion of an offending member. Collaborative groups that attempt to address the more severe sanctions have found that it is very hard for Collaborative groups to operate as a regulatory agency, and have generally moved to more “collaborative” strategies for dealing with alleged offenders.
Habit 6: Collaboration among Collaborators: Keeping Peace among the Peacemakers.
Disagreements among Collaborative Professionals will happen and effective Collaborative Groups find ways to address these problems before they create deep divisions in their communities. While we would like to believe that Collaborative professionals would be above these kinds of problems, the reality is that we are all human and issues of ego, hurt feelings, pride, etc. will occur with some frequency.
Part of the key is to accept that these things will happen and to find, direct and transparent ways of addressing these issues when they occur. This is one area that closely parallels the work we do in Collaborative Cases with our clients. When disputes arise among Collaborative members it is often helpful to review the communication ground rules that we require for our clients and apply them to the dispute among professionals. Among other things, these groups find ways to help group members attack the problem and not the individuals.
In addition, it may be helpful to seek assistance from a group member with strong mediation or interpersonal community skills to intervene and work with the members that are having difficulty.
Some groups also schedule group retreats designed to help prevent these problems through the development of better relationships among members and, in some instances to even resolve some of the tension that has arisen between certain members.
Groups that have been clear about their mission and strategic plan can use these written statements of principals, interests and values to help bring the discussion away from the personality disputes and back to the principals of Collaborative Practice and the mission of their particular group.
The critical point is that effective groups find a way to acknowledge and address these issues when they arise and do not allow these problems to remain underground where they can fester and cause real division within groups.
Habit 7: Seeking Help. Knowing what you don’t know.
Effective Collaborative groups know when to seek outside assistance.
It is tempting to think that we can do it all ourselves, particularly when the group does not have much in its bank account. Like clients who wonder why they need an attorney, a coach, financial neutral or a child specialist, Collaborative Professionals are reluctant to see the need to hire experts such as strategic planners, marketing specialists, public relations experts, administrative help, etc.
Groups that have take the “leap of faith” in finding the money to hire these outside experts often see the immediate benefit of hiring outside expertise. However, until you have actually worked with outside professionals, it is hard for groups to “know what you don’t know.” This is one area where sharing information among groups can be essential, so that we can actually see the results achieved by these other groups and even learn how to select the right outside experts.
As Collaborative Groups get larger, the need for outside help becomes more critical, (as administrative duties expand) and more affordable as dues increase. However, groups can often find themselves in a “Catch 22” situation in which they need member expansion in order to justify hiring outside experts and yet may not be able to grow their membership unless they have outside help. Sometimes these groups have had to look at significant increases in dues or in levying large special assessments. While it is always hard to ask members to pay more money to the group, it is often important to recognize that many members of the group have been forced to spend thousands of dollars each year in billable time in an effort to avoid a dues increase of a few hundred dollars.
Habit 8: Having Fun: Appreciating the lighter side
Finding a way to lighten it up.
Effective groups and committees consistently report having a good time. Groups that take time to get to know each other and spend fun time together get more done. While this may seem trivial, it is essential in growing a small group. We are asking people to volunteer much time. If they are not having fun, they will stop showing up.
Retreats.
Picnics.
Listserve, newsletters.
Skits.
Separate business from fun.
Drop in brown bags.
Get to know each other meetings. .
Most Collaborative Professionals often describe how enjoyable it is to get together with their Collaborative Group. Because we all share professional goals and values, we often find that there is much more that we have in common. Members who develop friendships within their group are going to be for more willing to volunteer their time and money to their Collaborative group. .
Habit 9: Idea Sharing Drawing on the abundance of common resources.
Effective groups look to other groups and to the IACP to find ideas, forms, resources, and experts, so that each ground can “stand on the shoulders” of the groups that have already been down this road. From the beginning, the Collaborative Movement has benefited from a spirit of cooperation and generous sharing of time, materials and ideas. There is a wealth of information and material that is shared among groups and there is no need for new groups to “reinvent the wheel.”
Of course, for this system to work there needs to be “givers as well as “takers” so that the supply of materials and ideas continues to exist. The IACP is increasingly playing a role in helping groups share in formation and ideas. The newly formed Practiced Group Leadership Committee, chaired by Sherri Goren Slovin, and Nancy Cameron, is dedicated to helping facilitate this function. In addition, Talia Katz, the newly hired IACP Executive Director, is making direct contact with leaders of Practice Groups throughout our community, with the goal, in part, of helping us figure out how we can help each other.
Role of the IACP
Certainly a large part of what has helped individual groups grow is the credibility brought to the movement by the amazing growth and development of this international community. The International Association of Collaborative Professionals, (IACP) has led the world growth of the Collaborative Movement by supporting local groups in improving their local communities.
With the Collaborative Review, the new IACP Newsletter, “the IACP Connection,” the list serve and the ever expanding Forum, the IACP has created the tools for ever increasing opportunities for groups to learn from each other. With its large membership, the IACP can help in making available the best of the best tools for Collaborative growth to your group.
Conclusion:
Collaborative Practice Groups make an enormous difference in helping grow our Collaborative Community around the world and in helping your Collaborative community achieve its local goals. To bring the incredible energy and excitement of the Collaborative Community to your group, we suggest you consider applying these” habits” to your group.”
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