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ARTICLE · 03 NOVEMBER 2026

Field Notes: Why Your Team Performs Because You’re Watching

My client opened with a win, and it was a real one. His team now had complete clarity on what he needed from them in the final stretch of the year, because he had repeated the message in every all-staff meeting until no one could miss it. Each person in litigation had a defined role, a short list of priority matters, and a weekly check-in. By any ordinary measure, he was leading well.

United StatesLaw Practice Management

Observation: When your team performs because you are in the room, you have built a dependency, not a system.

My client opened with a win, and it was a real one. His team now had complete clarity on what he needed from them in the final stretch of the year, because he had repeated the message in every all-staff meeting until no one could miss it. Each person in litigation had a defined role, a short list of priority matters, and a weekly check-in. By any ordinary measure, he was leading well.

So I gave him a question to carry rather than answer on the spot. The teams are acting because you are there and because this is your priority, so how does that become simply the way the firm works, with you not having to be there?

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