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Walking the talk: why dialogue is a leader’s secret weapon

Leaders who develop, implement and role-model skills that stimulate better communication and dialogue within their firms have a better chance of strengthening employee connections and retaining top talent, writes Keegan Luiters.

In short

  • In Australia, the demand for legal services rose a stunning average 7.5% in FY2024.
  • In the war for talent, several factors are pivotal to retention, including optimal team interaction.
  • Providing leaders with the opportunity to develop, apply and role-model ‘four skills of dialogue’ is a valuable investment for legal firms to consider.

In its 2024 Australia: State of the Legal Market Report, Thomson Reuters notes that demand for legal services rose 7.5% year on year. As a result, it states, “the average Australian law firm increased its lawyer headcount or qualified fee earners (QFEs) by 5.3% over FY2023.”

This increasing demand for legal services – and lawyers – means firms that can attract, retain and develop the right people are at a distinct advantage. In that context, research in 2024 by legal practice software company Actionstep provides valuable insights. It reports that the top three factors that contribute to the satisfaction of legal staff are:

  • engaging work
  • leadership or culture
  • pay or remuneration.

These findings highlight the importance of supporting leaders within law firms so they can dedicate energy, attention and time to their roles beyond fee-earning. While adding to their existing workload may seem like a big ask for leaders, a good way for them to integrate this added responsibility into their roles is to place heightened emphasis on all of the interactions with their teams.

In a 2013 paper, academics and leadership coaches Sean O’Connor and Michael Cavanagh state that “it has been argued that the quality of daily interactions within organisations effects the wellbeing of both individuals and the broader organisation”. More pragmatically, Dr Cavanagh has since delivered presentations paraphrasing the paper and which summarises the concept as: “The quality of the conversation determines the quality of the relationships and the quality of the relationships determines the quality of the organisational system.”

This emphasis on the quality of conversations is something to which leaders across law firms can dedicate themselves in order to support a working environment and culture that attracts, retains and develops the legal professionals who are required to meet the growth aspirations of firms.

Quantity versus quality

It is relatively easy to get a sense of the quantity of conversations once leaders or teams pay attention to the issue. A trickier question is assessing the quality of conversations. The inherent subjectivity of the question makes the question difficult to answer and there is certainly more than one right answer. One method of assessing the quality of conversations is to use a framework developed by William Isaacs in his book, Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together.

According to Isaacs, dialogue is more than two people conversing. Rather, it is the “art of thinking together” and is about creating meaning together. In many ways, it is also about creating a shared understanding that could not be achieved independently by the thinkers. Isaacs’ model of dialogue distinguishes different types of conversation:

  • Dialogue – in these conversations, we can explore stories, make new insights and allow new possibilities to emerge
  • Skilful conversation – in these conversations, we share our rational and considered thoughts in a respectful way
  • Controlled discussion – this entails a competitive exchange of viewpoints (not necessarily based on rational data)
  • Debate – in which there is a desire to win an argument.

All these types of conversation serve a purpose. For many – but not all – legal professionals, much of their professional expertise and skills are reliant on what would be categorised as debate – that is, the ability to present a compelling argument that generates a desired outcome. Conversations towards the dialogue end of the spectrum are typically those that support the engagement of team members.

This may present an opportunity for leaders to complement existing skills by developing and implementing other conversational skills. A model that is adapted from Isaacs’ book presents four skills or components that go towards fostering dialogue:

  • Suspending – the ability for participants in a conversation to suspend the desire to judge or defend a perspective is essential for dialogue to occur
  • Listening – deep listening is a fantastic skill for all of us to continually develop. It is no surprise that listening is required to achieve dialogue
  • Voicing – what is spoken about less is the ability to genuinely and constructively present your own viewpoint. Without voicing, the conversation loses the possibility of full meaning exchange
  • Respecting – intertwined in dialogue is an underlying assumption that we are able to acknowledge the other person’s perspective, along with their right to hold that view and that we can never truly fully understand it.

Get an edge

Leaders who develop, implement and role-model these skills can foster dialogue and strengthen connections within their teams. This approach also supports what is referred to as shared leadership. A 2014 meta-analysis by D’Innocenzo et al supports the positive relationship between shared leadership and team performance.

For that to take place, it requires individuals to be able to identify and respond to opportunities for both leadership and followership – often in a short space of time. That is a direct result of the quality and quantity of information that is exchanged within conversations.

For leaders within law firms, it is difficult to overstate the importance of championing conversations that support high performance and a highly engaging work environment.

With that in mind, providing leaders with the opportunity to develop and apply the skills of dialogue is a valuable investment for legal firms to consider.

Keegan Luiters is an independent consultant who works with leaders, teams and organisations to lift their performance. Visit www.keeganluiters.com for more information or connect with him on LinkedIn.

References

Actionstep. 2025 Australian Midsize Law Firm Priorities Report.

D’Innocenzo, L., Mathieu, J.E., and Kukenberger, M.R., 2016. A Meta-Analysis of Different Forms of Shared Leadership–Team Performance Relations. Journal of Management, 42(7), pp.1964-1991.

Isaacs, W., 1999. Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.

O’Connor, S. and Cavanagh, M., 2013. The coaching ripple effect: The effects of developmental coaching on wellbeing across organisational networks. Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice, 3, pp.1-23.

Thomson Reuters Institute, 2024 Australia: State of the Legal Market Report.