Room to Lead
How do you prepare for the next role when the current one takes everything you've got?
For lawyers looking to step up, whether that's into partnership or a more senior leadership role, that's the $6million question, especially when someone says this to you:
"We need to see you thinking more strategically/acting more commercially/demonstrating stronger leadership/raising your profile with senior decision-makers/bringing in more business before we can consider you for the next role."
Any one of those expectations is perfectly reasonable on the face of it. Until you look at the week you've just had.
It reminds me of those George Clarke renovation programmes, you know the ones where a family decides to gut an entire house, strip it back, replace the electrics and plumbing, knock through walls and build an extension. All while continuing to live there.
The kitchen's gone, there's plaster dust everywhere, the builders need decisions and somebody's trying to make dinner with the microwave balanced on a box.
Personally I'd be eyeing up a caravan in the garden just to give me some breathing space.
It's entertaining watching somebody attempt all this on TV but less so when you're the one expected to live through it.
And this brings me back to that parallel for senior lawyers preparing for partnership or bigger leadership roles.
The existing job has to keep functioning while they're expected to develop the skills and demonstrate the capabilities needed for the next one.
The work that keeps getting in the way
Senior lawyers often tell me how frustrating it is to be asked to demonstrate more leadership or become more strategic, without anyone really explaining how they're supposed to manage that alongside everything else.
They're already the people their organisations rely on. Clients know they can count on them and goodness knows how their teams would manage without them.
And invariably, there's a crisis that can take away half a day.
But that reliability comes at a price.
The time set aside for developing a partnership case disappears into an urgent client matter.
An opportunity to attend a senior meeting gets pushed aside because something needs sorting. And the strategic work that might demonstrate readiness for promotion rarely seems as urgent as whatever's happening today.
By Friday, everybody else's priorities have been dealt with and their own career development is still sitting on the list.
So it follows them home.
And after months of this, another performance review approaches, with the possibility of hearing those familiar words:
"We need to see more evidence that you're ready."
It's enough to make you want to scream.
And where's the time supposed to come from
LawCare's Life in the Law 2025 research found that only 31% of respondents with management responsibilities said their targets or billable hours had been adjusted to account for managing others or undertaking appropriate training.
These are people already responsible for managing teams, yet many are expected to absorb those responsibilities without any corresponding reduction in their existing workload.
And for somebody preparing for promotion, the expectations can be even harder to reconcile.
They're expected to demonstrate leadership capabilities they may never have been taught, while continuing to deliver the work that made them valuable in the first place.
Sometimes the manager genuinely wants to support their development but has their own pressures.
Sometimes the organisation simply hasn't considered what needs to change to make that development possible.
Either way, the aspiring leader is left trying to work it out.
Before putting in more hours, try a different conversation
The temptation is to work harder, become better organised or sacrifice another evening.
But there may be a better place to start, without giving up what little free time you have.
1. Get specific about what 'readiness' actually means.
"Be more strategic" sounds straightforward enough, but what does it mean to the person assessing you?
Don't just accept it, ask for an example. They may have one or two they're thinking about. What would someone already operating at that level do differently? What would convince the people making the promotion decision that you're ready?
Try: "You've mentioned wanting to see more commercial judgement. Could you give me an example of what that would look like in my role?"
Now you've got something more useful than a vague instruction.
2. Look for opportunities in the work you're already doing.
This one you can try tomorrow.
Look at your diary for the next fortnight. Is there a client meeting, a difficult decision or a piece of work where you could demonstrate something more or approach differently?
Perhaps instead of simply explaining the legal risks, you could put forward a commercial recommendation. Or take the lead in a conversation you'd usually leave to somebody more senior.
And afterwards, make a note of what you did, the judgement you exercised and what happened as a result. And report this back to your manager at your next 1:1.
You might already be doing more at the next level than you realise. But can you show it and then talk about it?
3. Be realistic about what needs to change.
Some development opportunities really will mean taking on something additional.
If there's a senior project or leadership responsibility you'd like to pursue, consider what would have to change in your current workload.
And if delegation is part of the answer, be honest about whether the team is ready to take that work on.
Have that conversation with your manager. It's reasonable to discuss what can be reprioritised when you're being asked to take on more.
4. Agree something you can actually measure.
Rather than another general conversation about future progression, agree one meaningful opportunity over the next 90 days.
What will you do? What would good performance look like? Who needs to see it? When will you review it?
Keep a record of your progress and bring it to that review.
That way, the next conversation has something more substantial behind it than "We'd like to see more evidence."
And if nothing changes?
Sometimes the difficulty goes beyond time management or developing new skills.
Perhaps the opportunities aren't available, the promotion criteria keep changing or there are organisational constraints you can't resolve yourself.
That's useful to know too.
You need to understand whether the route you're pursuing is genuinely taking you where you want to go, and what choices you have if it isn't.
And back to that house renovation.
You can't rip out the kitchen, knock down the walls and build an extension while expecting everything in the house to carry on exactly as before.
So why do we expect people to prepare for a bigger role without making any room for it?
One way we can work together
If you're trying to demonstrate you're ready for the next level while keeping everything else going, coaching can help you work out how to approach it.
We can look at the feedback you're receiving, what the decision-makers really need to see, where you might already have opportunities to demonstrate your capabilities and what needs to change to make further progress possible.
And sometimes we need to examine whether the opportunities you've been promised are actually there.
Having someone independent who understands senior legal careers can help you see your position more clearly and work out your next steps.
If you'd like some independent, confidential support with this, let's talk.
Amanda