4 Easy Ways to Build a Team-First Culture — and How It Makes Your Business Better How creating a collaborative culture preps your business for prosperity.
By Douglas Wigdor Edited by Kara McIntyre
Key Takeaways
- Innovative team-building strategies including offsite events, group learning sessions, and cross-functional teams are key to a dynamic work environment.
- Empowering young leaders and ensuring every voice is heard allows business owners to provide hands-on experience and develop expertise.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
At the end of the day, a boutique law firm is a small business, which means that in addition to being an attorney, a founding partner is also a small business owner who must adopt a collective mindset. Our firm works because we work together; if you're looking to level up your small business, you should be ready to wear multiple hats and rely on full-team collaboration. At Wigdor LLP, we prioritize collaboration both in and outside the courtroom. Here are four practical ways we foster a team-first culture — and why doing so is key for any founder looking to run a law firm like a business.
1. Host events outside the office
Breaking away from the office often results in breakthrough thinking. Casual, off-site environments help our team relax, which yields more creative thinking. It also fosters stronger relationships and seamless collaboration once we're back at our desks. When people get to know each other beyond their roles at work, they're far more effective together in high-stakes moments.
It was over a welcome lunch at a Mykonos-themed restaurant that one of our senior associates workshopped with the marketing team to craft an attention-grabbing quote about the implications of a new law that they were then able to pitch to a law journal — all springing from a discussion recapping the latest reality TV shenanigans. And we always mix up the teams at our annual summer tennis competition to balance skill levels and have found that working together on the court translates to more effortless collaboration once we're back at the office.
Related: Why There Is No Substitute for the Annual 'Offsite' With Your Team
2. Make team-building events do double duty
We are quick to recognize when something can serve multiple purposes. Continuing legal education, also known as CLE, is a requirement in our field, but I encourage our attorneys to take these sessions in groups — and make sure to host at least five per year to make group learning accessible. We always host the sessions over lunch because no one ever seems to say no to a free sandwich.
We see the importance of maximizing return on effort, so we like to take the continuing education content that our attorneys work so hard on and repurpose it. A one-hour-long meeting may start as a team-building event, but it lives on as multiple blog posts on our own site as thought leadership pieces that we can pitch to national business publications and as social media content, all helping us expand our firm's digital footprint and establish our employees as experts.
Related: How to Make Your Content 300% More Effective While Also Saving Time and Money
3. Ensure each case is a team effort
At Wigdor, each case is assigned to at least one partner, one associate and one paralegal, allowing joint problem-solving and fresh perspectives. While some attorneys like to maintain full control and resist working together with their team, our law firm is different. The more minds deliberating solutions, the better — whether it's a law firm or a small business.
Paralegals and associates are in the trenches with partners, actively participating in the case from beginning to end. We further promote collaboration by hosting monthly status meetings so attorneys have insight into what other teams are working on, igniting ideas to benefit their own litigation. We have high expectations for everyone on the team and reward hard work. We challenge younger legal minds to participate more, from oral arguments to authoring legal news pieces. We could not do the work we do without the full team participating.
One of our recent associate hires joined Wigdor specifically looking for the opposite experience of their previous firm, which was fully remote, not collaborative and felt very isolating. The associate wanted an environment where they could roll up their sleeves in person, working on big cases and learning from a more synergetic team. Since joining, they have had a full case load and multiple opportunities to join precedent-setting matters, which is something that would perhaps be reserved for partners at other firms. This model of cross-level collaboration, where diversity of thought is valued, is a powerful tool for any small business leader who wants to develop a confident, engaged team.
Related: How to Transform Your Workplace Culture with Cross-Pollination
4. Encourage young leaders to discover their strengths
One of my favorite things to do is to help early leaders lean into their unique skills. The key is to get them talking (taking them to a one-on-one lunch usually works) until you discover their affinities and then nurture those skills into expertise. When a senior associate mentioned their partiality for deposing witnesses, I recognized that their interrogative acumen and evaluative listening skills would make them the ideal person to lead the paralegal interview and hiring process — and we've built our strongest paralegal team to date.
When it comes to paralegals, we hire them for two-year engagements to ensure they get full exposure to the legal process and better prepare them for law school. Once at the firm, they always have a seat at the table, literally. When we head to court for a trial, a seat at the plaintiff's table is always reserved for the paralegal who has assisted on the case. They often spend months researching the matter — sometimes even helping to draft statements used in a briefing — and get to see their work used in action at a hearing. Offering hands-on opportunities to junior members, whether it's a paralegal at a law firm or a first-time manager at a brick-and-mortar store, makes them feel valued and allows them to see how their hard work contributes to the team's success.
It may be my name on the door, but my firm would never prosper if I tried to do it all on my own. Prioritizing team building is the best way to improve employee happiness and encourage collaboration, and collaboration is critical when it comes to small businesses. Whether it's a scavenger hunt in Grand Central Terminal or structuring a cross-functional case team, developing those scenarios that foster collaboration will set your small business up for growth.
