One to One Case Study: Berwin Leighton Paisner
The Brief
To spend half or a full day running a communications surgery during which partners (who had booked an appointment) could come and spend 90 minutes discussing any issues they were having in any of the following areas:
- Networking
- Business development
- Presentation skills
- Influence and persuasion
- Selling
- Pitching
The programme was to run for one day only.
The Tricky Bit
Although each partner would have booked a time slot with me, they were not required to tell L&D what particular issue they required help with if they didn't wish to.
So, I'd sit in a room from 8.30 until 6 and have a succession of partners pop in to see me, each for 90 minutes. Although I'd know in what order they were arriving I had no idea what it was they wanted to discuss, which meant I had to listen intently to what they were telling me and then quickly offer solutions, advice and guidance that was useful.
Some partners had specific issues relating to a particular speech or presentation they were due to give, whilst others would want more general advice on how to improve their presentation skills. Similarly, a partner might ask for tips on how to develop business more effectively, whilst an hour and a half later another would detail 5 banking prospects they wanted to sell their services to and bounce ideas off as to how best to approach them.
The Result
When they first started it was envisaged that only a handful of partners would be interested in taking the opportunity to discuss matter one to one. However, as word has spread through the firm so has the queue of those wishing to attend. At time of writing 12 partners have seen me and another 10 are keen to. Below is an unsolicited comment from a newly assumed equity partner:
"The session I had with Nick was probably THE most valuable use of time I have spent in any training session in the 13 years I've been at the firm. The training I got from a coach was superb at the point of transition thru JEPdom [Junior Equity Partner] but Nick's product is so much more direct and on point that it is invaluable."
