Who is Your Tina From Accounting?
One of my most important relationships when I led marketing and business development in a law firm wasn't with my team, members of management, or the firm's biggest rainmaker. It was with Tina from Accounting.
Few people could help me look as smart, effective, or well informed as she did. When in doubt, follow the money. And for that, I needed Tina.
It was Tina I visited as a proposal writer trying to understand our actual rate data for a client—what we collected, not what we purported to bill them—before recommending increases during an RFP response.
Tina could tell me how a practice group was performing as we considered an investment in that group as a proportion of the MBD budget in a given year.
And when I wanted to identify our actual premium clients for a major event, Tina had the data to reveal that—as opposed to the clients we invited to parties year over year without seeing a deeper relationship ever materialize.
This post isn't about rates or profitability or even accounting. It's about building relationships across departments, which I get asked about a lot in trainings.
It could be Scott in IT, or Esmé in Facilities, or Chloe in Recruiting. Marketing and BD teams are unique connectors in law firms based on where we sit and the nature of our work with lawyers and clients. But we also depend on other teams to be effective.
If this hasn't been your experience yet, it will be.
Lawyer asks you to implement a dashboard for a client? You'll need IT.
Got an early morning event and the elevators to your floor may not be open yet? Facilities knows who to contact at the building.
Planning to tell compelling stories and coordinate social media around the next law clinic with summer clerks? You'll need Recruiting support.
Do you have those relationships in place today? Please, learn from my experience: The time to build them is now. Not when you need something.
Here's what you do: Talk to people in the break room and hallways. Introduce yourself.
Ask what they are working on that's fun. Learn what they care about outside of work.
Ask a senior leader on your team to introduce you to their go-to collaborators in other departments. Suggest coffee, a short walk, or a Zoom call to get to know those collaborators and learn what they do and who on their teams they suggest you meet.
Read the internal newsletter or intranet. Reach out to people when you see something of interest or in common—not with any agenda, just to become familiar with each other.
Most importantly, send a thank you note (yes, a physical card), after working together. It's not overkill—it's memorable and builds goodwill. When did you last get a thank you note from a colleague? I bet you remember, because it happens so rarely. That's why it matters so much.
If the help warrants it, as Tina's often did, drop a gift on their desk or send something through interoffice mail. Want to go the extra mile? If you aren't sure what the person will appreciate, ask those who work closely with them.
How do I know Fireball is Tina's favorite? I asked her friends in Accounting.
