Customer Reviews

First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

FIRST AMONG EQUALS is more than a catchy title of a book promoted as a guide to managing others in professional environments. When you finish reading this book and the depth of knowledge presented by its authors, you will agree that it is first among equals. Often times books written by two authors come across as disjointed or unconnected. However, McKenna & Maister seem to complement each other's skills very well and the end result is clearly evident.

FIRST AMONG EQUALS was written to fill a large need in most modern organizations. Its premise is how to manage a group and lead them to peak performance without possessing formal authority. Today, it is common to be leader of a group of individuals without possessing any real power or authority over the embers of the group. Wise leaders also know that even if they do have formal authority over others, the high performance leader doesn't act like they do. Instead, the way to get the most out of the individuals we serve with is to be primus inter pares, the first among equals. The authors then boldly take you step by step through an enlightened process of how to interact with and manage groups as an individual group leader. McKenna & Maister state in the introduction that, This is a book about "doing." It is not concerned primarily with theories, concepts, or insights. It's a book we wish we had read when we were first given the challenge of leading a group!" This is achieved by providing frank observations, stirring questions, and wise advice from two respected consultants. FIRST AMONG EQUALS is also replete with quizzes, sidebars and checklists to enhance your personal growth as a group leader.

Part one of the book deals with the issue of how to prepare or "get ready" for your role as a group leader. It discusses how you add value to the group as its leader, and your rights and responsibilities within this important role. It discusses how you can build valuable relationships with other members and examine your essential people skills. It also deals with the question of what it means to be an inspirational leader.

Part two is a section dedicated to help you to learn to be a superior personal coach. It shows you how to get others to accept your guidance. Why unscheduled, informal "one-on-one" coaching is the most powerful way to improve a group's success. It deals with issues of building support for change, helping the underperformers who need assistance and dealing with the proverbial "prima donnas" or difficult people.

Part three of FIRST AMONG EQUALS moves on to the skills needed to coach the team. This part of the book deals with diverse team leadership topics such as developing group rules & goals, building trust among members, presenting an exciting challenge and how to energize group gatherings with good meeting discipline. This part of the book concludes with a discussion of how to resolve interpersonal conflicts and how to respond to a group crisis!

Part Four of the book looks to the future and how to prepare for it. It will show you how to nurture the next generation of junior staff and insure the success of newly hired personnel. It also discusses problems associated with group size, and how to properly measure the groups' success. The final chapter in the book entitled "Why Bother" concludes with a summery of the various lists provided throughout the text grouped by category in an effort to help you implement and synthesize much of the material.

If you are involved with managing or leading groups you should buy this book! No matter what level of experience or expertise you possess, FIRST AMONG EQUALS is a winner and is guaranteed to broaden your perspective on leading your group to peak performance.

I've read all of Maister's and McKenna's books and articles. If you are running a law firm, advertising agency or consulting practice, their books are not good - but excellent. These are the kind of books you don't just read once. They are books to be reviewed to see where you've gone off track and have not been your best. They also stimulate your thinking process to show you how you can become better.

The same holds true for "First Amoung Equals". The book provides a guideline for running a practice group, building excellence in the individual and growing individuals into team members. This is one of those books where the serious student will own it by highlighting key sections, taking notes and writing in the margins. And the very serious will buy multiple copies of the book and share them with their manager, collegues and team in hopes for all to become their best!

Gripe no. 1 : I hope its not going to become a common occurrence in business books, but there were 7 pages of 35 advance reviews (but 5 of them were only 2 lines which said little). Let me decide for myself if the book is any good - show me the product. Also, I work in IT, but there didn't seem to be a single reviewer with an IT background?

The book looks at the leader/manager/coach of a disparate group of professionals, assuming a mix of seniors & juniors.

I think the book isn't just for the leader/manager/coach - because in many such groups today, there can be rotation (time-based or task-based) where any of the group of professionals might be called upon to perform the leadership / coaching / mentoring role. So the book should be read by all members of the team. Also the leader is human - they might not be 'doing it right as per the book', and it could be useful for the others (they are all equals after all) to be informed to provide that guidance/correction.

The Sections are laid out well : getting ready; coaching the individual; coaching the team; building for the future.

It classes individuals into 4 styles : amiable, analytical, driver, expressive (I tend more towards the expressive), and how to work with each.

I also like the way it addressed underperforming members, how to correct the problem rather than try to rationalise it out of existence.

Because professionals jealously guard their autonomy, reserving the right to work as they see fit, professional groups have a greater-than-average tendency to become ill-disciplined - and thus a whole chapter is dedicate to how to run a meeting of such individuals.

I work in such a group, where there are 20 of us, probably 50:50 seniors & juniors (though we don't refer to ourselves in those terms).

Gripe no. 2 : However, one thing missing explicitly from the book is if there are any strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats from a geographically disparate or culturally diverse group?

My group is spread across 2 continents, 5 different timezones, with only 2 hours in the day when our extended workday (8am-6pm) coincides. We comprise at least 5 different nationalities & religions, and it seems many more political viewpoints. But time and time again, this material seemed to assume that this was a relatively homogeneous group, everyone was coming together physically in the same room, or at least, didn't even consider that people might be in the same geographical locations but be on the phone, and thus unable to see each others body language. My group only get together in the same room twice a year. We've evolved techniques over the 7 years we've been together to accommodate this, but I would have appreciated it more if this modern reality had been addressed?

I also liked the discussion on the maximum size of the group, and one correspondents rule of thumb that the group is too big if he can't tell you the name of everyone's spouse/significant other & what that person does for a living (assuming its OK culturally to ask for that information - in some cultures it's a no-no).

There's an excellent wrap-up where the dozens of checklist (don't let the apparent volume put you off - it's not that bad) are summarised and classified, and you are reminded in which chapters they are to be found.

Overall I think my group is doing quite well 80% of what is in the book, with maybe 10% that we wouldn't agree with, leaving us 10% that we could improve upon. I'm going to recommend it to everyone else.

McKenna and Maister have written what will become the ultimate "must read" for people who have the unenviable task of trying to manager professionals. The book is filled with sound thoughts but the most valuable parts are the quotes and throughts from the managing partners of professional firms. It was an enjoyable read and one that I'm sure I will reread quite a few times in the future.

Managing professionals is often likened to herding cats. Intelligent professionals are free agents, accustomed to having the autonomy to work on gruelling assignments with little supervision. They are relentlessly demanding of themselves and others, and the best are often are prima donnas, quick both to take offence and to give it. Many companies believe that their professionals are unmanageable, and some have given up trying.

The group leaders within a practice have to act as player-coaches. They are responsible for their own performance but also that of their peers. They must manage their peers but with limited authority. They must encourage individuals; yet somehow forge them into a cohesive team. They are expected to lead as the primus inter pares, the first among equals.

In First Among Equals, McKenna and Maister write the book they wish they had read when first given the challenge of leading a group. The first part helps the leader clarify his/her role. The second part deals with the activities required to coach, lead, inspire, and guide the individual members. The third part turns to team management. The fourth discusses building for the future: managing juniors, monitoring success and problems of size.

The book is written like a series of seminar presentations. The authors take care to tell you what they will tell you, then to tell you, and finally to tell you what they told you. They use lists, which are then unpacked and dissected in detail. Even if this style does not appeal to you, you will find the advice practical and easy to reference.

David Maister's classic, Managing the Professional Services Firm, has long been compulsory reading for senior partners in professional practices. First Among Equals should be given to each of their managers.

"First Among Equals" is concerned with the dynamics of relatively small groups of professionals and the role that group leaders have in ensuring group success. The authors make it clear that a group leader that can inspire and orchestrate a group is essential for a group to exceed the results of a collection of individuals pursuing private agendas. But the book is narrow and somewhat disingenuous in its considerations. It scarcely looks beyond the group level for the impacts and constraints that the larger organization has on small groups.

The authors do not minimize the difficulties in achieving group cohesion, acknowledging that professionals are adverse to being managed. Eschewing formal managerial authority, the authors emphasize the buy-in necessary by group members to legitimize a group and the authority of the group leader.

Most of the book is devoted to the various practical steps of building and sustaining effective groups. It is essential that group members appreciate the validity and the advantages of the group. Ground rules must be established, by consensus, that define the shared obligations and values and operating procedures of the group. The leader must have a clear mandate from both group members as well as higher management to lead the group, to "stimulate creativity, develop common purpose and forge teamwork, solve problems and break down barriers, act as a sounding board, enforce standards, and be a conscience" for the group.

Trust is a huge component of effective groups. The group leader must establish close ties with group members. "Trust is often destroyed by thoughtless behaviors" that violate the core values and standards of behavior of the group. Adding to the complexity of the group leader's role is dealing with group members, all of whom exhibit varying degrees of low or high assertiveness and responsiveness which results in personality orientations of "analytical, driven, amiable, and expressive."

Consistent with the authors' business interests, the book has the look of a seminar presentation with multiple bullet pages/slides being standard. A chapter with 23 bullets on good listening habits following a chapter on establishing rapport with group members is tedious and unnecessary.

Despite the authors' claims that the book pertains to any professional grouping, the talk about billable and non-billable hours and client relations skews the book towards independent professionals such as lawyers, CPAs, financial service providers, and the like. In fact, the formation of a group is largely treated as an option to be accepted or rejected by such professionals, which probably conforms with their reality.

However, most so-called professionals, or intellectual workers of all types, cannot usually decide to work independently and are subject to departmental management not of their choosing. It is these lower-tiered professionals that are even more dependent on group dynamics. The authors downplay formal management, yet most professionals must look to formal managers to find the existence of the sort of group leadership that the authors describe.

The matters of trust and consistency and continuity would have to be concerns of small group members in larger organizations. Will the shared values of a group be acknowledged and honored by the organization at all levels. The authors make clear that group chemistry is all important. Arbitrary tinkering with groups or undermining their shared understandings could easily destroy a group. One could even argue that the democratic way of doing things in groups is at odds with most corporate structures.

The description of basic group dynamics is useful, if not fairly predictable. But of at least equal interest would have been a realistic assessment by the authors of such groups being allowed to exist and to establish a shared culture within a typical American corporation. Of course, the expectation would be to go beyond any corporate rhetoric that espouses an interest in independent groups and then dispenses with them at will. And the book does have some such espousals with no independent means of verification.

Admittedly, this reviewer does agree with some of the earlier reviews here that this book does borrow some material from other works, and it might be disconcerting that almost-50% of the works listed in the bibliography of this text were written by either of the two co-authors McKenna and Maister. This reviewer is reminded of some of the reader comments for Weinberg's "More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant's Tool Kit", which indicated that the author of "The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving & Getting Advice Successfully" was attempting to profit from the success of his earlier work (see my reviews for both of these texts). In the opinion of this reviewer, this is not true with this effort. Maister's earlier "Managing the Professional Service Firm" (see my review), for example, focused on the firm itself, while "First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals" is also true to its title, concentrating on the professionals which make up professional service firms. In addition, while the earlier work consists mainly of articles published separately over a 10-year time period within such publications as "Sloan Management Review", the "Journal of Management Consulting", "International Accounting Bulletin", and "The American Lawyer", this work consists mainly of new content and concentrates on getting ready for management, coaching individuals, coaching teams, and building for the future with existing staff, topics never touched on in any detail in the earlier work. The writing style that Maister used in his earlier collaboration with Green and Galford called "The Trusted Advisor" (see my review) continues in this effort, with introductions to topics followed by lists that are later elaborated upon in greater detail, an aspect of this book which seems to help organize the wide variety of discussions. Sidebars from professional service firm managers throughout the text also increase its accessibility. In the opinion of this reviewer, some of the best chapters of this book include: "Deal Differently with Different People", "Tackle the Prima Donnas", "Clarify Group Goals", "Build Team Trust", and "Measure Group Results". Well recommended for both managers and professionals working in professional service firms.

I found this book thanks to a friend who suggested me how to manage a group of geeks that were way beyond my technical skills.
Specially in professional service firms this is very likely to happen, as you climb up the corporate ladder, you get more manager and less technical. So this book will help you to manage your team, respect and use their skills and gain their respect and loyalty

I can't actually judge the book content itself, but the Kindle Version I bought is absolutely AWFUL, packed with missing words and misspellings. Just terrible!

There have been many books on group dynamics and teamwork in managing, but the authors deal with a relatively new phenomenon -- the professional firm practice group. There is virtually no problem in this otherwise complex structure of practice group management that this extraordinary book doesn't cover, including rules for participation, group goals, team trust, resolving interpersonal conflicts, dealing with crises and the problems of integrating new people and measuring group results. Managing any aspect of professional groups is always difficult, but the authors bring new dimensions and solutions to the problem, in an intelligent, focused, and effective breakthrough book. An absolute must for any law, accounting, or consulting firm, no matter what it's size.

Bruce W. Marcus
The Marcus Letter on Professional Services (www.marcusletter.com)