Oxford Leadership‘s Leading High

Performance Teams and Individuals

Programme
Aug 22, 2016 | Case Studies

White & Case LLC

Background
White & Case is a leading global law firm experiencing significant
international growth and expansion. Operating in 27 countries with cross-
border expertise, its staff are integral, long-standing members of their
communities. White & Case partners with world-acclaimed banks and
businesses, governments, state-owned entities, and start-up visionaries. The
company was named “International Firm of the Year” in 2013 by The
Lawyer magazine.

Challenge
To strengthen and sustain its position as a leading global law firm, White &
Case sought to:
 Provide its partners with the knowledge and skills to build and lead high-
performing teams

 Foster a high-performing, collaborative culture

 Develop and retain top talent

Objectives
The company’s strategic direction sought to:
 Better serve clients

 Transform the firm’s culture

 Contribute to the firm’s profitability

 Solution
Oxford Leadership developed a new programme entitled, “Leading High-
Performing Individuals and Teams” to complement White & Cases’ long-
term partner development programmes.
We brought together and blended a combination of our methodologies:

 Leading High-Performing Teams

 High-Performance Team Coaching

 Executive Coaching

Key elements of our highly interactive, customized design for White &
Case included:
 Knowledge about high-performing teams
 Consulting experience with other professional service firms
 Case studies from high-performing White & Case partners
 Action planning for each participant based on principles of adult learning
 Opportunities for ongoing mutual support and coaching

A three-step process was created to accomplish this programme:

1. Collaborative design—comprising intense interaction between Oxford
Leadership and White & Case. This collaboration included interviews with
White & Case partners and the development of customized materials.
2. Pilot programme—involving White & Case partners in its New York City
office.
3. Global roll-out of a second programme in New York, with partners from
offices around the U.S., and two programmes in London, with partners from
across Europe. Programmes were planned in Germany and Asia.

Results
Following the success of this programme, we are in discussions with White &
Case about similar programmes for specific groups within the firm—for
example,
a programme for legal teams working in specific business sectors and;
 a programme for legal teams working in specialised areas of law.

White & Case cited the following strategies and insights gained through its
collaboration with Oxford Leadership:

 How to provide timely, specific, and ongoing feedback for associates to learn
and grow

 The power of purpose in motivating high-performing individuals and teams

 Importance of “walking the talk” with respect to values

 How to share and leverage best practices across teams and groups

 The need to offer similar programmes for senior associates

 Partners need opportunities like these programmes to meet one another, reflect
together, and share best practices

 Immediately able to use tools provided with their teams and associates

 Improved team performance, leading to “wins” with clients

 Learned methods for relationship building among partners in different groups

and across offices

Author Brian Bacon

Chairman & Founder
UK / US / Europe
Brian is Brian is the Chairman and Founder of Oxford Leadership. As a leading
global business strategist, Brian Bacon has been involved in more than 30
successful corporate turnarounds and is the creator of one of the world’s most
successful leadership development programmes with over 200,000 alumni from 90
countries.