Harwood-Jones Law Corporation
June 29, 2010
Re: Legacy Bowes Group
Results Centered Leadership Program
My name is Troy Harwood-Jones. I am a Manitoba lawyer and the President and owner of the Harwood-Jones Law Corporation. Since receiving my call to the Bar in 2002, I have practiced primarily in the areas of corporate and commercial law with an emphasis on regulatory issues related to the pharmaceutical industry. I have been called upon to provide advice and guidance to clients located in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and in the Caribbean. I am also the President of the Manitoba International Pharmacists Association and the Canadian International Pharmacy Association and have provided advice and guidance regarding regulatory and administrative law matters relating to the international pharmaceutical industry in Canada and abroad.
During the first five years of practicing as a lawyer I had repeated challenges with staff morale and with retaining high-quality legal assistants in my practice. Repeatedly losing my support was frustrating and a significant set-back to my productivity. Even more concerning to me on a personal level was the suggestion that I received from my exiting assistants that I was an extremely difficult task master and that I found fault in everything. This unflattering image was inconsistent with my own internal image of myself. I was confused, disheartened, and I did not know how to fix the problem.
In 2008, I turned to Barbara Bowes for executive training and assistance. Barbara introduced me to the Results Centered Leadership Program (“RCL”) and invited me to work through the material with her over an extended six month period. I had always “turned my nose up” at such self-help programs, condemning them in my own mind as a collection of platitudes without real substance. Fortunately, I agreed to take a chance with Barbara and to work through the RCL program. Admittedly, I decided to allow it a fair chance of success, but the materials also won me over with real insights and practical direction for my employee management. I immediately encountered several “ah-ha” moments, such as the suggestion in the RCL materials that a manager should “coach for success”, not “police for failure”. Far too often I had in fact been policing my assistants’ work for failure; finding the faults, identifying the errors, rather than empowering my employees to produce successful work in collaboration with me. The RCL material was well laid out, was methodical, and instructive.
A great deal of the credit for the success of the program, however, rests with Barbara. I found her to be an excellent sounding board to our discussions on the materials. She is extremely well informed with respect to coaching and employee management, and her insights with respect to my challenges and successes were particularly helpful for me as I worked my way through the program. In many ways, Barbara exemplified the principles of the RCL program, coaching me for success as I attempted to fundamentally change my management style.
I should point out that prior to working with Barbara I had attended a number of business management seminars over the odd lunch hour or possibly for a few hours in a day. In my opinion, one of the particular strengths of the RCL program is that it must be done over a sustained period of time. By requiring a regular engagement by the participant over an extended period of time (in my case, over six months), the RCL program has a much greater chance of actually affecting meaningful change.
It has been two years since I completed the RCL program with Barbara. I am happy to say that I have had no staff turnover since that time, and that my employee relations have never been better. I also believe that the quality of work produced by my law office has consistently improved over the last two years. I highly recommend Barbara Bowes and the Results Centered Leadership Program to anybody who is seriously committed to improving employee management and staff relations.
Sincerely,
HARWOOD-JONES LAW CORPORATION
