When Howrey decided to fill its chief professional-development officer position with a professional in the field instead of with a partner, as had been the norm, it turned to Heather Bock. With a Ph.D. in organizational behavior, training experience at Accenture and human resources consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies, Bock was the ideal candidate to help the firm align its attorneys’ skills with its business strategy. While reaching such a goal wouldn’t be easy, Bock partnered with the firm’s training partner, Martin Cunniff, to begin building the firm’s professional-development vision and chartering this new direction at Howrey.

Bock soon realized that one of the missing pieces related to the professional development of the firm’s associates was a compass that would guide the firm’s training efforts. With offices scattered throughout the world, there were many different definitions of what it took to be a successful associate. Bock knew that she needed to create a single definition of success that the entire firm would embrace. She spoke with partners and associates from the firm’s many offices to develop this single definition of success, which included several key characteristics. These traits became known as the firm’s 16 critical competencies, and they laid the foundation for the firm’s training and development efforts. This competency model was the precursor to Howrey U, which is an online training program that enables associates to develop their skills within these competencies.

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