How do you accustom yourself and those around you to change? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall, as the old joke goes – practice, practice practice. Or, as the 4-Hers of the world would have it, learn to do by doing.

Whether you can’t wait to see the end of a bad employee or can’t bear to let a good one go, firing someone is never easy. But there are steps you can take to make the process go more smoothly.

Growth it good, to paraphrase Gordon Gekko, but some ways of growing are better than others, depending on the situation and actual needs of your firm.

Some people simply don’t play well with others. But since teamwork is important in certain areas of law – mergers and acquisitions, for example – that ability has to be fostered somehow. The good news is that the old-school team-building exercises that have everyone rolling their eyes aren’t the best way.

If you could design your perfect employee, what characteristics would you be sure to specify – or delete? Hiring is probably one of the hardest things you’ll have to do. Here are some ideas for ways you can ease the process along.

Successful managers have always used information gathered from past results to inform future decisions. “Analytics” takes that good business practice a little deeper, makes it a little more systemic, and produces results for the managers who pay attention to the conclusions it draws.

Managing partners can have a list of job duties a mile long, but chances are pretty good they won’t have a job description. And chances are even better that there’s no mechanism within the firm to let them know how they’re doing.

A law firm exists to serve the needs of clients, no question. But it is also an employer of staff with their own needs and goals. The latter needn’t get lost in the service of the former – in fact, when done right, having staff who are encouraged to be all that they can be can also be a boon for clients.

Kim Nayyer, a law librarian at the University of Victoria, reviews Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter, and finds it has much of interest to law firm leaders who want to improve their decision-making process.

Just about every profession has them – the ethical pitfalls that can trip you up and ruin the value of your work. James Careless discusses how to navigate those traps, and talks with two presenters from an upcoming Skilled Lawyer Series webinar on the subject.