Develop a Healthy Strategy

Deena launched her firm excited to help people. She tried her best to help everyone that reached out to her. “It’s hard to say ‘no’ to potential clients when you’re just starting out.” Before long, she was overwhelmed. Work was coming in the door, but it felt scattered and finding the right people for her team was a challenge. Running her business was soon an unpleasant chore.

To have a healthy firm, Deena was in need of a healthy law firm strategy. (By the way, not sure what we think it means to have a healthy firm and why it’s important? Start here.)

Strategy feels like one of those words that gets thrown around—a lot. But what does it really mean?

A good law firm strategy includes:

For Deena, creating a law firm strategy allowed her to clearly define what she wanted her business to be and how she could create it. She sifted out practice areas, clients, and cases that didn’t fit. It allowed her to see much more clearly who should be on the team and who should not. Deena shared, “Having a business strategy has been a huge relief.”

A business strategy isn’t just words in a fancy document that sits on your shelf collecting dust. It is the driver for all your business decisions. As Spencer Keys explained, “it gives you a backbone when it comes to big decisions.” The clarity you gain from knowing your law firm strategy is palpable. “Because I’ve eliminated so much anxiety in the back of my mind not worrying about my firm’s direction all the time, I’m more deliberate about my business and am making things happen,” said Spencer. You sleep better at night knowing that you have a direction and you’re moving closer to making your dreams a reality.

A More Complete Picture

We need to actually say (likely in more than one paragraph) what it is we are trying to build with our business. A more complete law firm vision statement would answer things like:

When you read your firm’s vision statement, you should get excited! You should look at it and think, “Yes! That’s why I started this business!” If you’re not inspired, you can’t expect the rest of your team to be.

So go out to a place that inspires you and start dreaming! Start describing what it means to YOU to have the “best” law firm. Be authentic. Get inspired! You’re going to create something amazing!

Feeling stuck? We see lots of attorneys get stuck trying to create the perfect vision statement or overwhelmed by how to start. Good news! Creating a business vision is actually the first topic we tackle in our coaching program for small law firm owners, Lawyerist Lab. If you’re already clear on your business vision, we’ll stress test it to make sure it’s solid. If you’re at square one, no worries, we have the tools to get you going.

Identifying Your Core Values

In Lab, our coaches stress test each firm’s core values. First, we check to make sure the identified word or phrase really matches the intent. We also check to make sure the language is authentic and resonates with the team. Next, are they complete? Did you capture all the key concepts? Finally, we eliminate table stakes values—those attributes that all companies are expected to have. We take it as a given that you’re ethical/professional/hard-working/caring, etc. Calling it out almost undermines your company. Do you really need to say you’re ethical?

You must incorporate your values into your firm’s daily work. Everyone on your team should know what they are and really understand what they mean. Managers should reference the firm’s values when providing feedback or applauding success.

Design and Test

Your business model is your core plan to make profit. It identifies your target market, describes how you’ll help them, how you’ll deliver your services, and your price, costs, and profitability. Your competitive analysis and your market research based on current, former, and potential clients should inform the business model. If you have an idea on how you might help your clients in a different way but aren’t sure how your target market will respond, go ask them! Don’t be afraid to test your ideas with clients willing to beta test your new delivery model. You will learn an enormous amount without wasting valuable resources building something that isn’t quite right.

Many of the attorneys in our Lawyerist Lab community are pushing the envelope and experimenting with new delivery models. They are thinking of their value beyond the billable hour and the results are exciting. Our coaches help them think through the elements of their business model and our community events give them opportunities to share ideas, what’s working and what’s not. It’s an invaluable network. We’re always looking for lawyers ready to try new things to join our community.

Now, you can use these answers to fill in your 3-year targets. Think about and identify 3-year targets for each major area of your business including: financial, client services or delivery of legal services, your team, and operations.

With your 3-year targets in mind, you can focus on short-term goals. What will you need to achieve in the next year to be on pace for your longer 3-year targets? You’ll revisit these goals each quarter. Finally, what is your firm’s priority for the upcoming quarter?

In their excitement to move their business forward, business owners often make a mistake of biting off more than they can chew. The result is that they quickly get overwhelmed and then nothing gets done. Instead, practice relentless incrementalism—the process of slowly and relentlessly taking small actions that will bring you closer and closer to your ideal.

Keep a list of all the projects or ideas you have about what needs to happen to make your vision a reality. This becomes your long-term issues list. Now for the hard part. Look at the list to prioritize the one or two things that your business needs the most right now. Which projects have the potential to make the most impact? Start with these projects.

Scope Your Projects

Before digging into your project, consider:

Assign one person on your team to be accountable for each project. This person doesn’t necessarily have to do all of the work but they’re responsible for ensuring each action item is completed. If the project is stalled or not finished, you want to hold one person accountable. Use the scoping process detailed above to make sure the project owner is very clear on what they need to do and how to do it. Assign milestones and deadlines.

Repeat this process each quarter. Use your quarterly leadership retreat to assess where you are, what issues need to be solved, and which projects are the priority for the coming quarter.

We appreciate that completing this process and having the ability to step back and think critically about your firm can be difficult to do by yourself. This is one of the benefits of working with our coaches and community in our Lawyerist Lab program. We facilitate an online quarterly law firm strategy retreat for members of our Lab community to guide them through this process, help them think critically about their business, and scope next steps.

At Lawyerist, we see the results of firms who start with a healthy law firm strategy—it gives them the solid foundation they need to grow and build a Healthy Team.