People in every firm we have visited talk about building a team, working as a team, or their team, but few understood how to create team work or how to develop a high performance team. Being part of a team has a lot to do with the understanding of the mission or objectives of the law firm you work for and feeling like you are part of it. In a team-oriented environment, you contribute to the overall success of the firm. Even though you have a specific job function and you belong to a specific team, you are unified with team members to accomplish the overall objectives of the firm.  Usually the objective of the firm includes a positive reputation, good client service, a retirement resource for the owner, or even some higher moral objective.  When there is no focus on the vision of the firm or no signs of teamwork I will always find a firm owner that is frustrated and overworked. 

The problem I see is that the culture of a small law firm is not about teams. To be blunt, it is more like it is all about the owner or it is all about the job.  I see this when we talk about teams, strategic planning or even becoming a high performance firm.  Instead of being focused on a higher purpose people are focused on the immediate job.  There is very little teamwork or support and there is a surprising lack of focus on the end result.  If it is all about the owner and it is rare that any control is delegated to a team, the owner is tracking everything from the case settlement down to when the letters get sent out.

It is not uncommon to be invited into a law firm to do a business analysis and find a poor return on investment.  When we drill down through all the data and studies we almost always find that there is no well thought out vision for the firm, there has been no strategic planning and the staff is thought of as individual skills. There is no common set of expectations because the entire group is interrupt driven.  We can produce all the fancy charts that show that a high performance team is more effective but the pressures of the day prevail.  

When we find this situation we slowly integrate high performance concepts.  The culture cannot be changed overnight and if the firm leadership does not embrace the new ideas the culture will never change.  It all comes down to what you, as the leader, believe in.  I am all for developing strategic plans, a well thought out vision, or a high performance firm.  I believe that the results are better, the profits are higher and the work culture is happier when you have a true team in place.  I will also say that you can’t fight the tide without getting tired (an old saying that I picked up from my days in Cape Cod).  If it is truly an all about me work culture driven by the leadership and they do not want to change, then why spin your wheels forming a team you really don’t want.  I have seen law firms spend a lot of resource to develop strategic plans, processes, and teams that are abandoned shortly after forming.  Even when it is all about the owner, that owner still must figure out what they want.

All that philosophy is fine and dandy for a board meeting presentation.  The bigger question I have is; what do you do if the work culture is all about the owner and you happen to be a member of the staff.   Unfortunately this type of work culture has the potential to be competitive.  This is not a happy place.  This is a winner takes all kind of environment.  The secret of success is discovering the rules of the game and who is in charge.  This works great for a one person team, but grows more and more ineffective as the size of the team grows.  There are many theories about what the dividing point is, anywhere from 5 to 25 members of the staff.  My best guess is between 5 and 10 depending on the variety of jobs in the mix.  

One of the most common problems we find is a small firm that is growing and the old crew does not want to learn new ways.

This is the time of year when many people make New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps some of yours will deal with how you save and invest your money, pay off debt, lose weight, or even find a new career. This year I suggest that you put a little more thought into this exercise.  A resolution is a goal and that goal should relate to your mission which should relate to your vision for the future.  Both people and organizations need to establish a strategic framework for significant success. This framework consists of:

• a vision for your future,
• a mission that defines what you are doing,
• values that shape your actions, and
• goals and action plans to guide your daily, weekly and monthly actions.

This year we focused on Self-mastery and high performance organizations. Many of the law firms we worked with developed a strategic plan for the first time.  When the New Year rolls around we will combined these two focuses and develop a single vision that combines our personal life and career.  So when you are developing those New Year’s resolutions, here is what you have to think about.

1. What are the ten things you most enjoy doing? Be honest. To start this off pull your notes from when we did the passion test (your passion drives your purpose with your vision being the definition of success).
   1. What are your five-six most important values? Before we started strategic planning we developed your values based on your beliefs and lifetime experiences (Your belief drives your values and passion). Pull those out and check your list.  Are these still your values?
   2. Your life has a number of important facets or dimensions, all of which deserve some attention in your personal vision statement. Write one important goal for each of them.

• Spirituality (bottom line, what do you believe in)
• Relationships (we all need them)
• Joy (I know we all want to be happy)
• Needs & Desires (what is on your wish list?)  When your life is ending, what will you regret not doing, seeing, or achieving?
• Health (if you are not healthy this could become number 1)

Now write or re-write your vision for next year and the future.  When you have it all done, stand back and think about some meaningful New Year’s Resolutions.

Start to talk about strategic planning and people start to get nervous. Forget about the name and the formality, and just concentrate on the elements. Consider the primary purpose for a business, IT, security, or marketing plan and just document the main elements.  We really don’t care if you call it a strategic plan or a big notebook. By writing it all down in some format gives you a chance to look at what you need. We would rather see a well read stack of papers stapled together than a polished plan that was stored on the shelf. The majority of the firms we have worked with do a fair job gathering the information; they just seem to have a difficult time visualizing their purpose and organizing their needs.  Eventually we get the vision down on paper with a set of goals to meet that vision.

The bigger problem is the business process. This word process seems to generate fear and lots of debate.  Every firm we have worked with has a problem trying to describe their process.  I believe that this stems from their roots as a skill based business.  In any case, just forget about that word process as well and start thinking about what you do. The whole idea is to figure out how we are going to realize all the goals we talked about in the plan or that big notebook.

The next step after planning – I mean the big notebook – is process mapping.  Before this can be done we have to know what you want and how you are going to do it.  The input to this step is that big notebook. The idea is to figure out four things;

• What do you do really well?
• What do you need improvement in?
• What work do you duplicate?
• What did you forget to do?

Of course, we never say that we are process mapping – we are just observing.  Once that step is done we look at the skills and tools you have as a resource.  Most of the time we find an expensive case management system running that is not used much and a set of skilled people working on cases with a loosely defined process and few defined expectations.  The second finding is almost always that skilled staff are duplicating work or doing work that is not part of their job description.  If we can match the skills and tools to the process we eventually document and the process to what was defined as needed by the plan, we have a winner. 

A law firm is a business and a business is like an orchestra with you, the firm owner, as the conductor.  If we can orchestrate the needs, skills, and tools so that they are all focused on your vision we will be doing well.  The problem is that for a whole host of reasons the conductor does not understand the vision, the staff is not working on the needs defined and the tools are not being utilized.  This happened because the firm was never considered to be a high performance team.  Instead the firm was looked at as a receptacle of diverse skills that are assigned to multiple task.  Skills and tools were assigned to solve immediate concerns instead of realizing a common vision.  For example, we have seen lawyers standing in front of the copier running copies off.  Consider their hourly billing rate and calculate what it cost to run those copies!  We have also seen the same generic client letter recreated many times in a day instead of a common template being used to generate the letters.  We have seen staff members working on something not mentioned at all in firm’s plan.  Eventually this drives the burden rate up and the Return on Investment down. Oh, and we have heard law firm owners ask what the heck is ROI.

Start looking at your law firm as a business.  You must take care of your business so that your business can provide for you! If you can’t or would prefer not to manage your business, hire a business manager to take care of the business for you.

Can high performance teams work in a law firm?  The concept of a high performance team includes the release of control to the team.  That means that recognition for success or failure is at the team level, never at the individual level.  So, for example, if there was a very big or complex case the recognition would go to the team that worked on it.  If there were any individual recognition it would be from the team to a team member for team participation.  It is easy to spot the style of the business.  If the leadership talks about individuals (their skills or their accomplishments) the firm is probably a skill based system.  If, on the other hand, the leadership talks about the accomplishments of the firm or the team the firm is probably set up as a high performance team.

What we see at most law firms is that the business has an attorney as the leader and he or she is focused on their skill.  Their business process or style would be based on their skill and the people they hire would be based on skill.  That part is fine but once that skill becomes part of the Firm, they either become part of a team or they become recognized as a skill. In a high performance organization they become a contributor to a team and in a skill based organization they become an individual skill.  This is a subtle difference and a difference that is hard to see. 

When setting up a high performance organization there are concerns about size when you start to talk about teams.  A viable team is 5 or more people, preferably around ten.  The team effectiveness increases as the team grows from 5 to around 20.  After 20 people in the team the effectiveness again drops.  If you have a law firm with less than 25 staff then you have one team, but the principles still apply.  Establish a vision for the law firm, a mission for each team and establish clear expectations. 

The starting point for a high performance organization is strategic planning and the development of the vision. When we start working with a firm we look for the vision statement and the strategic plan. We then try to match the skills and tools to that plan.  We often find a wonderful set of words that do not match what people are doing. The reality is that the vast majority of people in your firm are doing regular work, simply trying to do their best in an uncertain and stressful environment.  What is so often absent is simply any vision of where the organization is going (nothing fancy, just something that’s clear), and leadership that has a passion for that vision.  They get so caught up in the day to day challenges that they forget they have a team.   

So step one is to define what your vision is and then translate that vision for your staff with clear expectations.  Everyone needs to be on the same path. Once the vision is clear you can apply the principles of a high performance team.  The team has autonomy, each staff member knows their responsibility, the level of authority they have and their mission.  The work culture is well defined, the expected work traits are defined, the roles of each team member are known and everyone is working on the same goal.  At this point it makes no difference if you have a single team representing the entire firm or several teams.

Based on what we have seen over the last ten years, a law firm with up to 5 members seems to work well as a pure skill based unit.  A law firm of 5 to 10 members and there are benefits from implementing high performance team principles. A law firm greater that ten members and the high performance team win every time.

The advancement of an employee from one job position to another job position that has a higher salary range, a higher level job title, or a higher level of job responsibilities, is called a promotion. Decision making authority tends to rise with a promotion as well.  But what if you decide to just increase the salary without all the other nice things?  That is not a promotion.  You still want a form of recognition for employees who make significant and effective work contributions that will stay in the same job.

Individual contributors must be eligible for promotions that recognize and reward their role as contributors. The problem is that in a small law firm there are not enough positions available to provide a promotion path.  If the staff remains in the same position and receives pay increases beyond that of the cost of living you soon have a salary too high for the position.  It is sometimes tempting to give big salary increases as recognition but is this a promotion or a recognition.  If it is only recognition go with a bonus. 

Many times we have visited law firms and found staff in the same position for many years being paid far beyond what that position calls for.  Now you are in a bind.  The economy slows down and what do you do? Do you fire the person and start over? Do you lower the salary? Neither of these solutions is fair if the performance has not changed. 

I suggest that salary reflects the job description.  Each job description should have a related salary range for it.  Any salary beyond that range is a promotion into a new job description.  So consider developing some job descriptions for your business.  If you just want to recognize good performance, and the employee is already at the top of the salary range, consider a bonus or some other form of recognition.  As for recognition programs, I have seen some creative ideas over my years.  Consider a day off, a shopping spree, a trip to the Spa, or even a vacation trip.  I have even seen the use of the corporate car for a year.   The problem with salary increases beyond what is recognized for the job is that it is not fair to the employee or the business.

I would be interested in how you handle this at your firm.

Why is it so difficult to express your vision? We can breakdown this formidable task for law firms like this:

• In our first interview we learn what you would like.  In general, you want to make a profit and since you created a law firm, you want to do that by selling legal services.
• Further discussion reveals other  hidden wants like;
  • Enhance the reputation of the firm or the attorney owner
  • Be known for good client service
  • Be known as the best law firm to work for
  • Etc.

OK, so now we have a start on what the real vision is. Your initial vision is to sell legal services for a profit.  Good, but this does not represent a market leader.  I know what you want to do but nothing that makes you stand out from hundreds of other law firms.  So, let’s define who your clients are and how you serve them better than any other law firm.   Start thinking about what you want to do better than anyone else.

• Are you the most economical service, the best client service, the most popular, the most accurate, the best turn-around time, etc.?
• What are you really selling?

Be a little creative here.  A lot of coffee shops sell coffee, but the market leader sells that early morning waker upper.  So do you sell worry free real estate closings, peace of mind, justice, revenge, or perhaps something else?  What makes you stand out in the crowd?  What is your unique business proposition or what most marketing people call your Unique Selling Proposition?  The actual definition is “the factor or consideration presented by a law firm as the reason that their service is different from and better than that of the competition”.

Now that we have that piece of information, we can define what your mission is.  Ever stand back and wonder why your staff just doesn’t get it?  Perhaps they were never told.  What is your goal?  What is it that you want your team to do?  Perhaps the team’s mission is one of these;

• Show a profit
• Have no complaints
• Show no late payments
• Have the best settlements
• Have the best court room win record

We are getting closer to what you really want. After some thought perhaps your vision is to sell legal services, for a profit, while establishing the best client service in the industry.   Sounds reasonable, so how would you do that?   The first step would be to define some goals or expectations.   The list of goals may look like this;

• Each area of the business will show a profit and in fact a positive trend in profits.  Your goal may be to increase your Return on Investment by 10% this year.
• Our client service will be positive based on measurements unique to the area of law the team works on. Your goals may be;
  • A positive client survey
  • No complaints
  • On time performance
  • Higher than predicted settlements

The second step is to sell your unique business proposal to your team and make it a source of pride.  I would go even further and say make it a condition of employment.  

There are at least four driving forces that create results.  We start with the vision which leads us to a service and selling it which leads to results.  There are three other drivers that will impact your results.  Your passion for the business will affect your communication about your business.  What you measure and gather feedback on will impact your performance, so your scorecard is important.   Then there are your values that will drive behavior and set the tone for your work culture.   All of these drivers should develop expectations that should be communicated to your team.  If you can establish the four drivers so that they act in concert and are consistent in execution you will produce consistent positive results.

Now look at each area of law or each team that makes up your law firm and see if each one can satisfy the four areas and produce results.  You may have to tweak the vision and the mission some for your law firm but this should provide a starting point for you.  I would be interested in seeing your results.

Over the years I have noticed that expenses are not always what they appear to be. For some reason it is easy to find out what the revenue was but not so easy to discover what all the expenses were.  The reasons for this range from ego to just not recording some expenses.  The revenue is almost always recorded because it becomes a deposit into an account somewhere. The ego part is, most are very proud to announce what they earned.  I visited a firm when an attorney was proudly announcing that she had a million dollar settlement.  A grand achievement indeed, but at what cost.  It is rare that anyone can tell me what the case cost.

Here is an example that may help show the problem.  We discovered a large transfer of funds that was not allocated to any specific expense category and tried to nail it down. Over time we discovered that an activity outside of the firm was being paid for.  I really didn’t care if it was a salary, an expense or a charity.  All I wanted to know was, what is the category of the expense so that I can do some business analysis.   The best business process to follow would be to create a category for the expense and not worry what that category was as long as you know what it was for.  Now when I start trending the burden rates, ROI and expenses I can get an accurate view of what is going on. 

One of the measures you want to do in a business is determine the ratio between direct and indirect cost.  The direct cost would be cost associated with creating the service which the law firm sells. So, for example, the attorney and paralegal salary would be a direct cost.  Now you can debate a series of other cost like the case management system. Is this a direct cost for the service or a support tool which would be an in-direct cost? Many firms argue that a lot of their internal process has been transferred to a case management system with intelligence and should be counted as direct cost.  As long as you are consistent with how you assign the cost items it really will make no difference overall to the trend analysis.  The goal is to try and categorize the expense categories as direct and indirect.  Now you can create formulas to track or do trend analysis.  What you want to see is low in-direct cost because that cost is not producing revenue. You should have several financial metrics defined, like revenue, burden rate, ROI, and the direct to in-direct ratio to get a good picture of the Firm’s performance.

The same theory holds true in personal finance.  While in business we tend to focus on revenue, in personal finance we tend to focus on expenses.  The problem here is that we tend to put a favorable spin on the things we like. For example, I have it in my head that the motor home I want cost $36,000.  I can work up a budget for this.  Actually the motor home I looked at was listed at $81,000 and after discount on paper it was $66,000 and after the trade in was $36,000.  So one that wanted it could rationalize that it cost $36,000 and one that did not want it could rationalize that it was an $81,000 motor home.  Probably both would be right in their mind, but neither one would be entirely accurate.  The reason this is important is, the way you perceive an expense will cloud your judgment.  What is the real impact of this purchase? The amount of the expense is only part of the impact.  You also have to decide if this is a direct or an in-direct expense. In personal finances a direct expense helps realize your vision.  Again you can get in all kinds of discussions over what is direct and what is not.  I think business is easier than personal to do this, so let’s look at personal.  If our personal vision was to become nationally known educators (we share our knowledge through books, seminars and blogs) who live in their country estate, enjoying good health and a loving relationship, then any expense that supports that vision would be a direct expense. Buying motor homes, paying utilities, or going to the movies would be in-direct.  The goal should be to keep direct high and in-direct low.  

The intent of the story is to recognize what your expenses are, and also recognize if they are direct or in-direct.  If you cannot do that you cannot prioritize expenses correctly.  When you are looking at expenses you need to consider the real cost and if it is a direct expense or not to determine the true impact.  One of the metrics that is often used is the ratio of direct to in-direct expenses.  I would love to hear about your metrics.  Other than the standard revenue number, what financial metrics do you use?

I have participated on several strategic planning sessions for law firms.  Many times the result was a set of ideas that were never written down and were quickly forgotten the next day.  There seems to be a feeling that strategic planning is not a key element of success. I believe that both people and organizations need to establish a strategic plan for success. Incorporated in that plan should be;

• The values that decide your actions. These values are your boundaries and they apply to you and your business.  For a business the values define how you will value clients, vendors, your staff and the community.
• The vision you have for the future. This is a statement about what you and your law firm want to become.  This can be as simple as a couple of words or a lengthy list.
• A mission that defines what you are doing now.  This is a description of what you or your business does.
• A strategy that incorporates your strengths and addresses your weaknesses. This should include goals and action plans to guide your daily actions.

I participated with a team that identified its preferred management style as flying by the seat of their pants. I did not see any evidence that the team valued strategic planning or systematic actions as opposed to flying by the seat of their pants. The more I looked into this dilemma the more I realized that the individuals that participate in the planning did not believe in strategic planning as a process at all.  Well if that was the case,  why would they use it in their business. I believe that your firm’s success and your personal success depend on how well you understand what you want to do. In fact:

• Law firms whose employees understand the mission and goals enjoy a 29 percent greater return on investment than other firms (Watson Wyatt Work Study).
• U.S. workers want their work to make a difference, but 75% do not think their company’s mission statement has become the way they do business (Workplace 2000 Employee Insight Survey).

Most of the time, the results I see from strategic planning do not represent reality.  A vision is a statement about what you want your law firm to become. It should resonate with all members of the organization and help them feel proud, excited, motivated, and part of something much bigger than themselves. The vision gives shape and direction to the organization’s future.  All great words but if the vision is not real people quickly dismiss it.

This is also true of your personal life.  Your personal vision statement should guide your life and the choices you make about your career. Your personal vision statement defines the path you are on. If you do not believe in having a vision for your life you probably won’t have one for your business.  For this reason we (Catalyst) will start a new project looking at self-mastery.  There are some basic questions we will ask to start this process.  Here is a sample;

• What are the ten things you most enjoy doing? Be honest.  We will use an exercise from “The Passion Test” by Chris and Janet Attwood to prioritize this list.
• What are your five-six most important values? Discovering what your values are is key to self-mastery.  Your values will define the boundaries.
• Your life has a number of important facets or dimensions, all of which deserve some attention in your personal vision statement. Write one important goal for each of them: physical, spiritual, work or career, family, social relationships, financial security, and fun.
• If you never had to work another day in your life, how would you spend your time?
• When your life is ending, what will you regret not doing, seeing, or achieving? In this exercise Cheryl will often ask the question: “What do you want on your tombstone”?
• What strengths have other people commented on about you and your accomplishments? What strengths do you see in yourself?
• What weaknesses have other people commented on about you and what do you believe are your weaknesses?

Once you have thoughtfully prepared answers to these questions you are ready to develop a personal vision statement. Write in first person and make statements about the future you hope to achieve. Write the statements as if you are already making them happen in your life. Keep in mind that your personal vision statement can also change over time, depending upon what is happening in your life. Take the time to formulate answers to the above questions, and write your personal vision statement.

Frequently I am asked if I can stay on plan every day without regard for the demands around me. What they want to know is how I stay focused when the stress of day to day burdens start to pile up. The answer is no, I can’t stay on plan all the time.  I have discovered that life is a compromise.   Sometimes my health or the needs of others will dictate what I will or should do.  I strive not to let this override my vision or my needs so I can have a balance.   Think about and write your vision and each day see if you have a balance.  If you have no vision there is no possibility for balance and one day you wake up and ask: “Is that all there is”?

If you want a law firm where the staff understands the mission and goals you have to define them first.  Want to enjoy that 29% greater return than write your plan. With your vision, mission, strategies and goals all understood and shared you will win the game.

I was interviewed today for a national legal publication on the position of a receptionist.  I immediately corrected the writer and told him that the correct title in today’s modern progressive law firm is Director of First Impressions.  My partner loves titles and has given this out to many law firm owners, including my daughter’s firm who immediately put it on a name plate with name and put it at the front desk.  She receives feedback constantly from her clients who love it.

In today’s competitive law firm arena, the first person a client sees or talks to in your firm is probably the Director of First Impressions (DFI for short).  I am constantly amazed that many law firms place at the front desk a person who can’t quite cut it as a work generator and use this as a dumping ground for ineffective employees.  Yet this person can make the difference in the growth of the business.

The DFI is the key cornerstone employee in a client relationship marketing (CRM) program.  Hiring a person with the right people skills, the ability to multi-task, and the ability to engage with the client, whether new or existing can make the difference between a banner year or a famine year.

Think of this:  If this position can engage one person to hire the firm and your average fee is $5000 that is $60,000.00 a year produced by this effective person.  Gosh..2 cases a year: $120,000.00.

Interested in knowing some dos and don’ts for the Directors of First Impressions sign up for our postings on our website and request our do’s and don’ts of the Front Desk.

The starting point for all of the self-mastery exercises I have seen is your purpose or your vision.  It is often called your definition of success. Ultimately it is what you want.  After that there is usually an exercise to figure out what you are passionate about.  With your vision and your passions identified you can develop a plan to realize the life you want.

Over the years I have seen people struggle with this.  They just don’t know what they want or even what makes them happy.  Change the question a little and think of a time when you felt at peace, or a time when you felt good about yourself. What are you doing?  Find a place where you can think without distraction.

We have had people remember a time when they were alone and others that remember a noisy family reunion.   Don’t try to force a memory or assume it will be a certain way. Eventually you will think of a place and a time when you felt good.  When think of a time you will start to remember other times as well.  Make some notes about what you were doing or what was going on around you.

Slowly you will build a picture of your paradise.  Now, with those memories fresh, work on your vision.  What would you like to accomplish in this lifetime?

Buckeye has given me permission to post a blog because he knows that in moments of deep grief or hurt, I tend to want to write of feelings when feelings are so hard to show.

            Yesterday our big family lost Hearsay, one of the three Golden Gang, who live with Beth and Shawn and loved by all.   For no rhyme or reason, far too soon, and without notice she was gone.  What started out as a routine surgery on her knee ended in seconds as she suffered a cardiac arrest.  Saying chances of 1 in 4000 sounds like a lot until you are the ‘one’ they are talking about.

            I know you are not allowed to have favorites with grand-dogs but Hearsay had a way of tugging on my heart strings.  She was absolutely and 100% unrepentant in everything she did from dragging you to the ground by grabbing your shirt and pulling, to hiding your shoes, stealing napkins from your lap, and taking food from the table.  No matter how many times you screamed, yelled or stomped your feet she just gave you that goofy grin with her hair poking every which way and wagging her tail.  If she thought you were really mad she would run,  get a ball and stand in front of you going ‘woo-woo-woo-woo” as if to say, life is too short, just learn to play more.

            Before there was a Shawn, Beth got Hearsay.  We both went together to pick out a puppy.  While all the other puppies were wiggling and playing with each other, Hearsay ran up to Beth and pulled on her trouser pants.  That should have been a warning but it was more of a look at me – I am the ONE!   I think from the first moment I held her in the car, I knew Hearsay was special.  I also think that was the time she chewed on my new t-shirt and put a hole in it.

              Every time we lose someone we say how  beautiful, perfect and or the best they were.  Hearsay was special because she simply didn’t do what all good dogs do.  She not only didn’t listen she thought her role in life was to misbehave no matter what dire warnings you could give.  And yet for all the mischief she brought into our lives she brought laughter.  I can’t think of one time we didn’t have a family gathering that we all didn’t sit around and watch what no-no thing she would do next.

            Hearsay thought Christmas was created so you could tear up all the Christmas presents.  No one in our family ever had a meal with a napkin on their lap if Hearsay was present.  She never met a stranger and in fact if given a chance she would invite them in.    She loved her balls and as soon as you hit the door she wanted to go play (that darn woo-woo again) and would do it for hours if you would let her.  This year she would be found with her head in the tomatoes eating them (whoever heard of dogs loving tomatoes in the summer). 

            As Piper came in to Hearsay’s life a year after she was adopted, Piper became the Princess but you could say Hearsay was the pea in Piper’s life.  Just enough irritating to be loved but the two learned to play together and share their Mom.  Hearsay was the reason Shawn met Beth.  He saw Hearsay’s photo and having a golden of his own it was kismet.  And as Shawn came into the mix we were so surprised to see her become a Daddy’s girl.  Perhaps it was because she had mostly females in her life but I think it is because she recognized what a big heart he had.  Shawn brought with him Buckeye and the Golden Gang was born both online and within the family.

            Hearsay had such loving grand-parents.  There was me and Dave and then Glen & Sue.  There was Grand-pa Jerry.  We would shake our heads as she misbehaved and then laugh and encourage it more.  Perhaps we felt it was pay-back to Shawn and Beth of the antics they pulled growing up.  All our hearts are broken as well.

            We can’t say what Buckeye and Piper must be thinking as these events unfold.  Certainly our upset causes them upset.  I think they know and but I don’t think they wonder too much about what’s next because they know what lies ahead for dogs.

            There is a huge divide out there whether dogs have an external soul and whether there is a heaven or hell for dogs as well.  It is written that if you can love, dream and feel then certainly you have a soul.  I do not believe the God I know would have created such animals who love so unconditionally without bring them along into the next life we will enter.  A hereafter life with dogs would truly be heaven.

            We have seen Hearsay dream of chasing balls as she sleeps and her legs run rapidly.  We have seen her whimper with a smile as certainly she must be thinking of the way she made us laugh.   Of course, Hearsay dreamed.   She dreamed with the happiness of a dog who never stopped being the incorrigible puppy and yet knew she had so much love in her life.

            And love, well she loved us all.  Hearsay had the knack of making you think she loved you best but then Hearsay didn’t know how to do otherwise.  She was Mommy’s first, and Dad’s best.  She was the reason grand-parents fought to babysit.  She showed love every single day of her life.

            Whatever vision you have of the hereafter, it has to include Hearsay.  I think of her now with Angels yelling drop it Hearsay or clean up on cloud 3.   I even imagine with a smile thinking of her  tugging on the robes of God to pull him down for a puppy lick on his cheek.   She will be the most misbehaved dog in Heaven.  But those in heaven will know that Hearsay has arrived.  And there will be lots more love than before.

            And on any one day if I get a bit mischievous or want to play a practical joke my hunch is that Hearsay has become my guardian dog angel and is doing a bit of encouragement to make life just a bit more fun and a lot more livable until we meet again.

The other day I met a most frustrated and unhappy young lady.  When I questioned her about what was upsetting her, she said all these new cases.  This is too much to do and she was getting stressed out. I was a little confused because just a few days ago all she wanted was more cases.  Kind of reminded me of that old saying, “Be careful what you ask for because you may get it”. This particular young lady was a recent graduate from our self-mastery course.  We talked about the philosophy of self-mastery, which promotes the idea to ask for what you want and want what you ask for.  This was a qualified first step.

Self-mastery starts with a clear definition of what you want, your purpose or your vision. The next step is to break this down into a mission or a definition of what you need to do today to realize that vision or purpose.  OK, she decided that what she needed was more cases.  The problem here is that there was no strategic planning done.  It was kind of a best guess that she needed cases.  If a little planning were done she would have realized that what she needed was a lot more.  She needed skills, resources and qualified cases.  A strategic plan would have defined a process and a set of goals to address what she needed.

As simple as this may sound, I frequently find there is no evidence of strategic planning.  Many times I see that people get just what they asked for but it was not really what they wanted.  We can explain this phenomenon over and over again and we still see a rush to execute.  The real problem here is that the vision defined really did not ask for more cases.  The end result being sought was much more global and it was probably something like: I want to be happy.  In her mind she analyzed that and decided that to be happy meant less stress and to have less stress meant get out of debt.  OK, so far – to get out of debt meant increased revenue and increased revenue meant more cases.  So, she wanted more cases. Beyond that there was no analysis done.  The first flaw in this analysis is that you don’t need more revenue to accomplish getting out of debt. You want more profit.  Besides new cases you probably also want to better qualify the cases you get, improve the efficiency of your operation and increase your capacity.  In fact you may discover that you really don’t need “more cases”, you need a better business process.

I have had this conversation many times and the feedback I get would suggest that most people don’t really see the benefit of strategic planning or they don’t believe that focus on a defined vision is beneficial. Even if they did, most of the people I talked to are fighting demons. They are in immediate response mode busy fighting issues and have lost sight of any vision or higher level purpose. Many times I will see a law firm spend time and money to develop a grand vision or a strategic plan only to put it on the shelf and “get back to work” as soon as the exercise is over.  I have seen groups spend days putting together a good plan and all agree what the priorities are and on Monday morning toss all that aside.

Failure to execute strategy is one of the main reasons businesses fail and law firms are no exception. We know what to do, but don’t do it. Many times there is a disconnect between the people that developed the strategy and the people doing the work. A lack of leadership.  The other big ah ha moment was that the teams are under pressure to deliver results and do not have time to understand the great strategic plan sitting on the shelf.

Spending a little time to think about what you really want and how best to realize that dream can save a lot of time and greatly reduce the stress level. When I find a well-used strategic plan that has evidence of being opened up and read I usually find an efficient business.  If you do not explain the plan to the workers or you just don’t believe in the plan, it was a waste of time. Without that plan you will not gain the competitive advantage you need in today’s environment.

Let’s take a look at a couple of simple steps that we can take to achieve self-mastery.  First I guess we should define what we mean by self-mastery.  For that discussion you should know that I believe that we are emotional beings, so my definition would include control of our emotions.  Beyond that if we are to be the masters of our self we need to understand what we want.

Tony Robbins put together a five step process which I believe is a good starting point.  The five steps he outlined were:

1. Know your outcome. OK, this to me would be your vision or a definition of what you want.  Folded into this would be your definition of success.
2. Know your reasons why.  I would include your values and your purpose in this step. 
3. Take massive action.  I am all for this and it is what I call execution.
4. Know what you are getting.  This I would say was more like an analysis to see if you are on track.  
5. Change your approach.  Based on that analysis above do you have to modify your plan based on new knowledge or changed circumstance?

I would add, acceptance as a viable step in here as an alternative to change or as an integral part of change.  Self-mastery must include our ability to accept our own limitations (physical, mental, emotional or spiritual).  I do not believe we should be driven by these limitations but we should be realistic.  Acceptance is seeing things as they truly are, not the way we want them to be or even hope them to be.  Don’t use this as an excuses to quit but also don’t ignore reality. Factor reality into your plans and accept situations and people for what and who they are.

We (Catalyst) will incorporate self-mastery within our leadership training programs and consider it to be a vital part of our life-time learning.  To be successful several elements must come together.  We must understand our purpose and our values to define the path we want to go on.  We must develop some skills to support the mission we are on.  Then we must develop self-mastery to focus us on our mission and realize our vision.  Many times I have seen one or more of these elements missing.

If you don’t understand what you want you have no defined path.  You spend all your time reacting to the latest event with no way to prioritize.  Eventually you discover you are lost and a crisis results.  If you do not develop any skills (leadership, technical, etc.) you do not have the tools to execute.  With no technical skill you can’t do it yourself and with no leadership skills you can’t get someone else to do it for you.  Without self-mastery you will not be able to operate effectively in this emotional culture. 

Consider yesterday, how well did that go for you?  Were you in control or were you in react mode? Did you make progress against your goals and come closer to realizing your vision or are you working on someone else’s vision?  How could you have made it better?  Was one of the three elements missing?

Take some time to look at the big picture.  Don’t spend your time focused on failures, things that went wrong, or actions you wish were different.  Look at the total picture and see what can be learned.  Take some time today to define what it is you want.  Start drawing a picture of your vision in your mind.  What does success look like?  Look at your environment and identify what is real.  When you know what you want look at all the resources you have.   Using all these resources how can you achieve your vision? If you need help, how can you pull a team together?  How will you know if you are still on the correct path?

The real first step is deciding that you want control of your life.  Now get ready to step out!

Lately I have started to see more focus on strategic planning and tools like the Balanced Scorecard when you talk about Law Firms.  There are two important business theories being discussed here: The concept of Strategic Planning and the use of a Balanced Scorecard.  We started focusing on strategic Plans about ten years ago when we started working with our first Law Firm. Since then it has been easy to find a firm that has made an attempt at strategic planning but no so much in finding one that was successful. The idea of a balanced scorecard frequently goes hand and hand with strategic planning and it is still difficult to find that idea implemented.  If these two ideas have become almost universally accepted why is it so difficult for a law firm to implement? Or, perhaps the real question is, do these ideas apply to a law firm?

Based on the law firms that we have worked with and the success we have seen these two ideas definitely apply.  So it is not that these concepts are difficult to implement or don’t apply that they are not being used.  I believe the problem is that most law firm owners do not understand the value of the concept.  But even that is a bit of a stretch.  When I look a little deeper I find several reasons.

1. By far the first reason on my list is that law firms have trouble defining their business objectives.  It sounds crazy when you hear this, but I have found that most law firm owners cannot tell me what their vision is. In fact, even crazier, they cannot tell me why they are in business. OK, they can say “I want to make money” but why baffles them.  The whole idea of having a well-defined vision for the business is the foundation of strategic planning.
2. Strategic planning is all about defining the vision and then creating a roadmap to realize that vision.  This is a top down process. Since the “leader” generally does not know what the vision is this is turned into a massive inclusive process.  A strategic planning committee is created with representatives from all practice areas to create a vision.  The resulting statement is generally sufficiently vague to cover all viewpoints and so fragmented that it is doomed from the start.
3. When you finally get to the point of writing some strategic steps there is a tendency to move or skip right to execution. The strategic planning process should be focused on the consideration of options.  Immediately jumping to an action plan without going through the process of clarifying the strategy sometimes has you going down the wrong path.
4. Generally I find that nobody is identified as the owner of the plan or the person accountable for the implementation.  Everyone in the strategic planning meeting is there to contribute their ideas and they are not the owner of the plan.   In fact it should be the law firm owner that is accountable for the plan. This is a new concept for a lawyer/owner because they see themselves as a professional whose only responsibility is to their clients. Actually they frequently separate themselves from the planning process.

These concepts have been around for many years in Corporate America but only for a few related to law firms, so there is not a long history of success to point to as evidence of value.  Where we have implemented these concepts we see success but there is also a long runway before takeoff. Typically it has been between one and two years to see measured success in the law firms we have worked with.  The first year is all about planning and the second is gathering data from the balanced scorecard.

When the strategic plan is used to develop action plans and the balanced scorecard is used to develop a picture of results that can be used to improve the plan we typically see a well-rounded picture of the law firm.  The four areas that are measured in a balanced score card are;

1. Finances – those measures that measure financial success. This is everyone’s favorite because it is what they are used to. How much money did I make?  How big is my bonus this year? This is real to everyone.
2. Client Service – those measures that capture how well the firm served their clients. Law firms frequently focus on client service but never measure it. It is almost always a key element of the vision. So this is something all law firms want. The problem is leadership has trouble relating this measure to success or failure. If I improve client service by 10% what happens?
3. Growth – those measures that capture how well the firm is doing to improve. This is the measures that will tell you if you will still be in business in a few years as the market changes. It is a measure of how effective the firm uses the human resources (staff). One of the problems here is that frequently staff are viewed as a resource instead of being a key element of the business process. How do you relate training your paralegal to an improvement in the bottom line?
4. Internal Processes – those measures that capture how efficient and effective the business process is. How are the tools, like the case management system, used? Do you have the right mix of skills, tools, work space, and supplies? Frequently many steps in the process are skipped or ignored so it is not easy to show how a quality review of a few process steps is beneficial. Most of the law firms I have worked with view their business as being skill based and not process based when, in fact, a high percentage of the business is process based.

Before we get to the execution phase we need to have a good understanding of what we want to build and how we are going to measure success. Without this we will be fighting fires every day and depending on brute force to make it through the day.  Very little business improvements or refinements are going on. The real struggle is changing the way you look at the law firm. Is it really a business with business processes that react to the best business practices of the day?  In the competitive environment we are in today those law firms that are viewed as a business have a better chance of being here tomorrow.

Buckeye:  Okay you worthless siblings..we have to get ready for Father’s Day!

Piper:  (yawn) What may I ask is a Father? and why does the Father have a day?

Hearsay:  Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, another “Day”.  Every time someone says it is another day we party down!

Buckeye:  Okay Village Idiot Dog and Princess of the Rhelm, you know who Dad is, right?

Hearsay:  Oh boy, oh boy, he’s a great ball thrower and gives awesome belly rubs!

Piper:  That my dear court jester, is not the half of it.   He is the best cuddler in the whole world, and he knows how to bring me my food and let me share his bed.   Now that is a Dad!  So what is a Father?

Buckeye:  Well, now that I am thinking about it, I guess a Father is the head of a family but obviously who ever said that hasn’t met our Mom yet.  I think it is called now Shared Head of Family.  Well a Dad is also a Father.

Piper:  So how do you get to be a Dad?

Buckeye:  Well after that unexpected trip to the Vet, I can promise you from personal experience it ain’t going to be through my genes.  But you know, I guess a Dad is someone who takes you in, loves you more than anything else, is willing to go the distance with you through thick and thin, and when you are with him you just feel like it is the happiest time in your lives.

Hearsay:  Well!  Thank God Mom found him because there weren’t any Dads around when I was growing up.  I was a bit worried when he and you showed up.  I had to ask what a Buckeye was.  But the one thing I can say is that when Mom is gone and it is us guys and girls he makes me feel safe and warm.  And even when he yells “Drop IT!  Drop IT” I know he is kidding.

Hearsay:  Hey, what do Dad’s do?  How do they get money to buy me balls?

Buckeye:  Gad!  Dad works for the company that makes those big green tractors and he goes all around the world helping people grow food by figuring out why they should buy the big green tractors.

Piper:  Oh, I thought he was a world champion golf player!

Buckeye: Well he is a BUCKEYE!  Geez

Piper:  And don’t forget he is a Doctor..

Hearsay:  Oh no..he can cut on me and things..

Piper:  No you village idiot he has a doctorate in psychology, why do you think he knows what we are going to do before we do it?

Hearsay: Okay so he markets green tractors, he plays golf, he loves THE Ohio State, he’s a doctor of the head.  Anything else?

Piper:  A dad is someone who loves you no matter what!

Hearsay:  Oh boy!  OH boy!  let’s buy him a ball!

Buckeye:  Nope!  I think this year we simply bark and say “Happy Dad’s Day to the Best Day in the Whole World”

Buckeye, Hearsay, Piper:  HAPPY DAD’S DAY ! TO OUR DAD, SHAWN NOBLE!

When we started teaching the concepts of a “High Performance Law Firm” we took some liberties to define three roles; Technician, Manager, and Leader.  These roles were defined like this;

• The Technician had a unique and necessary skill that the business needed. The person in this role did the work of production.  They actually created your deliverable and did all that was necessary to produce that deliverable.
• The Manager controlled resources and was focused on the mission of the law firm.

1. Establishes a plan. This plan becomes the road map for the work to be done.
2. Allocates resources (technicians, supplies, work space, etc.) to execute the plan.
3. Measure the results (the balanced scorecard) to see how the end product compares with what was originally planned.

• The Leader focused on the vision of the business and made sure everyone followed the strategic plan.

To get a visual of this business we would say that when you were in one of these roles you were wearing the hat of that role.  After looking at this visual of a law firm we quickly noticed that there were not a lot of hat changes.  Most people were wearing the hat of the technician. When we looked closer we discovered another neat visual that of “fighting fires”.  There were a lot of technicians fighting fires. In the office, when a person claims to be fighting fires, it means that they are extremely busy with multiple urgent duties they need to take care of.  

We have looked at this over several years and discovered that in almost all cases these fires were related to the duties of a technician.  That means, it was something that had to be done to deliver the product.  In fact we found that people identified as managers and leaders were also wearing the technician hat.  Looking closer we discovered that the job of management and of leader was not being done.  This created a lot more problems to solve and fueled that forest fire giving lots of work to the technicians.  Everyone was so busy “fighting fires” that the efficiency of the firm was non-existent.  The “burden rate” or money poured into supporting the business was eating up all the profits.

After some time looking at this we came to a conclusion that if the job of management and leadership was done we could bring the law firm back into control.  So we started to look at why managers and leaders within these law firms were so quick to jump into the technician’s role. 

In most cases we discovered that they preferred that role.  They first thought of themselves as a skilled employee, unfortunately that skill was not in management or leadership.  Most of these people were Paralegals, Law Clerks, or an Attorney.  It was kind of like that speech “Please don’t throw me into that briar patch”. They all loved the challenge of fighting fires. They would usually be proud of the fact that they were so busy “saving” the firm. Nobody was looking at the big picture.

To run a successful law firm we believe that you need all three roles actively filled. If you don’t want that role, that is OK, but fill it with someone that does.  If you have nobody that wants to be a manager, hire a Firm Business Manager. If you have nobody that wants to be a leader hire a Firm Administrator. If you feel like you can do that role then obtain the skills required to do the job.  Don’t be too quick to change hats. 

When we start with a new law firm we do two things up front. We start training in self-mastery and leadership, and we do a “needs” assessment for the firm.  The classes for leadership start off with the identified leaders (attorneys, firm owners, etc.) and somewhere within that class we learn that not everyone wants to be a leader. Many just want to be a good Attorney or a good Paralegal, and that is OK.  If by the end of the classes we determine that we have no managers or leaders, we identify a need to fill those roles.

How is it at your Firm?  Have you noticed a lot of firefighting?  It is possible that you just don’t have enough staff or enough skills?  It is also possible that you have lost your way in the jungle.  When we find this happening we start asking what the mission is or what the strategic plan is.  We generally discover one of two things, there is no plan or there is a plan but nobody is following it.  Want to get rid of stress at work, get some good managers and leaders with a solid strategic plan. What is the vision for your firm?  What is your mission and how does it relate to the vision?

It’s Winston Churchill who said “He who fails to plan is planning to fail” during World War II. That is still true today.

We believe in high performance teams and strategic planning.  Over the years we have seen great programs fail because there was no follow-through.  The big question is why! Why would anyone spend all that time and money to set up a strategic planning or team building event if they were not going to follow through?

The success of a strategic planning or team building event begins well before the start of the first meeting.  What are you going to do with the results of these events?   If the participants of these events cannot see any follow-through, they will quickly resent all the time and effort put into the event.  The results could be worse than what would happen without the event.

These events should build trust and improve morale.   If the participants perceive that the results are not being used or that what was said during the event is not reality there will be no trust built.  The difference between having the potential and actually seeing it happen is in the follow-through. 

Before you create a team building or strategic planning event determine what your expected results are.  Are you expecting to actually develop a plan that you intend to execute?  Are you expecting to develop a high performance team that you will delegate task to using the guidelines of a high performance team?  Don’t hold an event just because it seems like the thing to do.

I would be interested if you have seen this problem in your business and how you overcame it.

We believe in high performance teams and strategic planning.  Over the years we have seen great programs fail because there was no follow-through.  The big question is why! Why would anyone spend all that time and money to set up a strategic planning or team building event if they were not going to follow through?

The success of a strategic planning or team building event begins well before the start of the first meeting.  What are you going to do with the results of these events?  If you have a follow-through plan you have a better idea of the results you expect to see.  If the participants of these events can mot see any follow-through, they will quickly resent all the time and effort pit into the event.  The results could be worse than what would happen without the event.

These types of events should be expected to build trust, produce better processes or improve morale.   If the participants perceive that the results are not being used or that what was said during the event is not reality there will be no trust built.  Team building and planning events have the potential to develop a strong sense of direction ad a feeling of belonging.  The difference between having the potential and actually seeing it happen is in the follow-through.  Poorly planned events, developed outside of reality, have the potential for disillusionment, low morale and less trust.

Before you create a team building or strategic planning event determine what your expected results are.  Are you expecting to actually develop a plan that you intend to execute?  Are you expecting to develop a high performance team that you will delegate task to using the guidelines of a high performance team?  Don’t hold an event just because it seems like the thing to do. Incorporate the event into your work culture with an integrated work purpose to which all participants can participate.

I would be interested if you have seen this problem in your business and how you overcame it.

I am always amazed that those things that are free in law firm marketing are never utilized.  One of the best sources of marketing your practice is the wise use of your firm members to help market the firm.

I pay close attention to employees in any business who are enthused about where they work.  You can tell it when you walk in the door or call on the phone. They have a natural high that comes from enjoying where they work.  This tells me alot about the business and the type of people who own it.  To create this type of employee you have to create the right environment.

 First and foremost, you have to have some type of vision of the firm and where it is going and how the firm members can play a part.   You should be having regular monthly or quarterly meetings bring your firm up to date on where you are seeing the firm go. 

 Train them in the ethical considerations on how to talk to people about the firm. They need to know the difference between soliciting cases and soliciting good impressions of themselves and the firm.  Do they know how to let people know where they work, what a good job the firm does, and what type of cases it handles?  I am constantly amazed when the attorneys tell me they never talk about where they work or what they do!  Non-lawyers can be a huge source of first impressions for your firm.

The environment in your firm has to be one of team play.  It means there is mutual respect among everyone, not just the select few.   Do you introduce your staff to visitors to the firm.  I can tell you introducing your file clerk to a judge has a huge impact not only on your employee but on the judge who sees this as a respectful ethical attorney who values relationships.

Do you provide business cards for your employees?   Do not do this unless you are willing to train them on how to properly hand out.  Allow your employees to put their favorite saying on the back of the card (preapproved of course).  You will be amazed how many more they hand out if you do this.

Create a marketing board in the break room. Anytime a case comes in from a specific firm member put a star up with their name.  Create a prize list for those who have the most stars each quarter. Make sure to reward even those with one.  It doesn’t have to be money, it can be gift cards, gas cards, movie tickets, etc.

Be fair with your employees. There are lots of ways to reward employees for helping grow the firm and it may well not have to be a raise if times are tight.  An extra two hours once a month is huge on a Friday.   Everyone does understand we are in a tight economy right now and will hang with you if you are fair.

And the huge one is to have a client relationship marketing program that establishes a basis for exceptional client interaction between your firm members and the clients.  You will reap the rewards almost immediately.  This turns your clients into mini marketers as well.

There are many ways to excite firm members to be pro-active.  Anyone who has a vested interest in your success will help you grow. They just need to know how.

 Interested in designing a client relationship marketing program.  Contact cjleone@catalystgroupinc.com to set up a time to discuss your needs.  And if we can’t help you we will give you some good advice.!