“Criticism is something you can easily avoid — by saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing.”
–Aristotle
In order to help clients grow business, the second of 36ixty’s 12 Essential Business Practices focuses on Leadership. But we found over 350 definitions of leadership, everything from “make it a strong, happy team” to “think of yourself as the sun.” We needed to identify what it is leaders, managing partners, marketing partners, practice area leaders and office managing partners must do to help their teams grow new business.
6 Steps to Exceptional Leadership
The identification of 6 steps to exceptional leadership follow and are used with clients with significant commitments to grow their firms and companies.
Listen
Make Decisions
Communicate
Hold People Accountable
Take Risks
Leave a Legacy
Our workshops and seminars are aimed at having the attendees “apply the lessons today.”
Following are 2 more questions asked by Nick Gaffney in the panel discussion for the December 14th issue of the ABA’s LAW PRACTICE TODAY. My responses follow.
HOW CAN LAW FIRM LEADERS TRAIN YOUNGER GENERATIONS TO EFFECTIVELY LEAD TO ENSURE FIRM LONGEVITY AND SUSTAINABILITY? WOULD FIRMS BENEFIT FROM INSTITUTING MENTOR PROGRAMS TO CULTIVATE LEADERSHIP QUALITIES EARLY ON IN YOUNG LAWYERS’ CAREERS?
The most effective training should involve a comprehensive professional development program, in including client management, relationship building, business development, understanding business financing, etc. And it should be set up in increments based upon years of practice by each attorney. The firm should also pay close attention to identifying future leaders and at some point, assign mentors to them. But the mentor role must be clearly defined and a contract made between the mentor and mentee.
IS IT DIFFICULT TO BALANCE THE RESPONSIBILITIES INHERENT IN LAW FIRM LEADERSHIP WITH MAINTAINING A HEAVY WORKLOAD? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH BEING A LAW FIRM LEADER?
The answer to this gets back to the question of firm size. With smaller firms, the administration, personnel and management tasks tent to be less interruptive. As in any organization, the larger it gets the more bureaucratic it becomes. Bringing in a sophisticated administrative officer, designating key leadership responsibilities to members of management or executive committee, and holding them all accountable for results will enable the leader to maintain key client relationships, become a recognized figure-head in the local business community, and set an example as part of their legacy.
Based on an article in ABA’s LAW PRACTICE TODAY, (Dec. 14, 2015) moderated by Nicholas Gaffney, a member of the Law Practice Today editorial board and a veteran public relations practitioner. He asked 6 “legal field veterans” their perspectives on the multi-faceted nature of law firm leaders. My responses to his questions follow.
HOW DO THESE INDIVIDUALS BECOME BETTER LEADERS IN THEIR FIRMS?
A “respected” law firm leader needs three skills: the ability to listen, the readiness to make decisions; and — one that is most often missing — holding people accountable for implementing the decisions. In addition, thinking about what their legacy will be for the firm must be clear, concise and often courageous.
ARE DIFFERENT LEADERSHIP STYLES NECESSARY FOR DIFFERENT-SIZE FIRMS? WHAT ABOUT IN DIFFERENT PRACTICE AREAS?
Heading a practice area is often a non-position. All too many firms designate someone to lead a group, provide no support or direction, and expect results. But for those who actively work to improve the services provided by the practice group, and work at cross marketing with other specialties, the results can be powerful.
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Through his work as a chief executive and as an advisor to managing partners, Dr. Colman identified these 6 skills areas to make an impact:
Leaders Listen
Leaders Make Decisions
Leaders Communicate Decisions
Leaders Hold People Accountable for Results
Leaders Take Risks
Leaders Leave a Legacy
Project Managers shouldn’t settle for simply making an impact, but become a leader who makes a *crazy impact*.
Why Do Senior Partners Resist an Exit Strategy?
From Thomson Reuters Legal Solutions Blog, August 20, 2015
When asked what major problems they face, we often hear Managing Partners say “senior attorneys. They want to hold on to their clients and not share origination or management credits.” The potential loss of revenue is significant. Failure to deal with this is a common million dollar blind spot for the typical law firm.
Often, these near-retirement lawyers are producing less and taking more.
Dr. Allan Colman has been named a Top 10 Speaker by ISN Works. His featured keynote is “GOT LEADERSHIP – Transform Your Leaders and Transform Your Business Growth.” Dr. Colman uses humor, case studies and powerful insights designed to transform your teams and open up many new business opportunities.
He utilizes 6 skills which are crucially linked to exceptional leadership, accelerating revenue growth and increasing effectiveness. The key to transforming sustainable revenue growth to productive revenue is centered in a firm’s leaders who are willing to address critical impact areas.
Colman may be reached at www.allancolman.com and ISN at 800-987-7771.
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(http://www.madeforsuccesspublishing.com) works with motivated authors worldwide to produce successful book-launch campaigns. By combining proven book-marketing strategies with enhanced retail promotion, Made for Success Publishing works with self-published authors on the launch of physical books, ebooks and audio books.
About the Author:
(http://www.allancolman.com)
Dr. Allan Colman, CEO of The Closers Group, is a consultant, speaker and author. He is an expert in business growth and leadership and a foremost authority on exceptional leadership. His three recent books, Crazy Impact, Own the Zone, and Lead Like A Boss are all published by Made for Success Publishing and are utilized in his seminars and workshops.
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HOME > BLOG > PRACTICE MANAGEMENT > REVENUE GROWTH AND FIRM LEADERSHIP – WHAT’S MISSING?
REVENUE GROWTH AND FIRM LEADERSHIP – WHAT’S MISSING?
August 6, 2015
How often have you heard from senior lawyers, “I’ve got lots of low hanging fruit”? Statistics over the past 8 years indicate this sounds like they are talking a good-game but are not getting out face-to-face in order to pick that crop. If, in fact, these claims are actually pursued, only 3% of the prospects are ready to buy, and the rest are either no longer interested, have retained someone else, or have moved on to other problems. That’s right, just 3% are ready to engage you, according to a study by Business Breakthroughs.
Further, every firm has a number of tools that they are not using or using ineffectively, to grow revenue. The more you look at your own firm and its business development strategies, the more you are going to find:
Underperforming assets;
Overlooked opportunities;
Hidden assets;
Under valued relationships.
And to further reinforce this challenge, 89.3% of ceo’s confirmed the need for their outside firms to build better relationships (Study by brandfog.com).
What are needed are clarity, focus and execution, starting with firm leadership. Firms need to start using tools which place more emphasis on “critical impact areas.” These will lead to clear 90 Day Strategic Implementation Maps which identify action details, timing, resources needed and leadership assignments. These lead to:
More revenue;
More clients;
More open doors.
Building a sustainable revenue path is the key to rapidly growing ROI. Those who can have the most influence in turning this into productive revenue are the firm’s leaders. Just as “marketing” has evolved into “business development,” business development must now evolve into “business generation and creation!”
Refining the roles and requirements of firm leadership need to focus on the complete picture:
1. Underutilized assets;
2. Development of suppressed skills sets of each professional;
3. Hidden opportunities, both current and future;
4. Under valued relationships;
5. Timely associations with clients and contacts.
Revealing and implementing these five avenues to your firm’s leadership are keys to achievement, growth and success. The major problem we see on an ongoing basis is the absence of holding people accountable for results. Once Strategic Implementation Maps are approved by firm management, the most potential for success is if firm leaders help others overcome obstacles and challenges.
In summary, what are needed to accelerate revenue growth in your firm are clarity, focus and execution. Take a hard look at what can be refined in order to identify those “critical improvement areas.” Place your leaders in charge of implementing each and watch the revenue grow.
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Colman
CEO, Closers Group
Allan Colman, CEO of the Closers Group, is a business development executive keynote speaker and marketing advisor/coach. He has spent more than 2 decades helping law firms and professional services firms generate more revenue. His clients call him Mentor and TORMENTOR!
Made For Success Publishing Features Our Leadership Anthology – CRAZY IMPACT
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The absence of leadership that could overcome what your firm is missing in the marketplace is the primary focus.
Think of it this way: if every “leader” in your firm generated only a 5% increase in their new business, with virtually no extra overhead costs needed, what a powerful impact that would have on ROI. But most firms today employ either a collegiate or consensus form of leadership. While there are often Managing Partners who take strong stands on certain issues, the biggest problem we see consistently is the absence of holding people accountable for results.
Yet it has the most potential for success if firm leaders (managing partners, executive committee, practice group leaders, partners-in-charge) are reminded of their commitments, helping them overcome obstacles and challenges, and not letting them skip “next steps.”
Take a hard look at what can be refined in order to identify “critical improvement areas.” Organize them into an IMPLEMENTATION MAP, focusing on accountability for activities that have the greatest impact and value. It is not necessary to revamp your entire organization. Just shake up the system a bit to make it clear what the expectations, time lines and results are for the business generation task assigned.
Place your leaders in charge of implementing each task, set specific timing, hold them accountable and watch the revenue grow, more doors opening, and the firm’s reputation cower the competition.
MARKETING the LAW FIRM, American Lawyer Media
August 2015
Sales Speak: What’s Missing in Law Firm Business Development?
Firm Leaders!
For the past decade, business development training and coaching have been considered the standard for growing more firm business. Those who have benefited are primarily senior associates and newer partners. And certainly there have been multiple examples of real success. But with competition growing, clients terminating long-term relationships and the inability of firms to keep up with technology and market place changes, business development training and coaching have become mainly a palliative measure, ignoring the primary problem:
… the absence of leadership that will overcome what you are missing in the marketplace.
“Palliative” is defined as “relieving pain or alleviating a problem without dealing with the underlying cause.” The way to overcome the underlying cause for these and other business growth issues is to shift from the traditional business development training and coaching currently in vogue to placing more emphasis on “critical improvement areas.” To accomplish this means transforming the firm’s leadership (Executive Committee, Marketing Committee, Practice Group Leaders, Partners-in-Charge of offices, etc.) in order to transform your business growth.
Business Development Issues
Primary issues often mentioned to us during strategic business assessments include:
• Need to expand the number of attorneys actively selling;
• Number of new engagements per client is dropping;
• Resistance to transitioning clients is growing;
• Absence of cross-marketing and internal-marketing;
• Senior attorneys producing less and taking more;
• Missing hidden opportunities, i.e., building up referrals; and
• Erratic performance by practice groups and offices.
Note that those who can have the most influence in turning these issues into productive revenue are the firm’s leadership. And while business development training and coaching for senior associates and newer partners should continue, the firm’s leadership requires an organizational assessment and implementation map to accelerate the transformation of your teams to open up many more opportunities.
The key is to refine your organization to actively deal with the issues and turn them into ROI.
Business Generation
Just as “marketing” has evolved into “business development,” business development must now evolve into “business generation and creation.” Refining the roles and requirements of firm leadership needs to focus on the complete picture: the underutilized assets and development of suppressed skill sets of each professional; the hidden opportunities , both current and future that every firm has and needs to identify and use; and those undervalued relationship s and timely associations with contacts and clients that have not been fully explored and exposed to total benefits to generate new matters. Revealing and implementing these key avenues to your firm’s leadership are keys to achievement, growth and success.
Are the time commitments and costs associated with social media content being measured and evaluated? Are they attracting the readership and driving actions as traditional advertising and public relations did? What are the “openings” scores of firm e-blasts, alerts, etc.? Are attorneys assigned to follow up with those who open and read your communications on a frequent basis? Is the firm ignoring the power of an occasional direct mail piece?
Important questions include, Is your brand being used as a marketing theme by all who are face to face with clients and prospects? Or is it nothing more than an image on your home page? In other words, does your firm culture actively define the themes you want the marketplace to associate with the firm? Are your practice group leaders and PICs using group meetings to remind and refresh the needed approaches?
Leadership Accountability
Most firms today employ either a collegiate or consensus form of leadership. While there are often Managing Partners who take strong stands on certain issues, the biggest problem we see consistently is the absence of holding people accountable for results. When applied to firm leadership as defined earlier in this article, this is the area of greatest weakness. Yet, it has the most potential for success if firm leaders are reminded of their commitments, helping them overcome obstacles and challenges, and not letting them skip “next steps.”
Well-organized follow-up, using an implementation map, focuses accountability on activities that have the greatest impact and value. It isn’t necessary to revamp your entire organization; just shake up the system a bit to make it clear what the expectations, time lines, and results are for the business generation tasks assigned.
Conclusion
Think of it this way: If every “leader” in your firm generated only a 5% increase in their new business, with virtually no extra overhead costs, what a powerful impact that would have on ROI. Take a hard look at what can be refined in order to identify those “critical improvement areas.” Place your leaders in charge of implementing each, set specific timing, hold them accountable and watch the revenue grow, more doors open, and the firm’s reputation cower the competition.
________________________________________
Dr. Allan Colman, a member of this newsletter’s Board of Editors and CEO of the Closers Group, specializes in Accelerating Rapid Revenue Growth for Law Firms. He may be reached at www.closersgroup.com
