Page 19 - Strategic Planning for Law Firms

“It’ll be a
Strategic Planning for Law Firms
“There is no accountability”
This statement belies the whole purpose
of strategic planning because its role is not only to define goals, but create processes that hold everyone accountable to achieve them. Frankly, if partners in a law firm are not willing and able to make promises to one another and be accountable, then you are simply sharing office space.
“It’ll get shoved in a drawer and collect dust”
Every firm has started at least one initiative, only to forget about it. Mention strategic planning, and attorneys will remind you about that firm initiative that never went anywhere. You’ll need to explain how this process will be different. We will offer suggestions later in this book for how to keep a plan alive and on track.
“Nothing is going to happen”
Some may say that the plan won’t change anything. There will be a lot of pomp and circumstance and hoopla when it is initially rolled out, but it will quickly be forgotten. To avoid this, the plan should have specific tasks with specific deadlines.
waste of time”
Many of us bill by the hour, and every hour spent on strategic planning is an hour that isn’t billed. Will it cost some billable hours? Yes. It has, however, the potential to increase revenue, billable hourly rates and reduce costs. It’s a net win.
“It’s the flavor of the week”
We all read our share of business books, and it seems each week a new theory, approach or process is rolled out to better run our businesses. Curiously, the best selling business books are, ineffect,describingstrategicplanning,withoutusingthosewords. Sostrategicplanningisn’tthe flavor of the week. It’s been around and proven effective.
©2021 Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel
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SECTION 02 RESISTANCE TO STRATEGIC PLANNING