Page 79 - Strategic Planning for Law Firms

Strategic Planning for Law Firms
Roll Your Plan Out to the Whole Firm
If you want to lay the groundwork for a successful plan, then roll it out to the whole firm. Host
a luncheon or reception where the firm members receive a full briefing on the plan and the timetable for execution of the plan. Give everyone a copy. Give them a framed Mission Statement for their office or desk. Hand out law firm swag. Announce firm wide committees with committee chairs who will address different tasks. Include your staff and paralegals on the committees. The more your plan becomes the plan of everyone, the more likely it is to succeed.
How Do You Make Sure the Plan Doesn’t Simply Get Shelved?
If you remember back to the beginning
of the book, where we discussed all the concerns your attorneys may voice about
a strategic plan, one was the worry that it will be stuck in a drawer and collect dust.
To avoid that, the firm has to have regular meetings and reminders to ensure everyone is doing their designated part to advance
the strategic plan. It isn’t simply a report prepared over a weekend never to be looked at again. It is a living, breathing document which is a map charting the firm’s course and future. It is a document that needs to be discussed monthly, if not weekly, when your firm meets and discusses the firm’s health, growth and administration.
How to Keep the Plan Alive and Vibrant
Keeping your plan alive and vibrant will come down to reducing your goals to specific action steps, assigning attorneys to perform those action steps, and giving them deadlines by which to complete them. This isn’t all that different than creating and executing a plan to win a case. You create a plan. You set goals to achieve the plan. You lay out action steps to achieve the goals. You create a calendar by which you will do the action steps. Do the same for your strategic plan and make sure everyone knows their role, obligations, duties and deadlines under the plan.
©2021 Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel
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SECTION 13 IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN