Page 48 - Law Society of Hong Kong MPMC Manual v8 - With checklists (1 March 2018)

Practice Management Course | Unit 5
Business Planning

• Work-life balance - achievement of financial goals and/or lifestyle goals or a
balance of work and home life.
• Innovation.

26. The stakeholders and staff could be surveyed to ascertain what they consider the
values of the practice are or should be.

Values Statement
27. A sample Values Statement might be as follows:

We are committed to a service culture, which drives our business by:

• Placing the highest priority on identifying, meeting and exceeding client
expectations.
• Providing and constantly refining services that add value for clients.
• Providing energetic focussed management leadership that offers guidance
and support to our people in the delivery of internal and external services.
• Encouraging teamwork, personal development and career enhancement;
promoting regular and effective two-way communication throughout the
practice.
• Identifying and rewarding innovation, enterprise and achievement.
• Promoting continuous improvement as our way of life.
• Maximising the opportunities provided by technology to improve the
responsiveness, quality and consistency of client service and reduce
production costs.
• Meeting the proprietors’ expectations of improved financial performance
and an appropriate return on ‘investment’.

Vision Statement
28. A Vision Statement reflects the practice view of what success looks like.

29. The processes of clarifying Values, revitalising the Mission and creating a Vision are
key to the strategic planning process. Visioning does not substitute for strategic
and tactical plans; it is a process that comes before the plans. Practices move from
visioning to strategic planning, to yearly plans and measurements.

30. Shared visions are the foundation for making change. Without shared vision, new
ways of thinking or acting are inhibited by the pull of how things have been in the
past. However, without real change, visioning is pointless and counter-productive.
Clarifying Values, Mission and Vision often calls into question basic assumptions
about work design, direction, leadership and strategy. The process of conducting
operational and strategic audits, clarifying Values, Mission and Vision can mean that
people in the practice become more empowered and committed to the results.

31. One of the most important parts of this whole process is the amount of involvement
of the stakeholders and key staff. It is tempting to take a small ‘representative’
group off to do the visioning and then deliver the Mission and Vision to everyone
else. This method may seem like a prudent use of time, but people will not be
committed to the discoveries of others and effort will be wasted.

32. The principles of developing a vision are:

© The Law Society of Hong Kong (2018) Page 44