Page 43 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (q)
P. 43
For a major project that seeks to change how partners operate the business (and their
practices) or to help a partnership make fundamental decisions about their future, we usually
encourage that partners outside the firm’s management are involved early in the diagnostics
process.
If this initial stage discovers that the problem the firm’s management wants the consulting
firm to address isn’t the most important issue, a good consultancy will not blindly carry through
the project that was sold but have a candid discussion with the client about a fundamental
adjustment to project scope.
Second, developing and testing options: Unlike in law, in business there usually is more
than one right answer to a challenge or more than one way to reach a goal – it is the constraint of
resources (partner time and money available for investment) that often helps determine the best
way ahead. Developing different options and testing which option will provide the maximum
benefit to the law firm with the least investment of partners’ cash and time is a better approach
than to provide one solution and ask the partners to accept or decline this single option. In our
experience having worked with major law firms in more than 50 countries, we find time and time
again that most well-meaning initiatives put forth by firm management end up not being
implemented or adopted by partners because firm management concluded on a single path too
early.
Third, involving partners in decision-making: Most readers of this e-book will belong
to law firms with 150 or fewer partners; most if not all partners will know one another and expect
some degree of understanding about what management is doing and why. “Horror stories” within
law firms abound of Big 4 accounting firms where “partners” are employees who are paid high
bonuses but who do not even have a say when their firm undertakes a major merger or acquisition,
let alone a lesser decision to acquire a certain piece of software.
We have seen even the simplest measures fail because an insufficient number of partners
were involved in the creation of the solution. Diversity and social mobility initiatives are a key
example where well-meaning and well-designed initiatives by heads of human resources fail to be
implemented properly and, thus, provide a questionable return to the firm simply because the
partners were merely informed about how that initiative will add value to the firm but are now
sufficiently involved in understanding and shaping how that initiative will change their practices.
The approach that will work best really depends on the size, style, and sophistication of the
firm, and the nature and complexity of the problem. In some cases, a factual and directive report
is all that is required, but the range of issues that a consultancy deals with tends to be contentious
and involve a range of overlapping factors (e.g., culture, governance, and process). Thus, a bespoke
engagement plan will need to be designed that steers over time a course of fact and opinion
gathering; stakeholder (client, staff, partner) involvement; and communication, which will lead to
consensus and usually a vote. The “consultation” is particularly important: People want to feel that
they have had a chance to contribute to the debate, air their views, and feel they are being taken
into account. You cannot satisfy everyone, but even if the final outcome is not everything that the
partners had wanted, they are much more likely to accept and support if they feel that the
consultation was fair, open-minded, thorough, inclusive, balanced, and transparent. If you fail to
get the consultation right, then the outcome will feel like an imposition; with people of high
intellect and egalitarian principles, you can expect heels to dig in!
28
practices) or to help a partnership make fundamental decisions about their future, we usually
encourage that partners outside the firm’s management are involved early in the diagnostics
process.
If this initial stage discovers that the problem the firm’s management wants the consulting
firm to address isn’t the most important issue, a good consultancy will not blindly carry through
the project that was sold but have a candid discussion with the client about a fundamental
adjustment to project scope.
Second, developing and testing options: Unlike in law, in business there usually is more
than one right answer to a challenge or more than one way to reach a goal – it is the constraint of
resources (partner time and money available for investment) that often helps determine the best
way ahead. Developing different options and testing which option will provide the maximum
benefit to the law firm with the least investment of partners’ cash and time is a better approach
than to provide one solution and ask the partners to accept or decline this single option. In our
experience having worked with major law firms in more than 50 countries, we find time and time
again that most well-meaning initiatives put forth by firm management end up not being
implemented or adopted by partners because firm management concluded on a single path too
early.
Third, involving partners in decision-making: Most readers of this e-book will belong
to law firms with 150 or fewer partners; most if not all partners will know one another and expect
some degree of understanding about what management is doing and why. “Horror stories” within
law firms abound of Big 4 accounting firms where “partners” are employees who are paid high
bonuses but who do not even have a say when their firm undertakes a major merger or acquisition,
let alone a lesser decision to acquire a certain piece of software.
We have seen even the simplest measures fail because an insufficient number of partners
were involved in the creation of the solution. Diversity and social mobility initiatives are a key
example where well-meaning and well-designed initiatives by heads of human resources fail to be
implemented properly and, thus, provide a questionable return to the firm simply because the
partners were merely informed about how that initiative will add value to the firm but are now
sufficiently involved in understanding and shaping how that initiative will change their practices.
The approach that will work best really depends on the size, style, and sophistication of the
firm, and the nature and complexity of the problem. In some cases, a factual and directive report
is all that is required, but the range of issues that a consultancy deals with tends to be contentious
and involve a range of overlapping factors (e.g., culture, governance, and process). Thus, a bespoke
engagement plan will need to be designed that steers over time a course of fact and opinion
gathering; stakeholder (client, staff, partner) involvement; and communication, which will lead to
consensus and usually a vote. The “consultation” is particularly important: People want to feel that
they have had a chance to contribute to the debate, air their views, and feel they are being taken
into account. You cannot satisfy everyone, but even if the final outcome is not everything that the
partners had wanted, they are much more likely to accept and support if they feel that the
consultation was fair, open-minded, thorough, inclusive, balanced, and transparent. If you fail to
get the consultation right, then the outcome will feel like an imposition; with people of high
intellect and egalitarian principles, you can expect heels to dig in!
28
