Firms, teams and individuals should have focused strategies supported by practical implementation plans.
Strategy is about identifying your goals and how you are going to achieve them. This also allows you to work out what you should not be doing. The strategy should be supported by a clear plan detailing actions and timescales.
Examples of who we have helped with development, communication and implementation of strategy are:-
- law firms – firmwide strategic planning covering the way the business goes forward, focusing on eg clients, people, technical quality, financial performance and community
- senior associate groups – strategic planning for career development including potential promotion to partner
- sector teams – strategies to penetrate certain types of markets and clients
- new Managing Partners or heads of department – from 100 day to 4 year plans
Some of the interesting findings from our work and experiences:-
- most lawyers think strategy is a swear word until they see that, if done the right way, development and implementation of strategy can be quicker, less painful and more worthwhile than they thought it would be.
- 75-90% of lawyers who say they have a plan have it in their heads but not written down – and therefore never implement it!
- having the right format – a format that suits you – is critical for the plan to be effective and to become a “living document”.
- a BD plan is often confused with a business plan. A BD plan only deals with BD, a business plan covers all aspects of the business! Many firms and individuals say they have a business plan when they actually just have a BD plan.
- doing a strategy and working to it removes a huge burden for most lawyers and increases their confidence, motivation and enthusiasm.
Find out more also about our new toolkit business, better@business, which has released its first product ‘Your Strategy and Planning Toolkit’ to help transform the way law firms and businesses in other sectors approach strategy and planning.