If you're like most law firms, you've been running your organization in the same way for years. What were once profitable tactics are no longer effective means to fuel future success. You may have done some strategic planning along the way, only to have the results tucked away in your desk drawer. In today's quickly changing legal landscape, firms need to be agile and adaptable to survive. If your law firm is committed to smart and sustainable growth, it's time to consider engaging in a comprehensive and dynamic strategic planning process that is actionable and timely.
Here's why your old strategic plan didn’t work:
- It was about the plan and not the process. The traditional law firm strategic planning process focuses too much on the plan document itself, not the tasks, timing, and people that will ensure the plan bears fruit. Strategic planning for law firms requires significant resources, and to realize a robust return on your investment, all stakeholders must take ownership of successful execution of the plan.
- It's inflexible. The traditional approach to law firm strategic planning is typically rigid and too inflexible to accommodate the rapidly changing legal landscape in a post-COVID world. Your firm’s strategic plan must be able to pivot quickly to take advantage of new opportunities and respond to new challenges.
- It doesn't allow for collaboration. Traditional law firm strategic planning is often a top-down process, with the partners dictating the direction of the firm. With a growing trend of more transparent management in today’s law firms, the most successful strategic plans are those that embrace the involvement of all stakeholders (non-partners, administrators, and staff).
- Its scope is limited. Historically, law firm strategic planning has focused on short-term goals, such as increasing revenue or billable hours. In the post-COVID legal landscape, law firms must envision where they’d like to be long-term and build the roadmap to get them there. Some factors that should be considered are vision, mission, a clearly defined culture, the importance of retaining talent, and the eventual transition of leadership and what that looks like.
- Life gets in the way. The biggest reason traditional law firm strategic planning fails is due to the loss of momentum. Without a rigorous plan for timely implementation, each day, week, or month that passes after the strategic plan has been created presents a host of distractions that threaten progress. Lawyers are very busy, and the success of the strategic planning process hinges on the stakeholders’ ability to skillfully manage their time to include their continued involvement in the effective execution of the strategic plan.
Affinity Consulting’s unique approach to strategic planning for law firms was created to generate measurable results. Our planning process is designed to uncover challenges, identify opportunities, and incorporate the goals of the firm and each stakeholder’s specific role in moving things forward.
A great way to gain insight on how Affinity can help your law firm get the most out of strategic planning is by scheduling a meeting with our Director of Strategic Consulting Wendy Merrill. Contact her today to learn more about how Affinity can help your law firm create a path to sustainable success.