The Will To Get Things Done

Author: Richard Stock - Lexpert (May 2006 at p. 107)

Knowing how a law firm, or any organization, works is a pre-requisite to good management and effective leadership. But much more is needed to manage a cycle of sustainable growth for a law firm, especially growth that overtakes the competition. Canadian law firms are doing fairly well in most regional markets and in many areas of practice. In times like these, many struggle to recruit junior and senior lawyers and to keep up with the work.

A great deal of energy, focus and discipline must be introduced to manage a highly decentralized organization like a law firm. Successful organizations require people who are on their toes, not on their heels. These are resourceful people who provide leadership at their own levels. These “followers” lead a practice area, industry specialty groups, one office of a multi-office firm, or are the relationship partners for the firm’s premier clients. Ideally, each partner creates a top-to-bottom “chain of leadership” that supports the strategic intent of top management.

The Role of Firm Leadership

Law firm leadership has many responsibilities. Sustaining the growth of the firm is a key responsibility, perhaps the most important one. A managing partner, and other members of executive management, must execute a cycle of activities essential for sustainable growth. They must anticipate through strategic assessment and opportunity identification. Then they must adapt through development and execution. Many firms complete the cycle once, using a strategic business planning process. But too few repeat the planning cycle every three to five years.

Years ago, one writer on leadership noted that effective leaders of all types have one thing in common: by definition, their followers produce good results. Thinking of effectiveness for leaders in terms of results offers a more practical approach to suggesting what they must do to create profitable growth. Frank, Porter and Gertz ( Mercer Management Journal, No. 7, 1996 ) proposed six things that followers need to do to get results. They must:

• know what to do
• know how to do it
• know why they are doing it
• want to do it
• have the resources to do it
• believe that they have the leadership to do it

The Stigma of Non-Billable Work

Too many partners and almost every law firm associate believe that doing billable work is more important than anything else in the office. Our interviews with hundreds of partners and associates each year about how they spend their time and on what they “like” to spend their time confirms that, not surprisingly, they prefer tasks that provide recognition from the client or from peers outside the firm, tasks which are intellectually stimulating, and work which contributes measurably to personal income. Timely, effective contributions for non-billable functions are held in low regard and are rare in law firms.

A law firm should conduct a comprehensive planning program to re-position itself in the market. Dozens of tasks requiring hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to carry out will be identified. Some will be referred to professional, non-lawyer employees. But many others cannot be referred. They are piled onto the backs of a few partners who must manage part of a practice, as well as the crises and opportunities which come up every month. Our experience working with law firms in the last 15 years tells us that too few people always have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. The other partners of the firm are only too relieved to concentrate responsibility for important non-billable work in the hands of anyone but themselves. Yet, too few are prepared to quantify this responsibility and reward it appropriately. Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan’s book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, published in 2002, provides useful insights on how to get things done.

The RASCI Chart

Throughout the more than 30 years of being an executive and management consultant, I have heard about techniques and tools to get things done. Some relate to time management, and others to project management. Perhaps legal services as an industry sector is prone to more informal, relationship-based ways of planning, aligning and executing everything it takes to achieve sustainable growth. Perhaps the vast majority of law firms are still largely the same organizations they were 10 years ago and only measure growth by number of lawyers and profitability per partner.

But there are other models. One General Counsel of a specialty company servicing the oil and gas industry in Canada is part of a management team that subscribes to the RASCI chart:

• R = Responsible: the person owns the problem/project

• A = Accountable: the person “R” is accountable to. He or she must approve the work before it can proceed.

• S = Supportive: this person or group of persons can provide resources or can play a supporting role in implementation

• C = Consulted: refers to those who must be consulted, as they have the information and/or the capability necessary to complete the work.

• I = Informed: these are the people who must be informed and satisfied with the results, but not be consulted.

Management literature often refers to the RACI chart, and only includes the “S” if appropriate. It takes a certain discipline for a group of partners and legal administrators to manage a law firm this way. Good business planning, project management skills, a RACI approach to managing sustainable growth, and a compensation system that is aligned to reward sustainable growth and all forms of contribution constitute the fundamentals. And without the fundamentals in place, the members of the law firm will not know what to do, how to do it, nor why they are doing it. The will not have the resources to do it, so they will not want to it. After all of that, they certainly will not believe that they have the leadership to do it.