Grunge is the enemy within your business

?Law firm success boils down to one thing: remove the internal grunge. When I refer to grunge, I don't just mean ?the propensity to say yes vs. ?no. I include the ability for people to avoid change at every turn of the wheel.

Let's be clear. I'm the last person to advocate change for the sake of it. In a sense, I'm no different to the majority who like to bask in the stability and certainty that comes with doing something brilliantly generating a certain outcome e.g. to turn a profit or retain clients. But, too often, firms default to the status quo, not out of sense of 'this is the best way to dothings" but, instead, because they are too afraid to leap into the unknown. More importantly, even if the few wanted to leap-frog the naysayers, there is simply too much grunge standing in their way between the here-and-now and the (new) promised land.
?In most cases - no, make that all - it devolves to the people. ?(You feel like you've gone well beyond going blue in the face!)
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This isn't a plug for developing an innovator's mindset or embracing a fluid world. Instead, I invite you to consider where in your firm there exists the most friction that negates doing things or avoiding change.

Perhaps it's too easy to consider all the reasons why things won't work but that seems to be the order of the day. Wouldn't it be brilliant if someone came knocking on your door with a proposal indicating the myriad reasons leading to a successful outcome without the usual naysayers assembled, ready to defeat the proposal before the person has even opened their mouth?

These days, when I'm minded to posit that the competition are at least challengeable, I'm careful to point out that absent removal of the internal grunge, you're dead in the water. In short, if you don't develop a proven grunge removal system, then no amount of exhortation "we are best full-service law firm in the region" is going to affect the movement of your clients from one firm to another.

Look around your firm. When was the last time you did something without having to go through endless meetings, political shenanigans and mind-set change? Sometimes, it feels like the system is set up to tear down an idea even before it gets off the ground.

Some firms manage to achieve escape velocity with many more projects than do others. In my experience that's either as a result of the firm being small enough or as a result of the partners (rightfully) ceding control to a small management group who don't have to pass through endless committees to get things approved. (Isn't this the modus operandi of leadership?)

Client-centric focus

To bring the idea of grunge into focus, it often helps to adopt a client-centric focus i.e. how can we serve the client(s) better? One of the interminable issues of running a private law firm is balancing the optimum number of files against serving each client to the very best of your ability. This may not be a direct 'grunge' issue but, often, the support or infrastructure is not just missing, there is something or somebody standing in the way of the right people doing the work, on time and to budget. Another classic is the ability to get a new business development project off of the ground. Whether it's an event, a blog or meeting with putative clients, there's always at least a dozen or so obstacles standing in the way of success.

I accept that this may seem a cheap point to make, but ask yourself whether it is the market that's standing in your way to success or the internal barriers. Of course, the internal battles may seem a whole lot harder to win but your successes here will be multiplied a thousand fold in the market.

And don't forget that ?grunge spawns grunge. If you don't nip it or the person that seems intent on creating mountains out of the proverbial then before you know where you are what should be an oh-so-easy project to effect, ?just isn't worth the candle. SJ