There’s a bridge that every lawyer must cross in order to grow a truly successful law firm- a point where they must transition from “doing” to “leading.” For many lawyers, this can be a tall order, but it is essential for the growth of your law firm. You must step back from the day-to-day micromanagement, into a Greater Role as Chief of your law firm- It’s a role and responsibility that only you can assume and until you do, it will be difficult for you to achieve the Law Firm Growth and Freedom that could and should be yours. Without this important shift in mindset and duties, you will remain somewhat like the old Stretch Armstrong toy, pulled in all directions, and less able to be the Visionary Leader your law firm needs. Here’s the key: In order to transition into this critical Leadership Role, you must Delegate more significant responsibilities to your staff and associate attorneys. Unfortunately, for many lawyers, particularly those who view their firm as their “baby,” this shift is much easier said than done.
Think back to when you first formed your law firm; At that point, you were involved in every aspect of the firm’s day-to-day business, out of sheer necessity. However, as your firm began to grow, you inevitably found yourself having to hire help to get things done and keep from committing malpractice! So, even if out of desperation, you started delegating specific tasks and duties to new employees. Hopefully, as they proved themselves to you, you were able to start giving them larger projects and turning over more responsibilities. However, over time, many firm owners stop delegating. Instead, they begin adding more and more new responsibilities that inevitably come with initial growth. They become used to that heavy load of responsibilities and forget how important it is to continue to look for opportunities, tasks, and responsibilities than can be delegated to others. But, this shift is critical so that you can spend more time in Strategic thought than you are spending in the daily grind. For the successful law firm owner, Delegation is and will remain an ongoing journey.
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Claim your Free Law Firm Growth Strategy Session
You may also have noticed that your own interests have shifted since you started your firm. Some of those things you enjoyed doing in the past may have become less exciting, or even mundane and burdensome. Why not look to see which of these responsibilities could also be performed by someone else and delegate accordingly? In so doing, you will be able to free yourself up to focus on more important matters and the Firm Vision that only you can craft. Keys to Delegating Successfully:
1) Hire Good People
In order to delegate successfully, you must have employees that you feel comfortable delegating to. Hiring good employees could be the subject of a lengthy article all by itself. Suffice it to say that hiring employees with aptitude, potential and who share your firm’s core values are more important qualifications than years of experience, in my opinion.
2) Maintain Clearly Defined Expectations:
You must also have relatively infallible work processes in place so that your employees understand what is expected of them in their new role or responsibility. Excellent communication between you and your staff is most important. You need to clearly identify the tasks and the specific responsibilities within the position, and make your expectations known upfront. Give step-by-step processes and clear job descriptions. Be specific and give examples. Don’t expect your staff or employees to innately “know” what doing a good job looks like in the new position. As the boss, it is your job to explain this.
3) Educate on Priorities
If employees have a variety of responsibilities, you should assist them in understanding the order of priorities—In small firms, this issue arises quite often, as employees must wear multiple hats. Understanding which tasks should be moved to the front of the line throughout the day is essential to making sure work is done well and that your firm ship is sailing properly. It is your job to make sure your employees understand which tasks should be done first.
4) Onboard your employees in your firm’s culture, mission statement, & core values:
Frequently educating and reminding your employees of your firm’s core values will help them to make the right decisions throughout the day. When they aren’t sure about an issue, or have a question, thinking in terms of which option best reflects your firm’s core values can act as a plumb line that aids in clarity and efficiency. Clearly defined core values can make reams of policies and procedures unnecessary.
5) Give them Authority
Another critical aspect of the successful Delegation process is making sure the new employee understands the parameters of his or her position. It is important that you explain and identify the limits of the employee’s authority within the new position. Give them as much authority, autonomy, and ownership as possible in their position. This may include defined budgets, time frames, available resources, and their areas of latitude.
6) Provide Clear Reporting Mechanisms
Employees will Respect what they know you Inspect. Simply stated: Delegating means things get done, someone else is doing them, and that someone else is reporting to you on what they are doing. To make sure you remain “in the loop,” you must decide how often you want to be updated, and what those updates should look like. Do you want reports/summaries in writing or verbal reports? Do you want status updates daily, weekly, etc.?
7) Give Regular Feedback:
Your employees need to know where they stand in terms of job performance. You can’t expect them to make improvements if they don’t’ receive ongoing feedback. If you are a small firm and don’t yet have formal job descriptions and official periodic performance reviews, you can still communicate this information to your staff informally.
8) Train and Shift Seats on the Bus as Necessary; Eject when You Must
Delegating doesn’t always mean hiring new employees. Take stock of existing employees to determine which ones might be able to take on new responsibilities. Provide training if necessary, but be aware that some employees don’t want and may resist the responsibility of thinking independently. These employees may produce solid work, but only when they can remain on auto-pilot. Ideally, you want all your employees to be team players, able to shift responsibilities as needs arise, and ready to adapt accordingly. Leadership at its toughest may require hard decisions like replacing employees who are not willing or able to accept responsibility eagerly.
Leadership and the 2-Hour Challenge:
Once you have the right people, programs, and processes in place, your law firm should practically run itself. It is at that point that you can safely disengage long enough to provide Vision essential to your company’s long-term growth. This is the time to learn to work on your practice rather than in it; To see your forest and let others analyze the individual trees.
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Claim your Free Law Firm Strategy Session
I challenge you to set aside 2-8 hours per week and make an appointment with yourself, to work on your firm’s Long-Term Growth. As you have heard me say many times, “Nothing happens until you take action.” Your goal should be to set aside these important hours to think, strategize, and plan on how you can take your firm to the next level. This could be working on systems training, processes, procedures for scaling and efficiency, Major marketing campaigns, Grass Roots Marketing projects, Diversification into new practice areas, etc. Think about your Big Picture and End Goals. Whatever it is that you are planning or exploring should be designed to get you closer to your those goals.
Good Leaders recognize when to get out of their own way. Delegating is the key that allows you to position yourself as your firm’s Chief, Leader, and Visionary. Delegation is not Abdication; Working on your firm systematically, each and every week will allow you to grow in new and exciting ways and bring you and your firm greater success in the long term. ◆
