Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. Recently our firm of 14 attorneys decided to transition from all partners weighing in on every management decision to a managing partner form of management. I was elected to the new managing partner position and have been in the position for four months and I have accomplished very little during this period of time. I am not sure where to start. I would be interested in your ideas.

A. You might want to read last week's blog/posting on governance. Structuring and Running Your Firm Like a Business

Lack of focus and accountability is one of the major problems facing law firms. Many times, the problem is having too many ideas, alternatives and options. The result, often, is no decision or action at all. Ideas, recommendations, suggestions, etc., are of no value unless implemented.

Look for ways to insure that your time spent on management is spent wisely. At first identify a few (maybe three) management initiatives that you can move forward fairly quickly and get implemented. Then build upon these successes.

Don’t hide behind strategy, planning, and endless debate. Attorneys love to postpone implementation. Find ways to focus the firm and foster accountability from all.

• Keep strategy and planning simple.
• Undertake a few projects at a time that can be realistically accomplished.
• Delegate tasks across the firm.
• Build upon initial successes and move to more complex strategies, which will require more difficult degrees of change.
• Adopt management structures that enable the firm to act decisively and quickly. Replace structures that do not support such a culture.

Don't attempt to initially, in the short term, take on management projects that the firm is unwilling or unable to implement.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC,(www.olmsteadassoc.com) is a past chair and member of the ISBA Standing Committee on Law Office Management and Economics. For more information on law office management please direct questions to the ISBA listserver, which John and other committee members review, or view archived copies of The Bottom Line Newsletters. Contact John at jolmstead@olmsteadassoc.com.