POWERING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE THROUGH MORE EFFECTIVE CLIENT FOCUS AND TEAMING
STRUCTURING THE RESPONSE From the standpoints of strategy and organisation the conundrum of how best to harness the three key resource-axes of practice, industry and geography for the most powerful positioning and performance is a central issue. There is no simple answer. Firms will need to operate through a matrix management structure. This can appear to create complexities and certain tensions in terms of reporting relationships but ensuring the right processes are put in place to facilitate communication, co- ordination and appropriate integration between practice, industry and geography will deliver the most powerful performance. We suggest that a ‘one size fits all’ approach (i.e. simply to structure the firm around industry sectors or practice group) is too rigid and it would not be the right response for all occasions, particularly for law firms given the cultural constraints that typically exist. A more ‘customised hybrid’ approach is always effective, particularly at the early stages of the process! Howmight a firm best move from a practice-driven organisation to a strong practice- industry-geography teamingdrive?The specific answer to this questionwill vary from firm to firm but, in our experience, success is built on a number of sound principles. We see seven such guiding principles: 1) Focus effort initially on a limited number of high impact areas, and do not try for wholesale change overnight. We recommend that a good starting point is to select a limited number of sectors (one to three depending on the size of the firm) that have requirements that match the firm’s practice strengths and its geographical network. Select a limited number of clients and targets from these sectors, depending on the size of the firm, selected on the basis that they are strong or leading players in the sector, they have needs that reflect the firm’s aspirations and network, and have a wide range of requirements that match the firm’s practice strengths. Focus resource and effort here initially so as to increase the probability of success. Achieving a breakthrough and communicating this throughout the firm is a very effective way of enticing the more doubtful to also ‘drink from the cup’. 2) Ensure that the initiative is positioned as a strategically-driven firm-wide initiative, and not driven by an individual practice or office. In a highly competitive world, marshalling the firm’s best resources for maximum market impact is vitally important. The membership and remit of the teams must reflect the strategic importance and firm-wide scope.
“We suggest that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is too rigid..”
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