When A Partner Won’t Let Go

When A Partner Won’t Let Go

By Kathy Hancock, Consultant

8/1/2024

Recently the nation was transfixed by President Joe Biden’s debate performance and subsequent insistence he would continue his reelection campaign. Politics aside, a great majority believed it was time for him to pass the torch and step aside, which he ultimately did. Similarly, one of the thorniest and often saddest issues that law firms encounter is what to do about partners who stay beyond the point when they should. It’s a fraught issue for a host of reasons – financial, emotional, interpersonal, and professional. Moreover, when the partner in question is a firm leader or founder the complex challenge is magnified.

As highly autonomous professionals, lawyers too often assume they will independently control when they step back or step down. They fail to recognize that taking the initiative gives them far more control over their destiny than staying too long. It is far better for them to plan ahead and identify their own personal and professional indicators for when “it’s time” to start their next chapter. This includes thoughtful consideration given to what they’ll do should unplanned circumstances occur such as a sudden disability or other unforeseen life changes.

Motivations for partners can be complex, hard to fully identify, and challenging to address.

  • Economic incentives may include: (i) features of a firm’s deferred compensation plan – or lack thereof -- that discourages retirement and (ii) a compensation system that encourages hoarding of origination credit and client relationships and does not encourage delegation or gradual wind-down.
  • Professional incentives may include: (i) a murky practice succession process; (ii) the lack of a practice successor (in part because of the aforementioned economic incentives over time); or (iii) fears over loss of professional recognition or connections with colleagues (often developed over multiple decades).
  • Personal motivations may include: (i) lack of outside interests, connections, or passions; (ii) difficulties at home; (iii) lack of adequate finances to cover retirement or other personal obligations; or (iv) professional and personal identities that are so intertwined that the lawyer cannot envision a life without the label of practicing lawyer.

Law firms are ill-equipped to solve personal motivations but coaching or referrals to outside resources can help lawyers plan for health care, disability, and long-term care insurance policies; wealth and tax liability management; and the pursuit of other interests they may not have considered. In fact, such resources should be advised early in a one’s career upon reaching partnership status or joining laterally – it is something in our experience that great firms routinely do.

Conversely, economic and professional incentives are within a firm’s reach to address and manage. Nettlesome challenges like deferred compensation and compensation system features that reinforce hoarding work and client relationships past the point of practicality need to be tackled as part of a firm’s strategic roadmap. Here too in our experience great firms that encourage sharing and collaboration out-perform and have greater partner satisfaction.

Relative to building a firm’s culture and future, the processes for succession and retirement (not the same thing) need to be clear and applied equally. This isn’t necessarily a retirement age mandate, but it is an established and visible process by which every lawyer who reaches a given age is consulted in light of their performance statistics, work delegation, and career plans regardless of whether they are thriving our underperforming. Ideally, this process begins earlier rather than later at the same age for everyone and is revisited every two to five years with ongoing communication and monitoring. The more partners across the firm are aware of this routine process the better, so it is expected and not perceived as confrontational.

It is in the firm’s and the partners’ best interests to deal with succession and retirement planning proactively as business matters. A smooth transition to the next chapter or as Charles Barkley has described it, “the back nine,” isn’t easy, but whether one is on the 10th or the 17th hole, it is far better for the lawyer to do it and the law firm to facilitate it with purposeful advance intention and grace.

Navigating highly charged issues linked to professional transitions can often benefit from an outside resource, providing insights as to what works born of experience and recommendations that feel less personal or targeting to the lawyers. Vertex Advisors frequently works with firms tackling succession planning as well as barriers to timely partner retirement within the context of overall strategic business planning to further a firm’s greatness. We are here to help you tackle even the most sensitive professional territory. Call on Vertex!

For insight and guidance on how Vertex Advisors can help your organization contact us at info@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

The Fraught Process of Transitioning to a New Law Firm Leader

The Fraught Process of Transitioning to a New Law Firm Leader

By Kathy Hancock, Consultant

12/8/22

Law firms, just like business in general, frequently find the selection of their next leader more difficult than expected. Even the “happiest place on earth” found leadership succession problematic. Imagine any new leader taking over for someone who drove a car with a customized license plate frame that said: “Is there life after Disney?” [1]

A law firm leader taking over for a strong managing partner, particularly one with a long tenure, would wisely worry when succeeding someone who has: “Is there life after law?” on the license plate frame. Yikes.

In some ways it is reassuring that even a $200+ billion company like the Walt Disney Co. struggled with leadership succession. Going back to February 2020, Robert Iger, Disney’s renowned and highly successful CEO, announced that Bob Chapek, a 26-year veteran of the company, would succeed Iger as CEO. Iger was to remain as Executive Chairman. Only a month into the transition, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the two men disagreed over pandemic-related layoffs as planned by Chapek[2]. More disagreements followed with Iger informing colleagues and friends that he disagreed with what Mr. Chapek was doing at the company. Iger departed Disney at the end of 2021, but the board reinstated him as CEO a few weeks ago (November 20, 2023) after relieving Chapek of his job.

Notwithstanding the arguments over who has the best strategy for the company going forward, the dramatic ups and downs of Disney’s leadership succession and, arguably, its succession failure, underscores how difficult it is to replace a leader, particularly a strong and successful one. There are numerous angles to leadership succession:

  • What is the current leader’s view of how succession will work? Who will hold the current leader accountable for supporting the successor?
  • How clear is the time frame and process for selecting the successor?
  • How clear are the requirements and priorities the partners have in mind for the new leader?
  • Who are the champions of the new leader?
  • Who will serve as trusted and blunt confidants for the new leader?

Theoretically, every managing partner knows the role doesn’t last forever, but calling “time” on yourself can be hard. It can be a professional and personal shock, even for the most well-adjusted and confident leader. Many managing partners give up a sizable portion or all of their law practice so they can manage the firm. Thus, they seldom have a significant law practice to which they can return. At the very time that many of their peers are cresting in earning power and professional success, they face a tough choice—retiring from the practice or resuscitating their law practice. And while their partners may appreciate a managing partner’s service, the partners’ gratitude likely does not extend to an indefinite economic off-ramp to support long-term career redevelopment or another administrative role.

Even if a managing partner still has a healthy law practice, stepping aside and staying at the firm can be challenging for someone used to calling the shots. Thankfully, there are many who handle the transition with tremendous grace. A former managing partner remaining at the firm can be a blessing—an experienced and thoughtful confidant for the new managing partner. But, at worst, a former managing partner can cause all kinds of problems with rear-guard maneuvers and commentary.

Because an unsuccessful transition can be so destructive, leadership transition deserves a great deal of attention—from the current leader and the executive committee or nominating committee that will be charged with selecting the next leader. Opacity and assumptions are the enemies of successful transitions. Clarity is important for:

  • DefiningDefining the role and partners’ expectations of the firm’s managing partner,
  • Determining the plans of the current leader and what the firm can do to assist that lawyer with transitioning to “the next chapter” or returning to the full-time practice of law,
  • Establishing the time frame for the transition to managing partner and exactly when the “hand-off” occurs,
  • Identifying percolating issues that the new managing partner will have to handle, and
  • Determining what the designated successor thinks is needed to tackle the role successfully.

The executive committee or nominating committee responsible for the process is the logical responsible party for meeting these challenges to ensure a successful transition. It is also worth remembering that very few partners appreciate just how time-consuming and stress-inducing the managing partner role is. Taking the time to ensure you have the right candidate seems to be an obvious point, but one or two years of advance notice go by in a hurry, particularly when dealing in firm politics.

Finally, taking the time to appropriately honor the outgoing leader is not only gracious but necessary. Many managing partners may say they don’t want any formal “thank you” but a dollop of ceremony with sincere thanks help signal to all involved that the torch is being passed to the successor.

For more ideas about succession planning, I and my colleagues at Vertex Advisors welcome the conversation. Succession planning is also addressed in my new book, In a Time of Tumult: The Law Firm Leader’s Handbook.

1“Disney’s Iger Cast Shadow Over His Successor as CEO,” by Erich Schwartzel, Emily Glazer, Robbie Whelan, and Jessica Toonkel, The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, November 23, 2022.
2ibid.
For insight and guidance on how Vertex Advisors can help your organization contact us at info@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

The Great Reintegration

The Great Reintegration

By Beth Cavagnolo, Consultant

9/29/21

The Great Reintegration.png

Colossal change. As offices reopen and firms formulate “return-to-workplace” plans, it’s increasingly clear to Vertex Advisors that institutional leaders may be underestimating the depth and breadth of pandemic-driven change in their talent resources.

Colleagues, people you traditionally spent vast amounts of daily time with, have changed, and maybe even dramatically. When co-workers are in close regular proximity, change is experienced as subtle shifts over time. One has opportunities to adjust expectations and modify behavior as we each grow and mature. But the pandemic and remote work have created physical and emotional distance between colleagues and “the routine.”

Beyond forming new perspectives and general work values, your colleagues experienced profound personal shifts too. It’s possible your coworkers cared for loved ones through illness, even grieved their deaths, or were strained by distance. People moved homes, joined new communities, and found freedom in location-agnostic work. New hobbies were developed and interests formed. Other pursuits abandoned entirely. People’s professional and personal values underwent a sea change impacting how we work together now and find new talent.

Coming back to the office isn’t just about “reuniting with colleagues” or “restructuring workplace norms.” It’s truly a Great Reintegration. Professionals are learning to work with people who are familiar but now somewhat unknown. Relationships must be rebuilt or established with new colleagues. Teams must agree on new ways of communicating, planning, and executing. Conflict resolution, negotiation, and problem-solving all must be repeatedly addressed. Your firm is returning to an “office” where the dynamics have changed because the professionals have changed. If you’re an employer facing these issues, you cannot simply gloss over them and hope to return to “how it used to be.” Acknowledging your professionals’ new expectations, options, and ideas is critical to achieving team peak performance. If you want guidance to maximize productive collaboration, talk to Vertex Advisors! We are here to steer your firm to success.

For help charting a “return-to-workplace” strategy with acute awareness of who your employees have become in the response to the pandemic and other forces in the modern marketplace, contact Beth Cavagnolo at Beth.Cavagnolo@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Push Your Firm Past Existing Boundaries

Push Your Firm Past Existing Boundaries

By Kathy Hancock, Consultant

3/25/21

It occurred to me that as law firms chart their roadmaps forward in the post-COVID era, there will be those who fail despite a recovering economy, not because of what they did wrong but because they simply endured. The legal services landscape is littered with failed firms that ignored the signs warning of perils ahead. The fact that change in a law firm is mostly unpopular, this resistance absolutely saps the organizational energy and momentum to make impactful and important things happen.

Coping with COVID and its attendant crises started as a sprint that became a marathon for law firm leaders. Twelve months later, it would be nice to catch a break and breathing room, but in this era of acceleration of almost everything, time-outs come at a very high cost. A law firm risks falling behind competitors and alternative service providers that are embracing the tumult, peering over the horizon, and taking some calculated risks.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and author who frequently appears on CNN, recently wrote Keep Sharp.[1] Among the many recommendations he makes for people staying sharp is embracing change, because it builds resilience in the brain. He goes on to advise readers to “do something that scares you every day.” He’s not recommending we all take up sky-diving, but doing different things and stretching for activities that take us outside our comfort zone. It’s great advice regardless, as this makes life more interesting, but why not apply this advice to keeping organizations sharp as well.

In this era of dramatic acceleration, organizations -- and law firms, in particular -- can combat decline by intentionally pushing past what is comfortable and initiating new projects, services, programs and ways of doing business. Lawyers understandably question why mess with what is working but the reality is that what works is fine until it doesn’t – and there is often little warning when the reversal will occur.

The road to organizational resilience is paved with change. In weathering one of the darkest periods in modern history, this is the perfect time for law firms to launch their own all-out efforts to try new ways of doing things, tap into new technologies, take some hard looks at organization weaknesses, and strategize to improve future outcomes.

Start by educating the lawyers about the new legal services environment, which now more than ever demands strategic determination to advance with some key initiatives and disciplined attention to financial and business fundamentals. These should come together in a concise roadmap to keep the firm moving forward, adjusting on the fly and seeking meaningful opportunities for the lawyers and the firm.

For certain, successful initiatives require preparation, design, planning, communication, and implementation but they do not have to take lots of time. Pfizer developed a vaccine in months rather the routine 10-year time frame by approaching a monumental task with a clear goal in mind, tough-minded determination “to find a way” and a blank slate for how best to reach the goal.[2]. Instead of using a typically linear vaccine development process, the company stacked the steps of vaccine development, testing and production.[3]

Sharpening a law firm’s focus and competitive platform followed by disciplined, determined strategic actions will get the job done. And, while these moves may not save the world from the pandemic, they can boost law firms’ options for succeeding in a predictably uncertain future.

1Keep Sharp, by Sanjay Gupta M.D., published by Simon & Schuster, January 5, 2021.
2“How Pfizer Delivered a Covid Vaccine in Record Time: Crazy Deadlines, a Pushy CEO,” by Jared S. Hopkins, The Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2020.
3“Pfizer’s CEO: 3 key decisions helped it develop a COVID-19 vaccine in record time,” by Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief, Fast Company, March 10, 2021.
If you want to brainstorm where and how to start with a strategic plan or bold moves for your firm, please reach out. We know the marketplace and the internal audience and ways to push past law firm comfort zones. We look forward to listening and sharing some ideas. Contact Kathy Hancock at Kathy.Hancock@vertexadvisorsgroup.com or Robert Kamins at Robert.Kamins@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Rethinking Technology Talent Structures

Rethinking Technology Talent Structures

By Frank Gillman, Principal

2/11/21

I spoke last week to a former Am Law 100 peer struggling to find new responsibilities for his skilled technicians due to the stability of recently implemented cloud-based firm software. Worried that his traditional IT staffing model may no longer apply, the CIO wondered what to do next? I replied this was to be expected and overdue, traditional technology roles and responsibilities need to be reinvented to meet the latest challenges for their firms and lawyers. There has never been a better moment to review the broader business goals and job functions of IT than after such a seismic acceleration shift in the global workforce.

Why hasn’t it happened already? Why do most firms rely on legacy staffing models for IT? Much of the problem is rooted in an archaic structure that has held fast since technology entered the workplace in the 1980s. Internal IT departments were typically set up and operated as a self-contained service provider to company personnel. Granted full control of technology and deference to such knowledge, they act like any other monopoly and maintained self-existence. Too often, internal IT operators fail to zoom out and recognize the key performance deliverables required by their firm’s practitioners and systems for the firm to achieve efficiency.

Reallocating or reducing headcount to achieve operational cost effectiveness is a worthy goal. However, one alternative notion to consider is the evolution of a service model traditionally used to provide lawyers with administrative assistance to one which meets more specialized technology needs. For example, firms can shift headcount FTEs to skilled technical resources with demonstrable expertise supporting the unique needs of the litigation practice, including pre-trial deposition, eDiscovery review tools, and evidence/exhibit presentation software for trials. All of these can provide far greater revenue value to the practicing lawyers group than a technology generalist resource/expense serving a broader audience.

The pandemic has forced lawyers to strengthen their technical skills during COVID-19. The roles of trainer, system administrator, application specialist, engineers, and many other long-standing IT positions must similarly transform to meet the new organization, including assessment and servicing cross-disciplinary practice needs. Those who do not risk obsolescence. This includes delivery of technical services that are remote-friendly and inclusive, offer a high degree of specialized knowledge toward law practice and can enhance business intelligence efforts to measure/increase profitability, establish realistic pricing, and boost firm profits.

Combined with an annual assessment of both a firm’s technical infrastructure and cyberdefense posture, the new paradigm offers management an opportunity to realign its technology strategy and initiatives to best meet marketplace demand and its own stakeholders’ needs.

Too often, “innovation” in the legal field is merely modest change trumpeted by the purchase and implementation of new technologies, collaboration tools, or pricing models, all of which typically meet resistance during adoption. In contrast, substantively increasing the overall IT service level to lawyers through realignment, replacement, or reduction of Human IT capital is sustainable innovation worth celebrating.

If your firm is ready to transform its IT service and support capabilities through staff reallocation, contact Frank Gillman and Vertex Advisors for a consultation. (Frank.Gillman@vertexadvisorsgroup.com)

What's Next - The Retirement Riddle

What's Next? The Retirement Riddle

By Kathy M. Hancock, Consultant

1/5/21

Retirement. It often comes up this time of year as part of the year-end discussions about compensation and related concerns over succession planning at law firms.

Retirement is confronting 70 million Baby Boomers, a generation known for a strong work ethic and “do what it takes” attitude. They are reluctant to quit the field. Boomers continue to dominate equity partner ranks at law firms and control a significant percentage of firm revenue. “I don’t plan to ever retire,” is a phrase many Boomer lawyers utter.

When one enjoys a profession, retirement can imply quitting, a scenario that just doesn’t fit for many career types, even non-traditional ones. Take rock ‘n’ roller Keith Richards, who is just north of the Boomer category at age 76 as case in point. In a recent Wall Street Journal article by Neil Shah,[1] talking about his life in the COVID-19 era, Richards said, “When it comes to performing, I’ve no doubt – I feel a bit rusty, having not done it for over a year now. But I don’t feel physically less capable than I did two years ago. I certainly have a lot more enthusiasm. I’d love to get onstage now, you know? I’d go for nothing.”

Interestingly, Boomers are only a few generations removed from an era when people did not ever retire. Credit Otto von Bismarck with the retirement idea. As president of Prussia, he proposed a system in 1881 wherein the German government would provide for citizens over the age of 70, Bismarck’s goal was a political one aimed at satisfying the demands of his political opponents to do more for the citizens of Prussia, who like the rest of the world of that era either worked until they couldn’t or died.

Pensions began a few decades later, mostly pegged at delivering a retirement income at age 65. When Congress passed the Social Security Act in 1935, it designated 65 as the official retirement age, which was an actuarial calculation of what the program could afford. The word “retirement” comes from the French word retirer dating to the mid-1500s - to withdraw to a place of safety or seclusion[2].

Notoriously fond of autonomy, senior lawyers invariably assume they are in the driver’s seat and will choose when they leave the practice of law. Events, including health issues and client decisions, often dictate senior lawyer career trajectories. When they remain past when they can depart on their own terms, they often end their law firm career chapters on sour, sometimes even bitter notes.

The more successful programs in support of lawyers charting what comes next when they leave the firm commence at a standard age, say 60-65, and make a variety of resources available to help them think constructively about this transition. In firms where the retirement age is specified as part of the transition planning process, things are a bit easier. That said, when there is also a provision for exceptions for a host of reasons, the process tilts away from helpful clarity into subjectivity and the same problems that firms encounter that have no specified retirement age. Clear policies, including how exceptions are made and at what point lawyers move into senior counsel status, avoid surprises and misunderstandings, aiding both the lawyers and the firm in planning ahead.

For lawyers making this transition, the time to adequately think it through takes time –at least one or two years. For those who often define themselves in terms of their career label – “lawyer” – relinquishing this label for something else is not going to happen overnight. The goal is to legitimately engage them to think through what they want to do, where and how. It is a daunting prospect. They likely haven’t faced this kind of blank canvas in many decades.

Helping lawyers make the transition to what’s next needs to include curriculum that equips the lawyers with tools and ideas for their career transitions. Tools include information about Medicare and health insurance options, Social Security, financial and tax planning, strategies for community involvement and volunteering, continuing education resources, and even counseling and coaching services. This is far different than succession planning. Ideally, succession planning starts years earlier as a standard protocol for deliberate client relationship development and ensuring the client’s needs are met.

Lawyers may not be rock stars, but they are right to assume no one can take their place. Over time, others take over leadership positions and client relationships, but the DNA of a particular lawyer and the lawyer’s practice cannot be duplicated. However, this is not an excuse for clogging the law firm transition pipeline. This transition pipeline also necessarily includes long-term thinking about firm leadership roles. It is simply good business to plan ahead for firm leadership, practice mix, and client relationships. And on a very pragmatic note, clients loathe approaching their lawyers with concerns about when they plan to retire or who their backup is. Sadly, clients may even slip off to another law firm rather than address the issue with the lawyer or the law firm.

Ultimately, how lawyers embark on their next chapters and the grace with which they do it are as varied as the lawyers themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone out of the office and in doing so, it acquainted Boomers with a way of working most had not previously experienced. It is too soon to tell how this plays out as the pandemic recedes, hopefully sometime in 2021. If nothing else, the COVID era is a reminder that life is not only precious, it is sometimes terrifyingly unpredictable.

The year 2020 afforded Boomers the opportunity to think carefully about how they want to live, where, and what they want to spend their next chapter doing. Guitar lessons anyone?

1“Keith Richards on Covid-19, the Next Rolling Stones Album and His Solo Career,” by Neil Shah, The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2020.
2Oxford Languages, the content of which constitutes Google’s English dictionary.
If you would like to talk further with former law firm COOs who feel your pain and have lived the challenges of successful senior lawyer transitions, retirement planning and succession planning, we’d welcome the opportunity to visit with you. Email Kathy at kathy.hancock@vertexadvisorsgroup.com or Robert Kamins at robert.kamins@vertexadvisorsgroup.com. Or, visit our web site: www.vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Let's Get Moving

Let's Get Moving

By Kathy M. Hancock, Consultant

9/14/20

In learning to drive a stick shift, there is the moment when starting up, letting up the clutch, depressing the accelerator, and shifting on the fly fall into place. The drive smooths out and you are off! Downshifting at the right moment is critical to the joy of driving a stick shift and this is the moment for downshifting to accelerate.

The wrenching events of the pandemic and ensuing economic slowdown steam-rolled through the spring, but the legal services sector generally survived the short-term trauma pretty well. What we expected to last about 90 days is looking more like a year. Weariness born of uncertainty, isolation and the surreal circumstances thrust upon us persists. It’s tempting to hunker down. But as anyone who has driven a stick shift knows, coasting gets you literally nowhere.

The COVID era is magnifying both organizational strengths and weaknesses. There is no time to lose in prioritizing what will clear the road ahead for bypassing other firms slowed by inertia and unable to power forward with significant strategic moves.

Law firms and their management are typically terrific at analysis, but speedy decision-making and implementation are frequently harder to manifest. Best to narrow the focus to the initiatives and projects that will do the most to (i) increase revenue and profitability, (ii) improve firm health, and (iii) advance law firm and lawyer opportunities.

In this context, pricing promises to take on increasingly nuanced dimensions as clients demand efficiency, transparency on deliverables and progress updates, and budget predictability. Firms have struggled for years with alternative fees, but tepid client enthusiasm for anything other than getting billed by the hour or contingent fees has persisted. Look for transparency as a critical factor in pricing discussions with clients, which means that firms must be able to provide concrete data on their costs and efficiency for delivering legal services.

The COVID era’s competitive pressures mean that business development is necessarily a critical skill for every lawyer in a firm. Few service purveyors would be satisfied with one, maybe two, business development activities a month. Yet, a startling number of lawyers continue in this mode. There is no law firm marketing team or strategy that can compensate for lack of habitual business development activities by the lawyers.

One of the great behavior drivers in a law firm is reporting. Fundamental to its usefulness is making data readily digestible and accessible to lawyers, which assumes even greater importance in a remote work environment. Too many financial reports are data dense and bulky for practical use by the lawyers and managers. Real time data delivered in a palatable format is critical so folks know not only what is expected (e.g. their targets or financial goals, but what the other financial metrics show in terms of overtime, expense, write-offs, unreimbursed costs and so on) as well as how they, their colleagues and the firm are doing. With margins under strong pressure, elimination of waste is a priority for improving firm health and this includes committed focus on timekeeping and billing hygiene.

Ultimately, of course, law firms are all about the people. Looking back at my experiences and that of numerous colleagues across the country, I have yet to encounter one who claimed they did not give a professional or staff member long enough to prove a fit. Law firms, bless them, are invariably reluctant to change out lawyers and staff when it becomes clear that a change is needed. Notwithstanding advice of employment counsel, every week that goes by with someone in the wrong job costs the organization momentum. Today’s acceleration of trends greatly increases the cost of a person in the wrong job.

Now is the time make those moves you think can best push the organization forward and past inertia and the competition. Downshift, focus, and hit the accelerator. Ahead lies progress.

If your organization needs to shift into overdrive with improved revenue, profitability, health, and business development contact Kathy Hancock and Vertex Advisors for a consultation. kathy.hancock@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Fear Not: The Power of Perspective

Fear Not: The Power of Perspective

By Robert A. Kamins, Founder & Principal

9/1/20

R ecently, a Managing Partner called to thank me for the significant impact our advice spearheaded in his organization. Inherent was a surprised tone of surpassed expectations. His previous perception, like the rampart guardsman’s fear of a trojan horse packed with wasteful consultants-past, had biased his belief in the possibility of truly transformative outside guidance. I greatly appreciated the call and reflected on the ingredients of successful engagements. Naturally, proper assessment, scoping, and provision of sound alternative solutions to institutional ailments contribute. Also, a trustful relationship, problem understanding, creative attack, and positive service touch are essential. But what stood out most impressively, is the basic and enjoyable “outside perspective” power we consultants possess.

As management consultants, besides on-point know-how and experience, the key benefit is our outside perspective. The invitation to enter a client’s world, intimately learn them, and address struggles or concerns is a true privilege. Such opportunity derives from a special innate client quality, the curious understanding that hearing external viewpoints is likely beneficial. A client leader does not have to exercise the advice, but having options or validation leads to improved decisions. In our observation, such openness distinguishes successful organizations. Those institutions – and leaders -- willing to explore, hear, and implement other perspectives typically achieve superior performance and change. Further, while a natural inclination in challenged economic times is to limit outside guidance, an opposite investment exploring proactive possibilities can drive exceptional outcomes. Throughout history, smart money and organizations understand “buy low and sell high” seizing challenged moments for competitive advantage.

However, there is greater benefit to consulting’s outside perspective than openness, listening, and timely opportunity. Often in our engagements, there is no surprise rabbit from hat solution – although stimulated thinking results from creative power and knowledge – but rather we provide concrete objective analysis, assessment, metrics, scenario-modeling, summarization, and recommendations. This output re-establishes and better organizes what a client may already suspect or know. Yet, from our triangulated vantage point, it is insightfully detached from insiders’ emotions, personal biases, internal politics, culture norms, group think, reprisal fears, or historical gripes/grudges. As outsiders we come in clean, explore differing opinions, call it as we see it, and slay sacred cows if needed. On our hunt, we dig deep or find hidden treasure hiding in plain sight. Plus, outside consultants naturally infuse talent to surge projects forward free of executives’ day-to-day responsibility bindings. And most practical, typically service fees are a fraction of the profitability or efficiency benefit – which must always be the consultant’s client service lodestar.

Yet, beyond financial or operational gains, there are human rewards too. In a fairly fresh 1.5-hour client project interview, a stakeholder shared upfront his skepticism of the “special project,” but by the end remarked the opportunity was like therapy and he appreciated the opportunity to be heard. While he doubted his superiors respected his heartfelt view, he passionately expressed that he could truly tell we cared and understood his honest assessment. He then paused and stated that maybe they actually did care since they had engaged us as consultants in the first place. Such cognitive appreciation breakthroughs are also not uncommon.

Thus, I encourage you to seek outside perspectives to benefit your organization. True curiosity paired with sound guidance can reveal unicorns instead of trojan horses leading to transformational outcome treasure.

If your firm’s castle needs fortifying or an outside validation perspective, contact Vertex Advisors’ Robert Kamins for a consultation. We are adept strategists, knights in shining armor, or the calvary depending upon situational needs.

Communicating Amidst The Chaos

Communicating Amidst The Chaos

By Kathy M. Hancock, Consultant

7/16/20

It is ironic that as we work remotely and minimize social contact, we are engulfed in words and data. Multiple communication channels streaming information are trained on us like a fire hose. It is not surprising that in this environment business communication can falter or misfire.

The keys for increasing the odds of message clarity and effectiveness require focus first and then the following.

  1. Identify the audience and dial in the appropriate tone and content.
  2. Make it easy to see the “why” behind the communication by stating the subject at the beginning.
  3. Be clear about your goal: Is this an inquiry? A dialogue? A request?
  4. Think about timing and context for the communication. The recipient may process it anywhere from seconds to several days later.
  5. Less is more. Edit ruthlessly.
  6. Limit the desired “takeaways” to a maximum of three points anchored with one primary message.
  7. Choose the communication channel with care. An email with multiple attachments may be the most expedient course, but it may not be the most effective.
  8. If this is an email, confirm that the “Subject” line, the “To” line and “CC” line are correct.
  9. Be clear what the follow-up or next step is and when.
  10. Proofread. Always.

Our audiences are besieged with information in a concentrated remote-work environment packed with distractions that the typical office setting does not have. In a world where virtually every communication channel is full of words and data that are misused and abused, there remains an opportunity to be effective. It is hard to beat sincerity paired with disciplined communication. Thankfully, even amid the chaos, words and data employed skillfully can still mean something.

When there is much at stake, it is worth considering bringing in some outside help. The Vertex Team has decades of experience with law firms and other organizations designing and managing sensitive and often high stakes communications and projects. We welcome the chance to listen to your challenge and offer ideas on how we might help. Contact Kathy Hancock at Kathy.Hancock@vertexadvisorsgroup.com or Robert Kamins at Robert.Kamins@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Cybersecurity: Prepare For Battle!

Cybersecurity: Prepare For Battle!

By Frank J. Gillman, Principal

7/8/20

T o strike when and where an enemy is most vulnerable is a cardinal tenet of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, a strategy shared by cyber criminals looking to penetrate organizational defenses. The rapid expansion of the remote workforce has significantly increased the attack surface of corporate networks, creating multiple vulnerabilities for hackers to inflict chaos or to steal sensitive information for profit.

As a result, and realizing the last thing needed is further turmoil, cyberattacks are likely to rise heavily in number and severity over the coming months as workers continue to use unsecured personal devices across vulnerable home internet connections. Forecasts suggest traditional coerced ransomware decryption costs from businesses in the United States alone are likely to exceed $1.4 billion in 2020, a daunting figure that does not consider the destructive damage of wiper malware, a more severe type of encryption attack which cannot be reversed.

While every organization weighs cost and benefits of cybersecurity defense according to their own internal priorities, we regularly advise our clients that a key differentiator in limiting damage from an attack is the ability to act quickly and decisively. Central to defense is creating an operative Incident Response Plan (IRP) in advance to guarantee that any cybersecurity incidents which jeopardize the privacy of sensitive information are properly identified, contained, investigated, and remedied.

Such a Plan should evaluate scope and response to the applicable risk and underlying information value. Plan components should also be periodically tested to identify and correct gaps and implement pertinent recovery and reporting procedures. To achieve this, organizations should be wary of battling cyber adversaries only internally and enlist external expertise including professionals experienced in planning and response.

Establishing advance advisory relationships with external subject matter experts including a cyber insurance carrier, forensic discovery firm, public relations firm, consumer notification firm, legal counsel, and other service providers will ensure a ready team to deploy to support organizational leadership in response to a cyberattack or other crisis. Don’t be caught with your guard down, accomplish your cybersecurity preparedness now.

Does everyone in your company know what to do in response to a cybersecurity event? Frank Gillman has been helping organizations plan for the unknowable for decades, and can help your firm, too. Frank.Gillman@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Now What?

Now What?

By Kathy M. Hancock, Consultant

6/18/20

Like our primitive ancestors, adrenaline kicks in when emergencies occur. We fight figuratively or literally for survival, latching onto often blunt instruments to help us meet the crisis. Those blunt instruments at law firms include pulling personnel, compensation and expense levers. Having pulled all those levers, it begs the question of “Now what?”

As we edge back into the office and other venues, the economic terrain looks awfully different than it did when our collective doors slammed on the ensuing pandemic. Employees are traumatized, parents have kids at home full time, most of us are still far more isolated than in the past, virtually all of our clients and companies have their own economic puzzles to decipher, and the political environment promises to boil through the fall elections.

It is all a bit surreal and eerily reminiscent of Alice’s trip down the rabbit hole: Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, 1865) And, as the King later instructs the White Rabbit, the best place to begin is at the beginning. For a law firm, or any organization for that matter, the beginning in such a chaotic environment as this one necessarily includes a real-time, on-going economic assessment of the organization and its key performance metrics.

The next step is a frank inventory of the organization’s greatest weaknesses because they can easily morph into full blown fissures as market conditions deliver continued stresses and surprises in the months ahead. Drafting a few concise game plans to address the weakness short list needs to happen quickly if it has not already. Longer term, the goal is to identify the routes the firm will take in the next 12-24 months to outdistance the competition and increase the odds of thriving. These routes might include:

  • a client relations, feedback and analysis initiative;
  • a concentrated internal lawyer and employee relations effort focused on relationship building, two-way communication, rumor control and collaboration;
  • actions to differentiate and elevate the firm in the eyes of clients, prospective clients, employees (including the firm’s lawyers) and laterals;
  • a compensation “Be Prepared” matrix that includes compensation scenarios for doing better, as expected, or worse at year-end;
  • a to-do list for growing (or perhaps right-sizing) the organization;
  • real-time analytics and metrics reporting in support all of the above; and
  • a short list of new stuff to try.

There are a couple of common threads running through these activities -- communication and change management. Stresses born of upheaval are affecting all of us as we struggle to find our footing for what lies ahead. Thus, striking the balance between trying new stuff and relying on the familiar can be tricky. Best to embrace a few good ideas using a task force approach, do the research, run beta tests, gather feedback, and sort out what to pursue, alter, or drop.

Much has been written about great crises leading to innovation and opportunity. Agreed. There are certainly opportunities out there, but rough seas still lie ahead. No one can see around the corner of what the next year or so will bring, but we can be certain that the organizations that thrive will do so because they are doing something inherently difficult – battening down the hatches to weather the storm, while also applying creativity, enthusiasm and commitment to their plans for the future.

For guidance charting your organization’s course ahead contact Vertex Advisors’ Kathy Hancock who can help shape a client enhancement initiative, employee relations program, or organizational re-sizing plan. Kathy.Hancock@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

The Mentorship Opportunity

The Mentorship Opportunity

By Robert A. Kamins, Principal & Founder

6/8/20

 
 

In the current uncertainty we all want someone to cling to, to show us the way. A mentor for the times. Mentorship -- as discussed in a recent “The Vertex Angle” podcast – is an organizational objective still achievable and now more important than ever. With reduced commutes, most professionals likely have some saved time re-investable in their organization’s people. This is not just good business, but a necessity. A firm’s greatest assets are its people and now the strength of their internal relationships – even if physically distanced – will differentiate team success and superior client experience. Otherwise what is an organization?

Just as it is problematic to cling too tightly to a mentor, it is also a fallacy that a professional should be looking for “a mentor,” as in just one. Over the course of my career, I learned how misguided it was that some mystical guru would appear on a mountaintop to set forth the professional universe’s secrets. No sensei or singular master. Looking back, I realize many people contributed little traits that developed my professional character and experiences. Thus, rather than seek a single person, it helps to glean elements from the many.

As a young finance professional, I was fortunate to be staffed in a group with ten senior investment bankers. While that kept me super busy and felt impossible to please everyone, I now realize that I carried away different treasured characteristics they all possessed. Sure they all had positives and negatives, but my collection of amalgamated positive clay pieces from them all is a legacy and advantage I carry forward.

Amazing transformational elements such as one mentor who conveyed the power of simple directional graphs. Another who stressed the importance of always framing situations in the positive. One who was a master at relationship-building with client support gatekeepers. Still another who rigorously verified changes input against his mark-up demanding excellence. A superior who taught the need for precise number verification and proofing. And still others who demonstrated rolling with the punches, building client sales trust, and defensive preparation.

Guess what? None of these “mentors” possessed all those skills, but I had the opportunity to learn them all from all of them. Encourage those in your organization to similarly invest in your next-generation of talent -- even remotely -- as it will endow a continuing return.

For insight and guidance on how Vertex Advisors can help your organization augment operational personnel programs including mentoring, training, wellness, and work-life flexibility contact Robert Kamins at robert.kamins@vertexadvisorsgroup.com

Law Firm Strategic Plans as Relics

Law Firm Strategic Plans as Relics

By Kathy M. Hancock, Consultant

5/28/20

 
 

Law firm strategic plans tend to start much the same with commitments to delivering extraordinary service to clients with extraordinary lawyers and action items variously emphasizing innovation and growing the pie.   Unfortunately, and in light of the current circumstance we and our clients face, these documents may read as relics from another age entirely.   Consider ditching the relic or revising it inside  of 60 days and thereafter updating it on a quarterly basis so it and its core action items become common currency within the firm.

How you do this will vary from one firm to the next, but involving a small group of committed and informed lawyers and professional staff is a great start.  The goal of this working group is to map out the organization’s goals over the next 12-24 months, what strengths the firm will capitalize upon and how, what weaknesses it has and what it will do to fix them (be aggressive but realistic), and define for everyone what makes the firm truly different from the competition.    And, make it short!

If the strategic planning process does nothing more than force a clear-eyed examination of what truly differentiates the firm from others, it’s a win.  Here’s why.  Today a client is likely looking to cut expenses.  If a client asks what makes the firm different from X, Y and Z, we want to make sure we have a concise, meaningful answer.   And, the answer obviously needs to reflect what we understand the client’s needs and goals are (heaven help us if we do not know).

Communicate with the entire firm team about the strategy, what the action items are and how they are measured.  Reporting back is a must.  Amid the upheavals and disruption folks are experiencing, it is reassuring, even comforting, to have a plan in place with firm leaders regularly updating everyone on progress, or even lack of progress (what’s the hurdle and what can be done about it).

Today’s discouraging news – like a water leak – threatens to widen any organization’s cracks and weaknesses.  Consigning the old strategic plan to the trash, tuning it up, or drafting a new one that is authentic, short, readable and relevant to the firm’s situation affirms a firm’s grasp on its destiny, engendering confidence, which in turn telegraphs to clients and prospective clients.

For insight and guidance on how to tackle a modified strategic plan at your organization, contact Kathy Hancock via email at kathy.hancock@vertexadvisorsgroup.com