Change Can Be Better Than Rest for the Overworked Practitioner
Author:
Sean Kilemade
If you are feeling under sustained pressure the sooner you accept that something has to change the better. In the early years of your practice, as a principal you can have a great sense of being powerful responding quickly and efficiently to all your clients’ demands. But in the long run as your firm grows you begin to realize that being the superhero is no longer sustainable. You must make fundamental changes to handle your current and future workload. The options are fairly obvious: hire in more expertise, appoint a partner, form a strategic alliance, or merge the practice. And of course there is the default option – do nothing until your hand is forced. The best first step in considering your options is to take a big step back from the practice entirely. Get away for serious thinking time. Ask yourself some critical questions.
What is the real issue here? What are my long term objectives – personal, professional and business? Am I achieving them fast enough? Am I enjoying my work? Is the financial reward worth the effort? What can I do to make myself more sought after in the marketplace? What would I most enjoy doing in my practice in future? What are my professional competencies? What new competencies would I like to acquire. What are the big issues facing me and my practice? What are the consequences if I do not deal with them quickly? How is my work life balance?
Knowing what I now know would I have entered into practice? Would I prefer to sell my practice and pursue a new career? After all it is a seller’s market right now. What cost and time commitments are required to get fully up to speed in a new career?
These are fundamental questions, and if they are gnawing at you, take time out for reflection. Should you talk to a trusted mentor to help you think clearly and laterally? You may need to explore the big question – do I want to continue in practice? If the answer is no, then develop a new career strategy. If the answer is yes, then do you want to turn that yes into a wholehearted mission to develop the practice? You must reactivate your commitment to your career if you want to have job satisfaction and see the practice reach its potential. It is perfectly legitimate, of course, to conclude that “the practice could be run a lot better but I am not interested in taking on the hassle to change things. I’ll stay the way I am”. Well then at least you have thought the thing through and can be content that you have reached a considered conclusion. However I suggest that you first examine your future personal financial needs and your ability to fund them, and particularly your plans for disposing of the business.
When you contemplate a better future in practice remember that the challenge usually seems greater than it really is. This is because people are conditioned by past experience to exaggerate the difficulties ahead. When you go through due process step by step developing the strategy, involving people, carefully laying your plans, building trust and teamwork, you lay the foundation for moving forward more quickly than you will initially expect. When you emerge from your post tax deadline relaxation and reflection I hope it is with a sense of encouragement, feeling refreshed and highly committed to a better future in practice. This being the case, the issue is definitely one of working smarter rather than harder, processing the workload efficiently, managing the practice and steering it towards its maximum potential. Firstly and most simply you must take steps to balance the time equation:
Chargeable time plus productive non-chargeable time
equals time available (excluding persistent overtime).
Remember that productive non-chargeable time is more valuable than chargeable time to a firm with ambition. It is vitally important that you believe in this formula. Otherwise you haven’t a chance of developing your practice in a sustainable way. Productive non-chargeable time needs to be invested now. Any delay is an opportunity cost to your business and one that depreciates the value of your exit fund. This is a busy time of the year. When this tax deadline rush is over, stop, reflect, consider and decide. Do you want to develop your practice or not? Is it game on?
If it is “game on” let me suggest an approach. Reflect at the broad level first before drilling down into the detail. There is confusion in the detail, but when you have big picture clarity, the detail is easier to manage. Firstly there are two aspects to consider – how you will compete in the marketplace and how you will structure your practice. Your competitive strategy will dictate the practice structure. With regard the competing in the market, the overall long term goal may be one or other of two basic options or a combination of both:
Business Improvement Programme
“We will compete in future by becoming brilliant at what we do while serving the same mix of clients with the same range of services with the same basic practice structure and operational approach”.
Strategic Change plus Business Improvement Programme
“We will compete differently in the future by changing our range of services, and/or focusing on a different mix of clients, and/or changing our work methods to gain competitive cost advantage”
Whatever type of practice development you embark on, you will need indicators that the process is moving forward and succeeding. Evidence of success can be reflected in measures such as fee growth, fee recovery rates, fees per partner, profit per partner, profit to fees, fees per staff, fees per client, staff per partner, and working capital lock-up weeks. Softer indicators include client satisfaction, partner and employee satisfaction, quantity and quality of referrals, improved image leading to reduced difficulties in attracting talented people, and overall sense of mission and team spirit.
Clearly the practice structure is more likely to alter significantly when strategic change takes place as you reposition to develop and deliver new services, pursue clients in new industries and become more efficient in your work methods. A major effort may need to go into building new skills, hiring people with different talents, and marketing the new offers to the marketplace. Regardless of whether you are involved in business improvement and/or strategic change it is imperative that a budget is set for productive non chargeable time (PNT). PNT covers critical management areas including training, marketing, financial control and reporting, client service, systems and procedures, employee and partner commitment, recruitment and retention. Each area needs a responsible partner in charge, who may delegate if necessary. Each partner needs to be clear that his or her responsibilities in this regard are more important than chargeable hours in the long run. The reward and recognition systems need to reinforce this message. Partners and staff will need evidence to believe that the managing partner expects the responsible people to invest seriously in PNT. Otherwise business improvement assignments will not be seriously treated and will not fully deliver. This can be a major challenge initially, but with persistence and persuasion by senior partners, the message will sink in as business results improve more quickly than anticipated. Then people will understand the simple truth that they knew all along – if you don’t invest (in PNT) you can’t reap the reward.
As you move towards the new year let it be with renewed vigour and enthusiasm, pledging to get better business results with less hassle, and with increased motivation to maximise the potential of your business and perhaps recapturing the excitement of setting up in practice years ago.
Feel free to phone the author, Sean Kilemade,to learn more about the ideas in this article - 01 637 7204