Biden held onto leadership as long as he could.  But when it became apparent that he had lost the faith of his party, and that he couldn’t possibly beat Trump in the Presidential election, he was convinced to step down. There can be tremendous strength in quitting a strategy, and trying something different.

Lawyers, and especially partners, can have a hard time letting go of failing strategies.  For example, I worked at a national law firm that had decided to embrace a particular software program.  When it became apparent that the product didn’t work for the firm, the lawyers involved made the ridiculous decision to double down on the product by spending in the hundreds of thousands more on additional licenses to protect the prior investment in the product. Really.

That might be a wild and costly example but we regularly see smaller versions of this.  There have probably been lawyers in your own firm who were not a good fit, who couldn’t become as productive as you needed them to be, but those individuals remained with the firm long past their expiry date.  Because law firms are afraid of conflict, afraid to admit they made a mistake, afraid to take action that feels like going backwards. But sometimes, although it might seem counterintuitive, the best strategic move is to step back before you go forward again.

Obviously, we’d want to start from a position of strong decisions and thus, limit the eventually need to quit a strategy.  To do that, these decisions shouldn’t be made lightly, or in haste.  There should be a strong and productive decision-making environment in place so that over time, it becomes very clear whether a strategy is working or not.

  • It’s impossible to always have the right answer or make the right decisions. Sometimes it takes a learning process to get where you need to go.  Think of decision-making as akin to scientific method.  You create a hypothesis.  You create an experiment to test that hypothesis. You conduct the experiment, monitoring it very closely.  You analyze the results.  You learn and based on that learning, you create a new hypothesis, and the cycle repeats.  In this way, business decisions aren’t guaranteed, but they are set up for the best possible chance of success.  And if not, then the firm is positioned to learn and improve from the experiment.
  • I’m in favour of business cases for major decisions. Think of this as the experiment design and implementation phase.  Essentially, a business plan forces you to have done your research, and to create a plan that logistically flows from your goal and your research.   The stronger the business plan, the higher the chances that your experiment (or project or event) will be successful.
  • But don’t be afraid of failures, either. I find that I learn more from failures than from successes. Create a culture where people are not afraid to fail (provided they’ve done their research and planning).  Celebrate those failures by analyzing what went wrong, and determining how the firm will proceed, given this new information.  In cultures where people are afraid to fail, they are hesitant to take bold actions, or sometimes, any action at all.  That’s probably not the culture you want for your firm.  But if you beat up the people who at least try, they’ll either stop trying, or they’ll leave.
  • When you are launching a new initiative, be clear on the goals of the project, the boundaries of the project, and when to stop. Don’t give people a lot of rope with which to hang themselves.  Make it clear precisely when a project will be considered a failure, and when the firm will pull the plug.  It’s not a threat.  It’s a clarification around the ending part of the project.
  • As you launch the project, make sure you’ve given it every opportunity to succeed. For example, if it’s a new marketing campaign, ensure you’ve executed brilliantly.  If you’re expecting big things of your lawyers, ensure they have the support they need to get there.  Don’t just set out a goal and say “good luck trying to reach it!”  Provide sufficient support to make it almost inevitable that they will reach their goal.
  • Don’t hold onto failing situations due to the lack of a suitable alternative. Holding onto moldy bread because you don’t have fresh bread won’t make the moldy bread less moldy.  In fact, it might make more of your groceries go moldy, too.  If you get my drift.

Too often, law firm leaders believe they can successfully run the firm through gut feel, and making decisions in the heat of the moment.  But in my experience, successful law firm management, and pursuing stronger decisions require a degree of discipline.  We can’t lead by showing up for work each day.  We can’t do everything the way we’ve always done it. This takes some effort. So, plan for success, but don’t be afraid to fail.

Heather Gray-Grant is a business strategist, marketing expert and executive coach for law firms, lawyers and administrators.  She can be reached at heather@heathergraygrant.com