Business Development Archives

Top applications to help you run your business

The world has gone technology crazy. Technology means we can all work more flexibly and more efficiently than ever before but with so many top applications and gadgets to choose from how do you know what really would benefit you and running your business? This week we ask a Managing Director, a Business Developing Director, a Business Development and a Marketing Manager what their top applications are and how could they help others in running a law firm.

David Calder, Managing Director, The Cashroom Ltd

Top Applications – OmniFocus

I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty productive person, but I’ve always hated “ToDo” applications or reminders. They’ve never really worked for me. For years I kept a very simple clip board on my desk, with a pad of paper, wrote down my tasks for the day and scored them out as I completed them. It worked reasonably well for the 20 years I was a practicing lawyer.

And then I discovered OmniFocus.

applications OmniFocus is a Task Manager for OSX and IOS, which implements the “GTD” (Get Things Done) productivity methodology espoused in the book of the same name by David Allen. I had never come across this until I read about OmniFocus, but it’s a pretty comprehensive process for time management and (surprise surprise) getting things done.

In essence OmniFocus is a big data base where you log everything you need to do. You can store personal and business tasks, and organise them into mini projects. You can then aggregate the tasks together to create a daily ToDo list. However, the clever thing is that, not only are your tasks organised by project, they are also organised by “context”. A context is a brief description of the circumstances that must exist before you can complete a task. They can be pretty much anything, but a typical example is time – so you categorise tasks according to how long they’ll take.

The beauty of this is that, if you have an hour to spare, you can set up OmniFocus to only tell you about tasks you can fit into that hour, and ignore anything that’s longer. In this way, you know exactly what you can do in the time you have available. So your custom To Do list, only contains those task you can complete in the time you have. That’s only an example – contexts can be pretty much anything.

It’s this ability to create custom to do lists, for specific circumstances, drawing tasks from all your projects, that makes OmniFocus so powerful, and has persuaded me to give up my trusty clip board!

Emma O’Day, Marketing Manager, The Cashroom Ltd

Top Applications: Hubspot

Before you skip passed the marketing part and think this doesn’t affect you, please stop and skim your eyes over what I have to say. Marketing is effectively just a name for promoting your business to allow it to grow and be a success– now doesn’t everyone want a successful business? I myself started working in marketing whilst I was completing my diploma in legal practice so believe me when I say lawyers can be marketing gurus too – yes that is what I am now calling myself!

Hubspot is my app of choice, David and Alex can testify to me bleeting on like a sheep for months about getting it and oh how I love my hubspot! One application contains every single one of our contacts and their full history – how we know them, what emails they have ever been sent, have they read those emails, have they attended events, what business they have referred our way etc. I can send emails from it or add a task for one of my colleagues to send an email to someone. We can automate emails so if someone does open a specific campaign then they get sent a follow up campaign without me actually doing anything – very cool! applications

You can spend half an hour scheduling all your social media posts for the week/months/year ahead and then never have to go on social media again if you don’t want to! This is brilliant to ensure you have constant content going up, although I would advise you take a look on social media at least a couple of times a week to see what is current and what your followers are talking about too.

You can create a blog post on it which then automatically goes onto your website, and automatically is then pinged out on your social media accounts. You can also create a mass email campaign to go out to hundreds or thousands of contacts if you have them with the click of one button.

applications The Business Development Managers also log onto hubspot and all our new business comes in through it. David can log in and see on a dashboard very quickly how many new enquiries we have, where they came from and at what stage they are in our sales process, for example he can quickly see if Alex has sent out a contract and can then click into that if he wants to see more details.

Hubspot also has a fantastic reports feature to see how successful your email campaigns have been, how many new leads you have converted that month and you can set a monthly target so it can report on how close or far away you are to reaching your target. Perhaps you want your fee earners out generating some of their own business every month, you would be able to track this here.

Having your full sales process in one place from marketing right through to your client becoming a client is brilliant and I can’t recommend using a CRM like hubspot enough! Go on, become a marketing guru too!

Alex Holt, Business Development Director, The Cashroom Ltd

Top Applications: Good Notes

The life of a BD person is hard. No…really…stop laughing.

We develop a caffeine addiction. Our cars take a pummelling. We are forced to eat nice lunches with people and attend drinks events.

It’s hell, I tells ya.

But on a more serious note, our remote, wandering lifestyle is a wonderful testing ground for apps which enable easier and more efficient working methods.

applications One of the biggest issues for anyone who deals with numerous client meetings whether on the road or in the office is the whole issue of fitting in the time to type up the notes and perform the activities you’ve agreed, before the next meeting starts.

Good Notes is an iPad app which, when using the rather clever stylus, allows you to write out your notes straight into the ipad. Because it effectively replicates a pad of paper, you are able to make notes just as quickly and ‘haphazardly’ as you would do normally within a meeting. You can even doodle! Once the meeting has finished, you can export that note and then save it within your CRM (I’m guessing Emma will have sung the praises of Hubspot in that regard!), and flag it up to relevant people within your team. It is a searchable app, so once you’ve made your notes you can name the note and then it becomes searchable subsequently within GoodNotes either by name of note or by date- a definite improvement on the physical day book, especially after you’ve moved onto a fresh one.

We toyed initially with using an app which converts handwriting to text, however we found that for meetings, it distracts you a little to be keeping an eye on the ‘translation’ of your handwritten gems into text. With GoodNotes, it is of course sensible to try to write so that others can read it, but that’s really the only limitation. And did I mention you can doodle!?

Gregor Angus, Business Development Manager, The Cashroom Ltd

Top Applications: RD Client

For me, since moving forward to working exclusively from an iPad, the best App has been RD Client. This App allows you to have a remote desktop connection to your workplace computer, using just the IP address. Once you open the App, it is exactly the same as sitting in from of a PC or laptop if you were in the office. I find this an absolute lifesaver, and my ‘go-to’ App every day (along with our CRM). It means I can still send my emails from Outlook, access documents from our Cloud, check my calendar, access anything on my desktop, use Word etc, with exactly the same look and function as if I was on a PC. The other ‘plus’ is that it’s all in the same place, which saves going in and out of various Apps. It is certainly a long way from when I first got an iPad, and you couldn’t use Microsoft programmes at all, or at least it certainly wasn’t easy to do so! I can’t imagine ever going back to a laptop now, let alone a PC!!

So those are out Top Picks, could they help you? Please let us know if you use any applications that is instrumental in your day to day working and could benefit others.

Top 5 Tech Products For a Successful and Efficient Law Firm

I work in marketing and so part of my day involves checking social media and reading up on tech legal news. Today I was really struck by how Tech focussed the profession is becoming – gone is the image of the lawyer surrounded by paper and difficult to get in touch with.

Now everything is electronically stored and you can even read an email on your watch. It is really beneficial for lawyers to be aware of potential opportunities through the use of technology and at the minute there is more of it available than ever to help your firm function better and more efficiently.

In our everyday life we are surrounded by advancing technology, smart TVs, apps to control your central heating and our cars aren’t far away from driving themselves! We need to embrace technology (many already are!) in the workplace too. As well as technology, the workforce is focusing more on work-life balance and flexible working than ever before. I believe the two go hand in hand.

Below are 5 techie products that I believe would make running your law firm easier and help you get more out of your working hours.

My top 5 tech finds

The Link App

Nobody understands working in a law firm better than a lawyer and this product is designed by a Lawyer for lawyers. This app puts client communication at the core of your business. At the touch of a button you can keep clients up to date with their case. Client cases can be accessed at any time of day, at your desktop or on the go. A happy client comes back again and again; and are your best referrers!

Amiqus ID

Anti-money laundering, identity and compliance checks online. Ok, so I know that not many people get excited about this process, but the checks are there to protect the profession and Amiqus ID is a fantastic product which makes the process and checks much quicker and is cost effective too. When you just want to focus on managing incoming client care, Amiqus can securely handle the money laundering checks and on boarding.

Breathe HR

As a growing business, we have discovered that HR is really important. But you don’t need to pay for someone in-house. We took our own advice and outsourced but in the form of an App called Breathe HR. There are a lot of these products out there but this one works great for us. Staff holidays and sickness can be logged easily and teams can view when other members have holidays booked. Staff contracts and documentation can all be stored in one secure place and it is easy to claim expenses and have them go direct to your accounts department. A great all around company tool.

The Cashroom Portal

Of course our Cashroom portal! We are an outsourced accounts department for legal firms and we also provide management accounts and payroll services.

We have been developing our very own portal, it is a secure method for clients to send their instructions to us and both organisations benefit from a full audit trail, it is extremely user friendly.

You will always have your own dedicated cashier however with the ability to add attachments and comments to the portal the need for phone calls and emails is minimal. An efficient and compliant accounts department should be a top priority for every law firm. Download our client portal presentation here.

E-CPD

CLT Scotland are now offering e-learning CPD -you can now gain the necessary CPD hours by fitting it into your own schedule, you could even do it from home wearing your pyjamas (if you wished!) Topics include the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, powers of attorney and social media law. I really think that CPD without having to leave your desk is a great idea.

If you know of any other products then please let me know, we are always looking for tools that can benefit our clients.

Emma O’Day

Marketing and Communications Manager

6 barriers for professional services getting into LinkedIn (and why it’s important to overcome them)

In professional services, there is historic reticence regarding technology, yet technology is here to stay and evolving at a rapid pace. Broadly speaking, six barriers exist that prevent professionals from creating their LinkedIn presence and getting results.

Fear of change

First, there is the issue of change. Change is risky and exciting, but it can also foster self-doubt: is this effort worth it? But LinkedIn is now no longer optional for professionals. It is the digital business card, but offers a whole lot more in terms of creating new business, strengthening existing relationships and moving yourself and your practice up the Google search rankings. LinkedIn is the first place that other professionals look when they have problems to solve, so not having a presence—lacking even a foot in the door—could mean that your competitor gets the brief, not you.

Desire to leave it to someone else

“I don’t have the people skills” or “I didn’t train to be in business development” you may say. However, you must upskill because direct relationships are what people now want, not through a middleman. You must not only excel at your profession but grow your business, tapping into nascent skills or developing new ones. Once you and your business understand this basic reality, you are ahead of the game.

Misconceptions linkedin

On the face of it, LinkedIn can appear like a glorified Facebook. The reality is, like Facebook, many people use it — 22 million in the UK alone. It is tailor-made for professionals and the services you provide and is the number one B2B database in the world. For the most part it is free and represents an efficient way to foster new professional relationships.

Lack of time

Time. You don’t have enough of it, and creating an effective LinkedIn profile demands some of your most precious resource. But there are shortcuts available and content can be repurposed. Just small bursts of time each day—think of it like going to the gym—help keep your profile lean and focused, so your activities are effective and pay dividends.

Fear of going public

Another barrier is the fear of putting yourself out there in public, to many millions of people. You have full control over what people see, but this control requires skill and it is not simply a case of plug and play with LinkedIn. You need to bring online what you do offline.

Lack of skills

Finally, you don’t need digital skills to make your profile accurately mirror your professional life. This can be done with baby steps to build confidence and—most likely—outside help from other professionals that can help you get that boost that a LinkedIn profile provides.

Many professionals fear using LinkedIn or do not think it is worth their time. But it cannot be ignored anymore because building your LinkedIn presence effectively can put you and your business out in front.

Miles Duncan is CEO and Founder of LinkedIn Success Systems

LinkedIn Success Systems is a specialist training company that provides LinkedIn training for Corporates and SME’s.

miles@linkedinsuccesssystems.co.uk

LinkedIn Success Systems is in no way associated with LinkedIn Corp. We are a third-party organisation helping companies and individuals to improve their performance of using LinkedIn

The Increasing Risk to the Legal Sector in 2017

The progression of technology has enabled criminals to become more savvy when looking to exploit businesses. The legal sector in general has become a huge target for cybercriminals when they appreciate the large sums of money transacted each day. Given the level of trust between a solicitor and their clients, it is not surprising that these particular relationships are targeted for their own financial benefit. Criminals are not just looking for financial gains, but also for the confidential data which is at the crux of a solicitor-client relationship, causing a risk to the legal sector.

The risk to the legal sector is posed by the interception of emails, cloned websites and fake headed letters are amongst just some of the techniques these criminals are using, meaning it is becoming more and more important for law firms to ensure that their due diligence and compliance policies are constantly up to date. When considering the protection of client money, it’s paramount to understand the significant risk which cybercrime presents.

Protection by way of prevention

To protect law firms, solicitors, and clients, firms must ensure that they safeguard digital information from both internal and external sources. Firms must meet all of the legal and regulatory requirements to lower the risks posed and conserve their reputation. The SRA’s Risk Outlook 2016/17 gives a helpful overview of various cybercrimes and suggests perhaps moving away from complex rules to free up firms to innovate and grow, whilst ensuring a high level of protection. The challenges around cybercrime, whilst not new, are evolving and require constant vigilance.

The SRA are entrusting solicitors with the responsibility to manage their own risks and offers the Risk Outlook as a tool to aid them with this mammoth task. It provides an overview of the risks to the protection of people who use legal services; the operation of the rule of law; and the proper administration of justice. The risk posed to these three areas is something which needs to be taken seriously.

What should we do about it?

In cases where law firms have not been vigilant enough in checking simple things such as email addresses for a slight change, solicitors could be liable for losing client funds; be forced to pay money back to lenders; be subjected to raised insurance premiums; and suffer brand damage. It is therefore crucial that, as merely one example: no notifications of changes to bank details are sent by letter or by email.

The opportunities for criminals are vast, but equally so are the opportunities for mitigating risk by outsourcing due diligence and compliance solutions. Outsourcing will not only reduce the pressure upon a solicitor who already has to be vigilant when undertaking various daily tasks, but it will free up fee earner time and leave due diligence to specialists who can keep up with the rapidly evolving issues we face today.

It is therefore of utmost importance that there is a general awareness of the risk of cybercrime and fraud in the legal sector. Not only should risk management be carefully considered by law firms to meet legal and regulatory requirements, but solicitors themselves should be acknowledging risk when undertaking their daily tasks to ensure that the relevant precautions are undertaken each and every time.

Jennifer Davies – Lawyer Checker
https://www.lawyerchecker.co.uk

Would you like a risk-free 2017?

I’ve never been a very keen gambler. The occasional office sweepstake for the Grand National is the limit of my daring. I just hate losing money on things outside my control.

Gambling with someone else’s money (see what I did there) would be even more scary I think. I spoke at a conference the other day hosted by Armstrong Watson Accountants, alongside Xyone cyber security specialists. It was pointed out that law firms are like mini banks, but without the security. It’s one of the reasons that more than ever law firms are under attack from these new-fangled cyber criminals. You’re probably yawning right now- “Not another hacking blog?” but no!! Grab yourself a coffee because I think we need to talk in a more broad sense about ‘Risk’.

After the strange global occurrences of 2016…Brexit…Trump…Leicester winning the title…Ed Balls on Strictly…it seems that we live in very uncertain times. It’s never easy to predict what is going to happen with 100% certainty, however putting the right measures in place can provide a solid yet agile basis to withstand risks while enabling your business to still remain highly functional.

This is all inspired (as many things are) by a business lunch- this time with Jake Fox (an independent Insurance broker of some note!). I mentioned the ‘mini-bank’ anecdote to Jake and we agreed that more than ever, a firm must pay close attention to its risk profile. As Jake pointed out, it’s crucial to look at it from the perspective of Professional Indemnity insurers. The insurer is quoting you a premium based on how risky they think your practice is and that relates to much more than just cyber threat. They will consider your previous track record of claims for negligence, the strength of the sector you operate in, the accuracy of your accounts procedures, your history of compliance with the SRA, the robustness of your IT systems for resilience as well as security, and the general quality of your people- both those within your organisation and those providing services externally.

Over the next couple of months we will explore ways to combat risk, and you’ll be relieved to hear that I’ll be roping in some far more qualified friends to provide guest articles around the subject. We will have Business Continuity specialists, cyber geeks, Compliance gurus, all augmenting some hopefully informative content from us around best/safe practice cashiering, and how better quality management account information supports decisions on business strategy.

So as we look ahead to what may be a turbulent 2017 I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Risk-free New Year.

Alex Holt
Director of Business Development at The Cashroom Ltd

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Ham and Cheese Networking

It’s often the simplest things in life that are most effective. The most basic combinations are often the most powerful. As usual I am seeking to shoehorn a metaphor into place…but bear with me. This week members of the Business Development Team attended an networking event in central Leeds alongside some leading firms operating within the legal sector. Barclays, Partner s from Scottish Law firm Digby Brown and Xyone Cyber Security to name a few of the carefully selected attendees.

The networking event was held at the Friends of Ham restaurant in the heart of Leeds city centre with its no-frills quirky vibe it proved to be the ideal location for an event. It gave us great ‘finger food’ (chunks of nice cheeses, ham and bread), copious amounts of high quality wine and a setting which was highly conducive to mingling. We’ve previously used Evuna in Manchester which has a similar vibe, and great tapas. We will call this the base for my metaphor….or the BREAD
Networking is something that everyone agrees is important for business development, but there are so many different ways to approach it. I thought it’d be worth explaining a method that works for us, as it’s not rocket science and is easily replicated.
The ingredients-
A select and manageable attendee list- It’s crucial to keep the numbers to a level whereby everyone will get chance to speak to everyone. Also, it works better if you hand pick your attendees with a view to having credible people who you know will have an interest in the others at the event, and who you also know will be friendly and will engage with the others. Our events tend to have a minimum of 12 people and a maximum of 20. This part is the meat of the event- The HAM
The approach- we’ve all been to events which purport to be networking based, but in fact end up with people preaching and pontificating to the group if given half the chance. So remove that opportunity by making it clear from the outset that each person will be given a maximum time slot of two minutes to explain who they are, what they do, and the kind of intros they are hoping to receive. We have a comedy buzzer and a strict adherence to that limit. This serves to keep things light-hearted and informative, prompting people to seek each other out when mingling for more detailed chats. This is the topping- the CHEESE.

the-cashroom-ham-and-cheese

So there we have it….the makings for a great networking event which I promise will create interest and understanding back and forth between the attendees. Bread Ham and Cheese….you may think what I’m talking is a total croque (monsieur), but try it….you might like it! [The Cashroom apologises unreservedly for this appalling attempt at a pun]
The event was a success with everyone saying what a great evening it had been for all involved. Hopefully the event enabled everyone to make some great new contacts. Thank you to everyone who was involved and hopefully our future events will be as successful as this one (but maybe not so cheesy!).
Alex Holt Director of Business Development The Cashroom Limited

A Day in the Life of a Business Development Manager

When I was asked by our Marketing and Communications Manager to write a Blog on ‘A Day in the Life of a Business Development Manager’, it made me realise just how different each day actually is for me, and the vastly different tasks I undertake.

As Business Development Manager, my role is to bring in new clients, and develop additional business from existing clients. This happens in all sorts of ways! Typically, in the course of a week, I will have spent time communicating with prospective clients by phone, email and through social media, drafted and sent proposals to prospects, sent Contracts to new clients, attended internal meetings to advise on what work is likely to come in over the coming weeks, monitored and updated our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, undertaken marketing activities, attended meetings, conferences or events, and researched current affairs in the legal industry. This list is not exhaustive, but gives you an idea of the sorts of things I get up to.

One of the reasons I wanted to ‘leave the law’ when I was a practising solicitor, was that I couldn’t stand sitting at a desk all day, doing the same thing day in, day out. I wanted a job that got me ‘out and about’, meeting new people, in new places. I can honestly say that being the Business Development Manager at The Cashroom has allowed me to do all of these things, and more. It does, however, mean that every day is different, and it is not really possible to describe a typical day, so I have simply picked one at random!

One morning last week, I set off from home at 8am to drive a couple of hours south to Dumfries for a client meeting. This was a Relationship Management meeting, something that I do with all clients on a regular basis to check that they are happy with our service, and to get feedback from them on anything else we might be able to assist with.

After a coffee and 45 minute chat, I headed to Starbucks to work on a proposal for a prospective new client looking for cashiering, payroll and monthly management accounts. After spending an hour or so finalising the documentation, and a quick sandwich, it was back in the car for a 45 minute drive to a small town further west. This time the meeting was with a new prospect I recently met at a Conference, to explain how our service works on a practical basis, and the likely fee. That particular firm has a longstanding cashier, who has indicated that she will be looking to retire early next year; a situation we encounter on a regular basis.

After this meeting, it was on to another coffee shop, to catch up on the day’s emails. Another 45 minutes, and another coffee later (yes, a high caffeine tolerance is part of the job description!), and I was back on the road, for the 3 hour drive home.

As I say, no two days are the same, and if I had picked the next day, I had a day in the office with a couple of meetings to update the teams on prospective new work, a Management team meeting, and some time blocked out for ‘brainstorming’ the next advert in our monthly marketing campaign in the Law Society Journal.

My job really does involve a lot of variety, and a lot of time out and about meeting new people…just the type of role I was looking for!

Gregor

Please connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter for future articles and blogs

The Change House

I am lucky enough in my job to spend a bit of time with lots of people in different types of businesses. As in life in general, there are people in business with a million different skills sets, outlooks, attitudes to change, to risk etc . A common theme though, is that those people and businesses with an openness to change become the most successful in the long term. The only constant is change, as they say.

Change, however, is not something that many law firms embrace! Whether it is down to difficulty in getting Partners to agree on things, being too busy with client work, or the dangerous old attitude that ‘we have always done it that way’, the vast majority of law firms do not try new things, or change course with any great speed.

I recently read an article by Roger Harrop, author of “Win! How to Succeed in the New Game of Business” (https://www.rogerharrop.com/books/ ). Roger uses a model called ‘The Change House’…

Roger states, I think correctly, that the only safe room to be in is the ‘The Renewal Room’. More importantly, he says, is that you need to stay there, and not be lured next door to ‘Contentment’. There are so many examples of businesses that have been caught out in ‘The Contentment Room’, or below, in ‘The Denial Room’. Off the top of my head, I am thinking about Kodak, Blockbuster Video… but the list is just about endless. Both Kodak and Blockbuster had numerous opportunities to renew their offering, and innovate along with new technology, but they chose not to, or were unable to, ultimately leading to their downfall.

So how does this relate back to law firms. Well, I think it is very straightforward really: you need to keep trying new things and look at ways to constantly improve and evolve. This might be new service offerings, new ways of offering the service, or even ceasing to provide a service. It might be investing in new technology, revisiting your branding, or moving office to a better location. These are merely a handful of ways in which you could look at renewing your firm. Some things will work, others won’t, but you must try. You will spend some time in the ‘The Confusion Room’, but that is the only way to get to the ‘The Renewal Room’, and it will be worth the trip!

The legal industry is still going through huge changes, and with new entrants, technology and innovative business models, it is more important than ever to keep your firm in renewal mode, in order to seize opportunities, and just as importantly, retain the business you currently enjoy.

Gregor

Please connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter for future articles and blogs

The Cost of Charisma

When you think of a good charismatic leader, who do you think of? The common response is to think of those leaders that have a high profile, particularly in the media, such as Richard Branson or maybe even Alex Ferguson. They are very different but both seem to share one thing; charisma.

However, what do you want from your leader? It might be the same qualities demonstrated by the two individuals mentioned. Or it may be something that feels altogether different. Because when we consider a leader that is much closer to home, it might not be just about what they can do but also how they make us feel.

The charismatic leader has many qualities that can never be underestimated. Their ability to engage an audience, to inspire an individual to want to follow them, not just because they have to. The charismatic leader can not only do this with their peers, colleagues and employees throughout an organisation, but also with clients and valued stakeholders. They seem to have an energy that attracts people to them, with enthusiastic ears, always willing to listen to what they have to say.

It is important that people trust what their leader says. This can also be the case with the charismatic leader, but not always. And whilst the charismatic leader ignites passion and purpose in the short term, what about long term strategy and results? How important is it to know that the leaders can not only open their little black book of contacts to generate significant revenue now, but also to set their organisation up for success once they have left to move on to pastures new or to retire. It is common practice for a new Chief Executive to already have their ‘exit strategy’ in place, on the day that they arrive, very often with their anticipated ‘end date’ being within three to five years. Does this promote a vested interest in the long term or just the short term? How will they be rewarded on departure, on achieving certain targets during their period of tenure, or securing them long after they have left?

Jim Collins, author of ‘Good to Great’, considers this in his Harvard Business Review article from 2001. He studied organisations that had gone through significant transformation and analysed their performance not just after a brief period of time, but after fifteen years, to see which ones had successfully embraced the changes to secure long term results. He then analysed the leaders of those organisations to see what qualities they had to ensure such a significant achievement. Collins looked at 1,435 ‘Fortune 500’ companies to study which companies passed the test of ‘cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next fifteen years’. Only 11 did and as he mentioned these were not a sample but rather the ‘total number that jumped all the hurdles and passed into the study’. Interestingly, the study did not begin with the sole purpose of analysing the senior executives, rather looking at which companies had the ability to jump from ‘good to great’. However, as the study progressed it was noted, ‘we can’t ignore the top executives even if we want to’. Collins identified two key components that were common to all these ‘long term leaders’ regardless of sector, size of organisation or time of transition The two key qualities were humility and determination.

The results of the article ‘Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve’ may sound counterintuitive today but when the article was published it was ‘downright heretical, the corporate scandals hadn’t broken out and almost everyone believed that CEO’s should be charismatic larger than life figures’.

This falls very much in line with the idea of ‘Servant Leadership’ identified in 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf, the idea that the leader ’holds’ that position in order to make sure the organisation is secure, flourishing and set for success so the next leader can take over the mantle to continue the good work, always with the philosophy of doing what is best for the company. With one eye on the present, the servant leader also has one eye very firmly on the future, way beyond the date of their own exit. It has to be said the charismatic leader is most certainly capable of determination and also humility. Just because they might be an extrovert, a visionary, a great speaker, and a good relationship-builder does not mean they are not humble, but it has to be that way. The charismatic leader must ensure, and demonstrate, that their primary role is for the benefit of the organisation, not themselves.

So what does this mean in practice to have one eye on the present and one eye on the future? It actually means making the most of the skills they inherently have. Whilst they do have the energy and personality to attract the attention of all involved, to be a visionary and to paint a picture that people aspire to, it cannot just stop there. The great leader will not only paint such an inspirational picture of the potential that is available, but will also articulate this with complete clarity. As a result, as an employee, not only do I see the vision of the future but I know exactly the role I play in order to allow the organisation to reach its full potential, because I will be reaching mine. I will understand the very purpose, the core, of what the organisation represents, be given clarity regarding the long term strategy, and understand our short term objectives. I will understand what I am doing, when and why. Not only that but the successful leaders of today will understand that the directive ‘tell and do’ leadership style is now outdated, that the true transformational leader will be empowering, an ideas generator rather than an ideas giver, a coach and motivator, as clearly identified by Bernard M. Bass 1985 in the work on ‘Transformational Leadership’ (later developed with Bruce J. Avolio). They will be collaborative, allow people to take part in the decision-making process where possible. They will give people a voice.

The leader here understands the significance of the next generation, ensures a clear and robust succession plan is in place, so when they depart, there will be a confidence that the legacy left is one that will see the organisation into the next decade, or even century. Also, that the younger generation actually want to step into the shoes of their elder leaders, that such a position is attractive, empowering and worth waiting around for. Already the younger generation not only understand that the ‘job for life’ is unrealistic, but they don’t even want it.

The great leader also paves the way for the next leader. What if the next leader is by nature, quiet and more reflective? They may think they have big shoes to fill, and they will, but to be given the seal of approval by the outgoing, and possibly more popular leader, genuinely and wholeheartedly, is important. And the next leader can rest assured, that although maybe quieter and more introspective, maybe not as natural at public speaking or radiating energy, they might just have a couple of qualities that do come more naturally, the qualities that Collins recommends so highly, humility and determination.

Katherine Farnworth

Reference

Jim Collins, ‘Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap and others don’t’, 2001.

Jim Collins, Harvard Business Review ‘‘Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve’, 2001

Bernard M Bass, ‘Transformational Leadership’, 1985 (developing the original work of James MacGregor Burns, 1978 and laBruce J. Avolio)

Robert K. Greenleaf, ‘The Servant as Leader’, Essay, 1970.

Innovative Legal Business Models

Many of you will have read my colleagues’ article last week on what 2014 may hold for the legal profession (https://www.thecashroom.co.uk/legal_article/profession-2014/ ). One thing we are likely to see as a result of all the points mentioned in that article, is more by way of innovative legal business models.

We have already seen the emergence of businesses taking a new approach to a very old profession, such as LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer and Riverview Law. While each of these may have slightly different models, the point is that they have taken a fresh look at (a) what clients want, and (b) how legal firms provide that to them.

While the precise need of each client will be different, on the whole, what clients want is a quick and cost effective solution to their particular issue. Your average individual or small business client does not care if you are the most intelligent lawyer in the country, what they want is you to buy/sell their house, sort out their divorce, resolve their personal injury claim, draft a basic employment contract, or set up their company as quickly as possible. For most, a lawyer is somebody they have to use in order to achieve a particular outcome, and the quicker and cheaper it is to reach that outcome, the better. For clients who require bespoke or detailed advice on a complicated area of law, there are always going to be firms that provide that, at a corresponding pricing point!

What the innovative firms have focussed on is providing services at a time, and in a way, that is most convenient for the client. They allow clients access to services in the evening and at weekend, rather than being bound to the usual appointment between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday. Some have a portal or other way for clients to log in at any time of the day or night, to access free forms and documents, or to check on the progress of their case. They are also providing these services at a fixed cost – something which is becoming more and more attractive to clients.

These businesses have clearly taken a step back, looked at what they think is most important to clients, and done something about it. Out are hourly rates, postal correspondence, and waiting for an appointment to meet a lawyer face to face (unless necessary), and in are transparency over fees, fixed costs, and access for the client to his case/documents online, at a time convenient to the client. It would seem that now, even for lawyers, ‘consumer is king’.

I think that we are going to see more legal firms adopt these types of business model and feeing structures, and the expansion of the current market leaders (Legal Zoom have, after all, recently raised £122m of private equity funding – https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/legalzoom-eyes-acquisitions-taking-major-private-equity-investment ). There may of course be plenty of work for those who remain more ‘traditional’ firms, where they have a long established and loyal client base. The point is that those firms need to consider how they keep that work in the future. Are the next generation going to be willing to pay more for ‘traditional’ legal advice too, because they know and trust the firm, or are they going to ‘google’ what they need, and use a firm that provide their services online, at a time more convenient, and at a cheaper price?

The important thing is to take time and think about all of this, how it might affect your firm, and make strategic decisions on how you approach the future. The legal market has changed, and clients’ behaviour has changed. As a result, I think that firms need to respond – either to change as well, or by taking steps to retain their loyal client base. Either way, doing nothing is not an option!

Gregor

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