ACCELERATOR 3
Build a Cross-Practice Culture
How would revenue be impacted if lawyers more aware of the enormous range of legal issues potentially facing their clients and routinely turned that awareness into new business opportunities?
It fascinates me to think about how law firms can drive more revenue. Here’s a question that comes to me often:
THOUGHTS
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My thought is that intermittent cross-practice exchanges need to evolve into constant firm-wide conversations, at meetings, in the halls, even at the coffee station, about client needs and current legal issues.
When those conversations become part of how the firm thinks and works, opportunities multiply.
Here are six approaches for building that culture.
ASSESS NOW BEFORE BUILDING TOMORROW
Before deciding what to build next, get a clear sense of where you are today. A focused assessment provides valuable information and creates a foundation for deciding where to expand and invest.
SHOW THEM WHAT’S POSSIBLE
Interactive workshops give lawyers a chance to learn and practice how to listen more broadly for client needs, recognize opportunities, and comfortably discuss possible responses and next steps.
LEADERS BUILD WHAT COMES NEXT
Cross-practice culture does not happen by accident. Leaders need to envision and reinforce a firm-wide approach that makes these conversations part of how the firm does business.
GIVE THEM KNOWLEDGE
When lawyers know enough beyond their own expertise, they become powerful conduits of business. Make brief, need-to-know information easy to find and use, and lawyers are better equipped for client conversations wherever they occur, even in the day care line.
TRY IT, YOU MAY LIKE IT
You don’t have to change the whole firm at once. Bring a small group of lawyers from different practices together around selected clients, prospects, or an industry and let them try cross-practice business development in real time.
MAKE WORKING TOGETHER WORK
Cross-practice group coaching upgrades the way a group of lawyers work together to uncover more opportunities through their client and other relationships. The process deepens their knowledge of one another and how to bring out the best in one another.