Small Firms and Big Problems
This will be the first post of many regarding the importance of efficient and effective time management. It is a crucial element to master for both small and large businesses alike. For the purpose of this blog we will select the crisis situation principle on the small law firm level.
Whether you are a small firm with a few attorneys or a solo practitioner firm there is one guarantee, there will be crisis situations. In a perfect, non-existent world, in those moments you would calmly locate or make yourself the on-staff knowledge matter expert and have them or you take a rational / clinical approach to the crisis, not only quickly and efficiently resolving it but also identify all the things you could have done better along the way. It sounds great to say out loud, it looks even better on paper, but from my experience this is about a one in a million occurrence.
In most cases, no matter what the hierarchy of your firm is, crisis situations run the gamut from “bad” to “okay” at best. Most small businesses do not have the luxury of having experts for every occurrence. What’s worse, especially for a solo practitioner, is that the world does not stop while you make the transition from crisis situation to crisis recovery. Time management in these moments is key, you will either solve the issue as quickly as possible or you will lose time that is not recoverable inside the work week (which usually means some short or sleepless nights in your future). Quick is relative to what is right for the issue, and sleepless nights for small business owners are not uncommon. We are taking the ten thousand foot view here though, so we will limit how deep we go.
Basically, if you are a solo, a true solo, you need to identify your limitations and do your best to not spread your primary resource (your time) too thin. If you crumble, so does your practice. For those of us with the passion inside, this is not an option. The real solution is to grow to the point of affording support tools and/or staff. A well trained and managed staff can help improve your firm’s capabilities and crisis response times if you communicate effectively.
If you are a small firm with a limited support staff, you will have more options available to you in a crisis situation. If you delegate a crisis to your staff, however, your responsibility does not end there. A lot of additional issues can be avoided, and time can be saved, if you avoid this common pitfall. We strongly recommend you do not activate your entire staff to handle one crisis at a time. This can negatively impact your firm. If your entire team is working on one problem, are you able to take on the rest of their functions while you provide legal support to your clientele?
An example I like to use is the situation of an actual fire. Let’s say you have four friends and their kids over for a barbeque and your back porch catches fire. One friend has a full water can, another has a fire extinguisher, the third has a basket full of brussels sprouts and the fourth has a sock puppet in the shape of a chicken. Two of these friends are prepared to handle the fire, and depending on the size and nature of the fire one may be better equipped than the other. One friend is completely unprepared, and another may be better off entertaining the children while the fire is put out.
The point of this story is that a basket full of brussels sprouts makes you useless at a barbeque. Just kidding. The point is to not select a sock puppet to do a watering can job. Creating a panic in the office is dangerous and can devour chunks of time at the cost of present work that needs to be done. By assigning a task to a single individual who is the best equipped for the situation you can avoid panic and limit time loss for your team. Communication is always key. Make clear your expectations. Set deadlines. Your goal is to obtain crisis resolution with a minimal impact on other team members.
Managing time saves time.
