Forming the Right Committee for Strategic Planning
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A Strategic Planning Committee is charged with a critically important task—therefore, it is critically important to get the right people together to do the work. A law firm’s strategic plan should give the firm’s stakeholders a unifying sense of purpose and direction. Handled poorly, a firm’s planning process can have quite the opposite effects. This article presents ten practical tips for assembling a Strategic Planning Committee that works.
We recommend that Committee members meet the following qualifications:
1. Willingness to spend time in Committee meetings, participate in homework and group exercises, etc. The total commitment of time and effort that Committee members are being asked to make should be determined and communicated in advance. In addition to attending meetings, members’ responsibilities may include assigned reading, thought exercises, client interviews, industry research and the like.
2. Strategic orientation. Committee members should be naturally suited or capable of big-picture thinking and taking a long-range view. Avoid stocking the team with partners whose focus is too narrow, detail-oriented or internal. The Committee’s primary task is to formulate strategy, not define operations. The Committee chair or facilitating consultant must keep the focus external and strategic as much as possible, addressing growth opportunities in terms of practices, clients and industry segments. The Committee may deal with governance, compensation and operational issues only insofar as they represent alignment issues that need to be addressed to achieve successful implementation of strategic goals.
3. Ability and willingness to contribute or entertain new and different ideas for advancing the firm. The firm’s future success may look different than its current and past success. A demonstrated intolerance of new or challenging ideas should disqualify a prospective Committee member from service.
4. Held in high regard by the other members of the Committee. Each member must demonstrate trust and respect toward other members of the Committee. This does not mean that everyone has to like each other. Spirited debate will be helpful if it is respectful.
5. Firm-first mentality. Committee members must have in view the best interests and best course for the firm as a whole, as opposed to being driven primarily by personal gain.
6. No blatant personal agenda. Every successful partner has his or her own client relationships and influence base to protect, but sometimes a “single issue” committee member will try to use the planning process to achieve a particular (usually predictable) result. Be wary of those partners who are a bit too eager to serve—they may simply be afraid that their personal wishes will not carry the day.
7. Ability to listen as well as talk. Avoid blowhards who will dominate discussion as well as those who listen well but are not likely to contribute.
8. Willingness to discuss “brutal facts.” A frank discussion of the firm’s capabilities, opportunities and weaknesses often leads to unpleasant truths about the firm. The firm’s reputation, market position or outlook may not be as positive as was assumed. Practice group failings and limitations may be exposed. Committee members must be able to receive and deal with criticism and make hard choices in a constructive way.
9. Understanding of the business side of the firm or willingness to learn. Committee members should understand basic law firm economics and the drivers of law firm profitability.
10. A "stake in the game" over the next five to ten years. Planning for the future requires not being overly bound to the past. Including the esteemed, aging Chairman on the Strategic Planning Committee can be counterproductive, as his presence is likely to stifle the free sharing of thoughts and observations about the firm and its desired path. Include one or more up-and-comers. Committee members are expected to champion the plan when the committee’s official work is complete.
A committee chair should be named as point person for the planning project. The Managing Partner may chair the committee or this function may be delegated. There should be adequate representation from the Executive Committee, but in a firm of sufficient size, the Strategic Planning Committee should not be the same as the Executive Committee. We like to see some younger partners (strategic thinkers with leadership potential) serving on the planning committee. Despite the politics of committee selection, try to limit participation to six to eight partners. It may be desirable for your administrator or senior marketing professional to attend and contribute as well.
I was once engaged to direct a strategy project for a previously formed committee of 23 members. Some firms just don’t like to leave anybody out! We worked through the process with the large group, but a gathering of 23 persons typically ends up being driven by a core group of six to eight participants anyway. Try to keep your numbers down (and billable hours up) by limiting the committee to a core group and consulting with others informally or through a written survey.
The Strategic Planning Committee is a working committee and continuity is important. Committee members should plan to attend every meeting from start to finish and be fully present during meetings. Meet off-site if such discipline is lacking. Meetings should be scheduled with sufficient lead time for members to schedule around them.
A final word of advice to the Committee chair, who is normally a highly influential person in the firm and a proven leader. Successful leaders of high-performance teams have an attitude that they do not need to make all key decisions. They realize that they neither know all the answers nor can they succeed without the other members of the team. A leader who genuinely believes in the purpose of the team and the team itself can lead the team to high performance and set forth inspiring strategies for the rest of the firm to follow.
