Legal Services / Professional Services
Strategy, Mentoring, Business Transformation
Three years
Planning for a Pivot and to exploit reforms in the legal services sector in the UK
Key client challenges related to the legal services reform and the challenge of the introduction of Alternative Business Structures (ABS). With increased competition, diminishing referral fees and the challenge of new market entrants, the law firm concerned wished to develop a strategy to focus on its core strengths whilst developing additional capabilities to differentiate it from the prospective new entrants. The senior management team had an exceptional vision and had mapped many of the key aspects of implementation with sufficient granularity that the plan could be implemented. However, in keeping with many traditional partnership structures, other soft challenges existed in respect of obtaining the necessary buy in from other equity partners. Not just with regard to the strategy, but also the necessary business change to achieve a smooth and effective implementation.
The Chief Executive recognised that an independent sounding board was required and a member of our team was engaged to provide support, mentoring and guidance in respect of the equity partner and senior staff engagement and change programme. Over the course of a three year period, the Chief Executive would meet regularly with our adviser to discuss progress and to jointly develop new responses to the ongoing challenges faced.
The result of this support and guidance was a successful implementation of the core strategy and the delivery of the desired outcomes. Benefits included the finessing of the communication programme, the independent facilitation of planning meetings and the impartial support of the adviser in dealing with objections and questions relating to the desired change and strategy implementation. Feedback from the Chief Executive indicated that he himself had developed his skills and competencies for dealing with complex change programmes and that much of his new skill-set could be directly attributable to the relationship with his mentor.