THE CONUNDRUM:
Our decade of comprehensive business process management has highlighted a truism: Solving 'new' problems and challenges is often easier than solving old, long-term, nagging existing ones. Seems backwards, but it's true. "New" challenges have focus, and some 'energy' behind them. Solving 'old, existing' challenges requires overcoming an enormous amount of INERTIA which has found a comfy home called 'denial'.
To summarize why existing, 'old' challenges are harder to get solved:
- Old, existing problems have become 'accepted' (read - IGNORED)
- Workarounds, almost always arduous, have been targeted at 'fixing' symptoms and are part of the fabric of the organization (read - FORGOTTEN)
- The negative impacts of the problems can't be cleary seen anymore (read - DENIAL)
So what's the conundrum? If your organization has already accepted that the problems persist, has become 'ok' with the workarounds that don't actually solve the problem but serve to 'brush the problem under the rug', why should you care? And, assuming you do care, what can you do to help make the transition happen?
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE?:
Those 'old' problems, guess what - they are probably right smack in the way of allowing you to MOVE FORWARD and solve 'new' problems or tackle new opportunities. In some cases, they are your biggest risk factors - gaps inside your firm like black holes - just waiting for the right time to suck your firm into a bad risk scenario that you've simply been able to ignore. One key risk that may not be so obvious - you are likely stopped from going after the opportunities that are sitting right in front of you.
Top 3 Reasons You Should Care:
1. Old problems get in the way of solving new challenges
2. Every day that goes by - the real problem only gets worse
3. Risk increases, Opportunities get wasted
Consequences of continuing in a state of denial:- Reduced Profitability
- Missed Revenue Generation Opportunities
- Increased Risk
CONCLUSION:
Take a look around at some of the arduous workarounds your law firm has accepted as a way to ignore serious problems that impact your knowledge of your client base, the kind of work you do, your billing practices, your pricing negotiations...now think about how much of the real, underlying issues remain unsolved.
But don't fool yourself, the problems are there - black holes already sucking time, energy, efficiency. Increasing risk, reducing revenue and profitability. Bleeding opportunity. You have to solve them. It won't be easy, but it can be done. It will take not just technology, but perhaps just as importantly, psychology to effect true organizational behavior management - not to mention some guts. You can do it! We need to recognize together the road less traveled - solving root cause problems not symptoms - it's what law firms must do. It's also one of the hardest things to do in the culture of most firms.
Need Help Getting Started?:
Elegrity solves the “old problems” facing law firms and sets them up to quickly evolve to solve new challenges as they arise.
Explore our blog for many posts on this subject - and there will be more to come!
For some Halloween humor, here's a link to one that you can start with:
