“Never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer.”
This is one of the cardinal rules of trial advocacy.
Unfortunately, this rule is foolish in law firm management.
My colleagues and I frequently hear statements such as these from otherwise intelligent lawyers and business managers:
- We can’t ask those questions of our associates or staff. That would only stir things up and make the situation worse.
- We can’t ask those questions of our clients. We must not raise their expectations.
One of the most important skills for leaders in law firms is to ask courageous that produce answers that the firm needs to succeed. Sometimes the answers are ones that we would rather not hear, but we must hear and heed them nonetheless. This is usually the only way to get the accurate and reliable information needed to make wise, fully-informed decisions.
Sometimes there is no act more courageous than asking a question.
Good leaders stir things up.
There are few, if any businesses, that are as heavily dependent on people as are law firms. People, along with their knowledge and skills, make up at least 90% of the assets of a law firm. The other stuff — some furniture, books, and perhaps a leasehold — are comparatively worth almost nothing, because without its people, a law firm has no real value at all.
Leaders of law firms need to know how junior fee earners and staff perceive the firm and its internal issues. Relying on hunches, group-think by partners (a favorite but usually worthless pastime at partner retreats), or “what it was like when I was an associate” are deadly problem-solving strategies.
To be sure, asking for opinions about sensitive issues might “stir things up;” but that is usually the only way to see and to understand the perceptions, misunderstandings, and grievances that sometimes lurk at the bottom.
And the best way to get to the bottom of an issue is simply to ask about it.
Good law firms want to raise client expectations.
Some law firms seem to have a phobia about client feedback. In some instances the refusal to ask clients for performance feedback is the result of a deep-seated condescension — or even contempt — about the client.
For example:
- “Why ask the clients? They really don’t know what they need. That’s why they hired us.”
In healthier law firms, however, I often hear this excuse for not soliciting client feedback:
- “We can’t ask anything that might raise the clients’ expectations.”
Raising client expectations is exactly what law firms should be doing in today’s highly competitive legal markets.
You should set standards of client care and service delivery that are above current levels demonstrated by your competitors. The best way to do this is to ask clients to describe what “quality” means to them. What indicators, such as responsiveness and understanding of the client’s business, are most important? Even if you believe that you are performing as well as you possibly can, ask the client how you can perform even better. You might be surprised by the answer. You might wonder why you are not already doing what the client suggests.
By asking these questions and responding to them in ways that the clients can observe and measure, your law firm can raise market expectations to levels at which few, if any, of your competitors will be able to perform right now. Some of your competitors will catch up to you eventually, but during that period when you alone are performing above market expectations, you will have an almost unchallenged opportunity to win new clients and new instructions from current clients.
Simple but sophisticated tools
The art of asking questions involves much more than asking questions.
Asking a junior staff member, “How do you like the firm?” is more likely to produce a cautious, positive response than meaningful data. Most staff members are not fools. Even the best-intentioned open-ended question often will look like a trap.
Asking a client, “How did you like our firm’s performance on that matter?” will seldom produce the specific information that is the key to understanding a possible competitive advantage or disadvantage for your firm. Many clients have never articulated their key quality indictors. Sometimes you need to lead them there.
To produce worthwhile information, the questions need to probe specific issues and potential issues. The questions should be asked in a systematic and consistent way. This is why my colleagues and I recommend three tools above all others:
- Surveys – A well-designed survey can produce substantial volumes of data, compiled in a consistent manner, that can be very useful in understanding the seriousness and priority of an issue. A survey is also an excellent tool for identifying potential obstacles to the implementation of a new strategy or a proposed solution to a difficult problem. Click here for more information.
- Interviews - We usually recommend that confidential interviews be used as a follow-up to a survey. However, confidential interviews can also provide detailed and sophisticated information that cannot be produced easily within the structural limits of a survey. Therefore the confidential interview is especially powerful to identify and understand opportunities or issues in relationships with major clients.
- Monitoring – Surveys and interviews are usually one-time activities. They can produce useful baseline results, but cannot detect changes in opinions over time or in changing circumstances. For example, our firm’s Client Service Monitor is an outsourced service by which we assume responsibility for ongoing monitoring of client satisfaction and early detection of client service issues. This can help law firms to identify issues before they become crises and to minimize loss of clients due to dissatisfaction with the firm’s performance.
The important point is this: regardless of which tools you use, a key tool in successful law firm management today is asking courageous questions. Ask them frequently. Ask them of your own colleagues and staff and of clients. Ask them even when you do not know — or do not want to hear — the answer. To be sure, sometimes a courageous question might involve risk; but that risk is no greater than the underlying risk that already lurks, undetected and out of sight of your current knowledge and understanding.
Norman Clark
