Law Strategy Guide – ‘How to Make Your Law Firm 200% More Efficient’

3. Invest In Your Employees

Whether you realize it or not, your staff are the lifeblood of your firm and one of your most valuable assets because they are responsible for so many of the activities in the day to day running of your law firm. Making sure that your staff are happy and feel appreciated goes a long way in the increasing the efficiency of your law firm because happier staff work harder, rise to challenges and accomplish their tasks a lot better than staff who feel abused, mistreated, unappreciated and dissatisfied.

Providing your staff with the necessary tools to perform their tasks effectively also increases their productivity and output. It also goes without saying that you need to pay your staff well, you should remunerate staff according to the work they put in, including bonuses. Don’t hesitate to provide payment for overtime and create a conducive work environment that is comfortable, have lunch breaks and even snacks! When your staff love working with you, they are more likely to come in early with a positive attitude, recommend new clients, friends, and family to your law firm in addition to working harder.

Some of the ways you can invest in your staff and increase the efficiency of your law firm include:

• Hire Properly – hiring the right people for the job is hardly an easy task but it most definitely can be done. Sifting through resumes and selecting the right fit for your firm is more than picking the candidate with the right skills on paper. You should hire someone who will fit right in with your firm’s culture, look out for candidates who will get along with your other employees and be willing to learn from them. You should hire someone who is committed to developing their career instead of chasing the next big paycheck as they will most likely ditch you as soon as a better offer comes along. This candidate would be willing to learn and adapt to your firm’s policies and thus will give their best to ensure your firm continues to grow. It’s also important that you check referees and backgrounds of your potential employees as more than a few people have been known to exaggerate on their resumes. A little background check will ascertain the validity of the skills and qualifications candidates have listed on their resumes. You can also check out candidates on social media, In the age of technology, most people are very open on social media, you stand to learn a lot more about candidates, who they are as people and their job experiences from what they share on their social media pages like Twitter and LinkedIn.
  
  
• Train them – giving your staff room to grow by training them and providing opportunities for them to move upwards in your law firm’s hierarchy encourages them to work harder thus increasing your firm’s efficiency. You ought to train both new and old staff to ensure they remain competent at their jobs and improve as time goes by. As the popular saying goes, “practice makes perfect” encourage your staff to practice everything they have learned continually. It’ll help them learn faster and get better at everything they’re taught in training sessions. You can also encourage staff to share their expertise with each other. If one staff is particularly good at cloud computing and machine learning, you can set aside a time of the week for said staff to share his/her knowledge with the rest of your team and sit back and watch as your law firm’s efficiency skyrockets. Your staff would most likely feel more comfortable learning and asking questions from a colleague than from a stranger as well. Taking into account how each employee learns and tailoring their training to suit them will also make your employees feel appreciated and spurred to put in their best in completing their tasks. By training your employees individually you also will help them grow both professionally and personally by helping them identify their strengths and work on improving their weaknesses.
  
  
• Build a solid management team – Building a strong management team ensures your team works. Finding the right talent to make up your team is the first step to making sure your management team is a strong one. You might choose to go down the route where you promote a member of staff who shows great management skills and has worked with your firm for some time to a position of manager, or you can scout for new talent by attending industry-related networking events or headhunting. Once you have assembled your team of talents, your management team must also understand that they are all equal parts of a whole and no one’s contribution is more important than the other, ensure that roles are clearly defined so that your team does not mix up their responsibilities and butt heads. Your team should also have an open line of communication so information is shared at the same time and no one feels out of the loop, This will reduce conflicts and ensure they have great chemistry with each other. Your management team should be made up of people who are good leaders as well, it is no good if they possess management talent and have great chemistry with one another if they cannot lead the rest of your staff and ensure that your law firm is run efficiently.