Does your firm go from putting out one fire to the next?

If so you are not alone. Many firms struggle with this very issue. They are constantly working to put out fires.  But it doesn’t have to be this way. To go from having fire drills all the time to having consistent work is not always an easy transition. It takes some planning and some hard work.

The transition is possible and doable. Here are the high level steps that you need to take in order for your firm to have a manageable workflow:

1. The first step is to begin understanding what your processes currently are. This can be done by mapping out your current processes using what is called a Value Stream Map.
2. Look for areas that you can put standards in place. This is a critical step, because without a standard procedure for doing tasks you will not get out of the fire drill.  You may be thinking that your practice doesn’t do the same thing over and over again. But you will be surprised at how many tasks follow a similar pattern. I have yet to see a practice that is unable to put standards in place.
3. Once you have a standard in place you can start looking at what improvements can be made and how to make them.
4. Come up with ideas for improvement and test them to ensure that they work.  You need to measure if they did work and improve your processes.
5. Don’t just stop once you have made one improvement. Continually look at your processes to see what can be improved.

By following these steps you will no longer have to put out fires all the time. We have helped other law firms like your implement these very steps. The results have been phenomenal!

Click here to schedule your 1 hour process evaluation and take the first step to eliminating the fire drills in your office.