Recently, we analysed management practices of the most effective, strategically healthy, and successful professional services firms with which Julian Midwinter & Associates works.
Management fashions and fads come and go, but I’ve taken a hard look at what works, what doesn’t, and the correlation with superior results - including right now, in the most challenging business conditions of most professional lifetimes.
Here are some of our “practice management musts”.
Get the basics right
No great ideas, winning strategies, or teams of star professionals will ever produce what they could and should unless day-to-day operations, administration and management of the practice is orderly, routine, and just works as a well-oiled machine.
Sensible, well-conceived focused strategy
Clear-headed, smart, well-articulated strategy underpins high performing practices. They know both what they are doing and why they are doing it.
Focus on execution rather than ideas
Even the most brilliant strategy is worth little until executed. In my world, great ideas are cheap - there’s no shortage of them.
What matters is implementation of ideas. Successful practices execute well. Super successful firms execute flawlessly.
Sticking to strategy
A pedestrian but sound strategy, consistently followed, beats any number of brilliant ideas and cool strategies which appear and disappear like shooting stars.
High performing firms maintain focus and stick to their chosen strategy.
Make the most of available resources
Rather than bemoaning shortage of resources, connections, contacts, or reach, really high performing professional firms make the most of what they have.
They exploit the resources, connections, contacts, and profiles already in place and make more along the way.
Aspirations convert into action
The most successful firms get into action - they don’t stop at talking, debating, and intellectualising about the perfect plan. Aspirations lead to action.
Pragmatic pay-off rather than grandiose schemes
Our most successful professional service firm clients prefer business development with high prospects of success and some shorter-term pay off to long-shot grandiose stabs at success.
Big-ticket, long-term investment comes packaged with short-term success indicators.
Resist budget enslavement
Just because an item is in the budget, or there’s budget available, doesn’t mean it should be spent. Budgets aren’t cast in stone.
Lack of budget provision doesn’t mean “can’t do it”. Where there’s a strong business case, superior results flow from finding the financial resources to fund attractive opportunities.
Grasp Einstein
Successful firms “get it” - they understand what Einstein meant when he said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result was madness.
Superior results and increased success for professional service firms does not derive from fads. Instead, try some of these “practice management musts”.
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