The Triple Win How Smart Collaboration and CrossServing

The Triple Win: How Smart Collaboration and Cross-Serving Benefits Firms, Their Lawyers, and Their Clients Heidi Gardner, Ph. D. , Author, Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos and Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School David H. Freeman, J. D. , Author, Creating a Cross-Serving Culture Shift: Cross-Selling for Lawyers and Leaders and Founder, Law Firm Culture. Shift® www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

The Growing Collaboration Imperative Increasingly deep, narrow, specialized Professional expertise Client needs Volatile Uncertain Complex Ambiguous © Heidi K. Gardner, 2017 www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Collaboration and Business Performance Two (nearly) identical professionals: same practice, graduation year, time with Firm, annual hours billed. Twin 1 Business Outcomes Twin 2 $ © Heidi K. Gardner, 2017 $ $ www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Cross-Connecting Accelerator Know, like, trust Learn (Effective) internal presentations Connect with the right lawyers Connect with the right groups Connect with the right leaders

“If your relationship partner departed, would you seek another provider? ” Remain with Firm Seek another Provider Single-partner clients 28% Multi-partner clients ? 90% © Heidi K. Gardner, 2017 Survey of top 300 clients, www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com major U. S. accounting f

“If your relationship partner departed, would you seek another provider? ” Remain with Firm Seek another Provider Single-partner clients Multi-partner clients 28% 90% © Heidi K. Gardner, 2017 Survey of top 300 clients, www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com major U. S. accounting f

Client/Industry Team Accelerator • • • Identify targets Build a process Team dynamics Team standards Team roles Client feedback Exceptional service Identify new opportunities Expand client/industry knowledge Proper measures Tracking and reporting

High Performing Teams Project Aristotle - Google initiative on how to create perfect teams Understand Influence Group Norms “Traditions, behavioral standards and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather” The Key Factor = Psychological Safety A shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking Team members treat each other well Most critical norms = communication and empathy High social sensitivity to feelings and needs Members listen to each other Speak in roughly the same proportion Create interpersonal, human bonds Smarter Faster Better, by Charles Duhigg

Benefits of Cross-Practice Collaboration Average $$/client from collaboration (actual data) Average $$/client from cross-selling (illustrative) Firm A Firm B “Margins rise with complexity. ” Fortune 100 CFO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Number of practices serving client © Heidi K. Gardner, 2017 1 2 3 4 5 6 Actual, disguised data from 2 global PSFs www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Approaching/Giving Accelerators Build the business case • Make it easy • Give before receive • Find high priority client needs • Clarify service and credit expectations • Look good to the client • Probing questions • “Gifts”

“Gifts” Introductions Access to events Visibility (speaking, writing) Present preliminary opinions on the matter IP monitoring services Advice Review/Audits In-house presentations/CLE Research Approaches used for other clients Loan a lawyer/exchange Invite to join/start a group Alerts/updates/newsletters Recommendations for open positions www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Client Contact Accelerator Soften the ground Build relationships in advance of need Look for openings/contexts for contact Meeting preparation and execution Ongoing follow-up www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Reported Barriers to Collaboration Knowing others' expertise Trust Selling skills & Interpersonal Inefficiency / Compensation competence confidence familiarity & time pressure / rewards trust www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Obstacles to Cross-Serving • Inertia/Habits/Misperceptions • Internal and external communication • Identifying best opportunities • Replacing existing relationships • Understanding client needs • Understanding our lawyer’s needs • Capacity • Lack of planning • Accountability, follow-through and tracking www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Compensation Is Not the Silver Bullet 40 Initiated collab Received referral 20 0 <10 11 -19 20 -29 30 -49 50 -79 80+ Partners’ collaborative behaviors within a single firm Keep in mind: • Relative pay matters more than absolute pay • Metrics drive behavior • The fewer the signals of a person’s worth, the more that compensation matters © Heidi K. Gardner, 2017 www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Key Measures Accelerator Client feedback Meetings between complementary lawyers Client teams formed/meetings Extraordinary client service On-site visits Introduce other lawyers to clients Ongoing follow-up with top prospects Number of practice groups used www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com

Next Steps 1) Send us any questions 2) Send us your top takeaway Heidi Gardner - hgardner@law. harvard. edu David Freeman - David@Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com www. Law. Firm. Culture. Shift. com