Of Jerry
Maguire and mission statements
By
Jane Pribek
Dec.
18, 2002
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Thomas
R. Streifender
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Everyone
scoffs at Jerry Maguire when he unveils his grand mission statement.
In the lesser-known Office Space, the movie's twenty-something
hero leads a revolt against his bosses, in part because they are
constantly "cramming mission statements down my throat."
Mission
statements were great comic fodder for Hollywood in the 1990s.
Does that mean they're irrelevant to real-life law firms in the
21st Century?
Absolutely
not, say several law firm leaders in Wisconsin.
A
Rose by any Other Name
The
phrase "mission statements" has become clichéd
and definitely has negative connotations for some. So perhaps
avoiding that term — but not the process of strategic planning
itself — is wise.
According
to Thomas R. Streifender, the managing partner of Milwaukee's
von Briesen & Roper, s.c., his firm has a "vision"
and "a statement of beliefs and values."
Meanwhile,
Michael P. May, a partner with the Boardman Law Firm in Madison,
says, "We tend to think of it more as the 'guiding principles'
for our law firm" — referring to the "Our Approach"
verbiage on the firm's Web site.
Whatever
they're called, going through the exercise of drafting them and
putting them into action is definitely worth the effort, they
agree.
"Our
Approach" is designed to bring consistency within the firm,
and to communicate where Boardman's leaders are trying to take
the firm, May explains. "I think it's important for a firm
to know who they are, both internally and externally. Within the
firm, you need something for people to identify with, and externally,
it gives guidance — when you're trying to recruit attorneys,
and when you're dealing with clients and other law firms."
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Mission
in action
"We
don't have a mission statement. That's because I think that
if you took 10 law firm mission statements, mixed them up
and assigned them to different firms, nobody would know
the difference," says Stuart R. Schroeder, founding
partner of the Schroeder Group S.C. in Brookfield.
The
closest his firm comes to having a mission statement is
that they've recently become a member of Primerus, an international
network of attorneys that accepts firms on the basis of
six "pillars:" 1) integrity, 2) excellence of
work product, 3) reasonable fees, 4) continuing education,
5) civility to bench and bar, and 6) community service.
Primerus,
labeled by the Wall Street Journal as "The Good Housekeeping
Seal of Approval" for law firms, is a referral source
for attorneys and the public.
Primerus
also works to restore the public's confidence in the legal
system.
Schroeder
says his firm has been dedicated to the Primerus pillars
from its very beginning.
In
addition, Schroeder notes that his firm's Web site does
contain verbiage that sets the firm apart from its competitors,
and describes what they're all about.
The
home page of www.tsglaw.com provides, "Our clients
and staff would characterize us as professional, but not
stuffy, serious and ethical, but able to enjoy our practices
and our personal lives. The unconventional firm name exemplifies
the manner in which the individual attorneys and staff members
work together efficiently as a group to provide sophisticated
legal services to clients in a relaxed and informal environment."
In
addition, in an interview with Schroeder on the site, he
states, "In essence, what we try to do is offer downtown
Milwaukee law firm experience and quality at lower prices
than would be charged by lawyers with the same academic
and experience credentials downtown. Our per lawyer overhead
in this firm is less than the average downtown Milwaukee
firm overhead per attorney. Yet we try not to compromise
on quality or capability, and we pride ourselves on the
prompt turnaround of projects and the service to our clients."
Isn't
that, sort of (gulp) a mission statement?
"If
I had to say what my 'focus' is, it's that — client
service," Schroeder concedes. "All lawyers talk
about service. We try not to spend time talking about it,
but actually doing it."
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"We're
not so doctrinal that we bash people over the head with our vision
and values," Streifender says. "But they do provide
an aspirational standard of conduct that we hope has an impact
on our environment, morale and sense of family. And it's a touchstone,
for when we're dealing with an employee, a client, or taking advantage
of a business opportunity — really, for just about everything."
Streifender's
predecessor in the top management spot at von Briesen for 25 years
was Warren L. Kreunen. He agrees the vision and value statements
are especially helpful in decision-making.
For
example, a few years ago, von Briesen needed to pare its staff-to-attorney
ratio, like most other firms were doing as well. They were reminded
that the vision statement calls for "unparalleled client
service." They then concluded that they must make the changes
more slowly than the other firms were, because they were concerned
that clients would feel the impact.
Merger,
Web Site Spawned Strategic Planning
von
Briesen's "vision" and "beliefs and values"
date back to 1993, when the firm was under Kreunen's direction.
The
firm had gone through a merger in 1987, and while the transition
was going well, the differences between the two predecessor firms
were still evident. So management decided to do something drastic.
Opposition
immediately surfaced. "A lot of lawyers are hard-line, pragmatic
people, who like to get things done in a hurry and who don't have
time for a 'hearts and flowers' kind of thing like this,"
Kreunen says. "Getting them to talk about the very core of
what they do wasn't easy."
With
the skeptics in mind, the firm hired Joan Lloyd, a Milwaukee-based
management/career consultant and syndicated newspaper columnist,
to facilitate the process. They thought she would be strong, credible
and persuasive. She didn't disappoint.
Lloyd
began by interviewing individuals at all levels. Then the lawyers
went on a retreat to come up with the vision statement and a draft
of the statement of beliefs and values.
Upon
their return, they announced that everyone — attorneys and
staff — would break into groups to draft their own statements
of beliefs and values.
Barbara
Sager, von Briesen's human resources manager, recalls, "It
was interesting because we found there were many similarities
among the lists. In fact, the shareholders' and secretaries' lists
were almost identical."
Then
a committee of lawyers and staff finalized the statement of values.
Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the group incorporated
them into the firm's processes. For example, they revised the
employee recruiting, orientation and evaluation systems.
It's
almost 10 years later now — but the vision and value statements
are still very real, Kreunen, Streifender and Sager agree.
Boardman's
"Our Approach" is younger — only two years old.
It was drafted when the firm was launching a Web site.
The
firm had always had descriptions in pamphlets, but they decided
they wanted something shorter and simpler, that would differentiate
them from the hundreds of thousands of other law firms on the
World Wide Web, May says.
So
a committee met with a consultant, brainstormed and ultimately
drafted it, with input from everyone in the firm. "Our Approach"
took on several iterations before it was finalized.
Skeptics
and Small Firms
Those
who saw Jerry Maguire, and even those who didn't, are bound to
voice skepticism about mission statements and strategic planning
(or whatever it's called).
May
observes, "There are people in any law firm who think, 'Just
practice law.' But we were able to convince some of them that
the world has changed from what practicing law was like 20 or
even 10 years ago. And going through the process convinced some
of them."
Streifender
echoes those sentiments. "In any organization, there are
nay-sayers. We don't have many of them. But even those who say,
'I don't conduct myself each day in accordance with a set of pre-printed
directions,' in reality, the way they act is consistent with this.
And if it isn't, we let them know; we take that very seriously."
Moreover,
some of the critics might be afraid that it will lead to expectations
that they can't or won't reach.
Kreunen
observes that, since von Briesen decided customer service was
its reason for existence, "Some people said, 'My God, you
mean you want me to return all client phone calls within two hours?'
Well, we can't always do that, but we try."
von
Briesen did lose a few people who wouldn't go with the program.
But ultimately, the vision and statement of beliefs and values
were accepted, and even embraced, because the firm had involved
everyone in the process.
Further,
the statements had enough enthusiastic supporters, especially
among the firm's most highly respected individuals. "You
can't lead a parade if no one's going to follow. The managing
shareholder or the board can't do it alone," Kreunen says.
Every
firm, whatever its size, can benefit from having some kind of
mutual understanding about what they're all about, Sager contends.
Even solos usually hire staff at some point, and they'll want
people who are a good fit with their culture.
While
May isn't certain that a solo needs it, he says that once a firm
grows to five or more lawyers, it's advisable to have a conversation
about where the firm is headed, and put the results in writing.
The
good news? Small firms don't necessarily need to spend thousands
of hours of a committee's time, nor do they need to spend thousands
of dollars on a consultant.
Says
May: "You don't have to make it into a huge overblown ordeal.
Make it short. Make it descriptive. See if people buy into it.
And you're done. Then if a year later, it isn't right, you can
change it. It doesn't have to be like drafting a 600-page acquisition
agreement."
There's
great beauty in simplicity. Overly ambitious strategic planning
is doomed to fail.
"Most
plans get stuck on the back shelf, because they're too long, too
detailed, and there's no accountability," Kreunen
says. "It really needs to be more of a direction rather than
a plan. Because outside events change so rapidly these days, that
you can't see very far ahead. But you can sense strategic directions
and then create an operating plan each 12-18 months that accomplishes
certain goals toward those directions."
Jane
Pribek can be reached by email.
