September 1st - Co-operation or Competition for Law firms?

"Why should I bust a gut, I'm not a legal partner
so I ain't gonna earn more out of doing this!"

That's something you hear in all firms. It made me think of the "up or out" system within law firms.

If you are good enough you make partner
and share in the success. If not, you're part of the "rest".

At least that's how it seems to many people that work as lawyers.

If there's a them and us culture in your firm it means that people are not co-operating. It's more likely that they are competing.

Many people assume wrongly that competition
brings out the best in people.

And the Darwinian "survival of the fittest" is often
used as a scientific justification of this type of approach.

But does competition really help your law firm internally?

When someone wins - someone loses.

And 99% of people have been taught they
if they are not winners they are losers.

And if you lose how does it affect you and your staff?

If the answer is negatively then you are duty bound to find an alternative.

And that is co-operation.

Co-peration is win/win.

It's coaching staff so that you can transfer knowledge,
it's finding best practise and disseminating it, it's scheduling work
so that everyone gets interesting things to work on.

It's not having favourites, it's saying someone
is different not better, it's helping not hindering.

Think about how Amazon allows co-operation between
store owners and buyers.

Or how Linux allows programmers to co-operate on open source software.

Or how Betfair lets punters bet against each other.

There's an old football saying that there is no i in team.

So if you aren't referring internally, working with business
as partners or simply taking the time to help each
other then you are probably over-competing.

Try a bit of un-learning.

Try a bit more co-operation in your law firm.

Put on your next management meeting the words...

How Can We Co-operate More In Our Firm
And Externally With Partners To Make Our Business Win Win?

And make sure you invite all staff to contribute with
their ideas as to how you can market your solicitors firm better.


PS It is not the case that Darwin coined the term "survival of the fittest".

When you think about it his theories demonstrated that by co-operating
in distinct niches animals had the best chance of surviving.

was the exploitation of these niches that was observed.

What niches can you law firm thrive in?