Organization Optimization & Health

Current reality

When surveyed, only a few law departments believed that maintaining and developing talent was a priority. The lack of strategic hiring and development plans leads to continued hiring for short-term needs rather than overall fit and long-term effectiveness. In many cases, key aspects of the employee experience—such as career planning, skills development, and job satisfaction are overlooked. Additionally, when teams are assembled to fit short term needs it becomes difficult to achieve an optimal diversified team. Recent surveys show that law firms and corporations alike are revisiting and focusing on diversity initiatives.

Desired state

An intentional strategic approach for designing and supporting diversified, driven, high impact teams is necessary for an optimized organization. A focus on identifying potential leaders and encouraging professional enrichment through targeted programs that enhance the teams' education, experiences, and exposure are a keystone of a robust strategy. The desired state is a measurably positive and engaged culture; it can be achieved through hiring strategy planning, individual development plans, reward and recognition offerings, offsite engagements, skill development workshops, and leadership seminars.

• Bring a clear, overall vision to your team that emphasizes high performance, integrity and ethics and develop a staffing strategy aligned to that vision.
• Design a hiring process that is objective, fair, and leads to a diverse, inclusive, and effective team, which may include evaluating and shifting existing positions.
• Encourage your employees through recognition, promotions, and special opportunities (exposure to senior or executive leadership).
• Support your team’s well-being by focusing on work/life choices and mental health initiatives.
• Create a pipeline of talent by investing in development, mentoring, internship programs, and succession planning.
• Develop and identify emerging leaders early and engage with those individuals often.
• Communicate often with the team and have measurable team engagement feedback mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness and well-being of the organization