Managing the Professional Service Firm

The questions “What do our clients want, and how are their needs changing?” must be continuously addressed through a structured program of information gathering, analysis, and action built into the daily operations of the firm. Few professional firms have such a program.

The power of these debriefings is such that some of my clients impose a firmwide requirement on their professional staff to file a debriefing report so that ideas for improvement obtained from their clients are formally captured and become part of the intellectual capital of the firm.

In executing its strategy responsibility, the firm’s management should review policies (“rules of the game”) such as the following: Performance appraisals (For what do we hold people accountable?) Profitability and other measurement systems (How do we keep score?) Systems for salary, bonus, and profit allocations (What incentives drive the behavior

Broadcasting Courting Superpleasing Nurturing Listening. None of these categories may be neglected—only the complete package will work.