2021 Has One Foot Out The Door: Are You Meeting Your Goals?

It certainly didn’t take long for 2021 to get one foot out the door. Despite what felt like a never-ending winter for a good portion of the country when a polar vortex sat on it, we’ve made it to summer! Here at RJH Consulting, we know that it can feel like the year, and your goals are quickly slipping away from you.

• Are you moving toward your goals, or do you need to re-evaluate them?
• What can your law firm do to make the most of the next six months?

How specific were your law firm goals?
“Making more money” than 2020 is an admirable goal, but it isn’t very specific. Sure, it is a goal you can measure, but it won’t leave you with a feeling of success at the end of the year.

Can you measure the goals you set for your law firm?
If one of the goals you set for your law firm was to improve the client experience, how do you plan to measure it? Maybe you planned to introduce additional services to your clients and prospective clients. Did you set a specific and measurable goal on how it would impact your law firm’s profit (and its expenses)?

Were the goals you set attainable?
Although it’s never a bad plan to set big goals, it is crucial to set attainable goals. What makes a goal attainable depends on the size of your law firm and other factors.

Are your goals still relevant?
A lot can change in six months. Consider whether the goals you set at the beginning of the year are still relevant for the remainder of 2021. If they aren’t, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s only time to strategize and set new goals.

Were your goals timely?
The saying that a goal without a deadline is a dream is true. However, there are times when we learn that some goals take longer than others. Yet, sometimes we give goals deadlines much further than the road than we should because as humans, we tend to procrastinate.

July Is a Great Time to Re-Evaluate Your Law Firm Goals
Since June is the halfway mark for the year, it is an excellent point in the year to re-evaluate the goals you set for your law firm. You’ve had two quarters to work toward your goals and determine if you’re making progress and, more importantly, if your goals were specific enough, measurable, and attainable for the year. You’re also far enough into the year to determine if everything needs to change because you’ve decided to take another route altogether.

Dedication and Daily Action Are Important to Meet Law Firm Goals 
Setting law firm goals can be exciting and, dare we say, fun. It’s motivating to start with the proverbial blank slate. Yet, it takes dedication and daily action to meet or even move toward your law firm goals. And to find out that perhaps you need to change those goals? That can be disheartening and demotivating. It can make even the best lawyers feel as if they don’t know what they’re doing as a business owner. The truth is, law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer. It doesn’t teach you how to successfully run a law practice.

Sometimes, help is necessary to develop strategic goals and review those goals to make sure things are going according to plan. With over 60 years of experience working with small and mid-sized law firms, RJH Consulting has the legal and business expertise you need to keep your law firm on track.