Vision: every successful law firm has one.
If reading that left you feeling guilty, it could be that your law firm doesn’t have one at all — or if it does, you know it’s not up to par.
The truth of the matter is that creating a great vision isn’t a difficult task. If you can take a look at your law firm and figure out what matters most to you, your team, and your clients, then you can create the perfect vision for your organization.
- What is a Vision and Why Does it Matter?
- How to Define Your Law Firm Vision
- How a Clear Vision Will Benefit Your Law Firm In the Long Run
What is a Vision and Why Does it Matter?
Think about it: you didn’t just wake up one morning and decide you had your business model, blueprints, procedures, strategies, and everything in between worked out, right? So why would you think you can grow your law firm successfully without putting all of that down on paper beforehand?
Enter: vision. A vision is an aspirational statement made by an organization that articulates what it would like to achieve. Think about it as a guide for your law firm; if you have some goal in particular that you want to reach, then it needs to be written down for you and your entire organization to align with.
Many leaders confuse vision with mission statement. While both are important, your vision will continually change, grow, and evolve just like you. A mission statement is a definition of your company’s business state and objectives. This typically doesn’t change, which is why clarifying your vision throughout the stages of your organization’s growth is so important.
Reached the goal that was mentioned in your vision? Make a new one.
Can’t relate to the vision that you once had for your law firm? Switch it up.
Ready for a change in your life overall? Clarify your ideal vision.
The beauty of a vision is that it will expand as capabilities and impact expand, and the visionary of an organization has the power to change it at will. Use that to your advantage and understand when it’s time to rethink your goals and plans.
When you take the time to craft the perfect vision for your law firm, you’re ensuring that it will motivate, align, and inspire people toward your shared vision, both internally and externally.
Internally speaking, having a strong and clear vision attracts the kind of A-players who will help you achieve it. When applicants feel energized and committed to your organization’s vision up front, it makes it easier to minimize the number of bad-fit hires that come through your door.
Externally speaking, however, a strong and clear vision attracts the kind of clients you are committed to helping. If you had a weak vision statement, it could lead to your team steering off course, then eventually losing sight of the kind of clients your brand aims to attract.
Losing sight of the vision is the worst thing any business can do. A strong vision isn’t just an idea or a goal; it’s the entire reason for an organization’s existence. All of your favorite brands have powerful visions, which is why they’re able to continuously show up and produce all of the things you enjoy.
Your vision is why you show up each day. Once you understand the importance of it, only then can you begin to attract the right people to work with you.
How to Define Your Law Firm’s Vision
You have many tools at your disposal to help you create the perfect vision statement — the main tool being you.
The most important questions to ask yourself are:
- What are your goals?
- Where do you see yourself and your law firm in 5 years? In 10 years?
- Who do you want to help?
- How will you help them?
- Is there a certain number of people you’d like to help?
When you know the answers to these questions, you can begin crafting your law firm’s vision statement.
Another way to clarify the right vision is to take a look at your core values. Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. They not only help you connect with your ideal clients, but they also help attract and retain the right team members. Perhaps the most powerful effect of your core values: they impact how you make your vision real. They are how your organization gets from where you are to where you want to be.
To get you inspired, take a look at Crisp’s core values and what they mean to us:
- Results Driven, Not Effort Driven — Keep your focus on achieving metrics and objectives; stay committed to the end; never lose sight of the goal.
- Vested in Client Success — Go the extra mile; find a solution no matter what; ensure clients’ best interests are in mind.
- Better Than Yesterday — Hold yourself to the same expectations you hold teammates; learn from your mistakes and make progress; create better standards for yourself and your teammates.
- Solution Focused — Make impactful and effective changes; speak up when something is not working; keep your mindset focused on finding the right solution rather than only bringing problems.
- Take Ownership — Step up and step in rather than waiting for others to take action first; be accountable for the results of your actions; take the initiative to bring positive results and learn from moments of failure.
- Team First — Jump in when you see your teammates in need of help; be proactive in finding ways to add value; focus on our five-year vision that we can all be constantly working together toward achieving $1 billion in impact.
- Consistency — Repeat your behaviors until your positive habits become second nature; be consistent with your work, habits, mindset, and grind; be a game changer every single day.
Now take a look at Crisp’s vision statement:
We’re on a mission to help 1,000 law firms grow their revenue by $1,000,000 each ($1B+ impact) by 2024.
See how they impact one another?
We’re invested in client success and results driven, so we can help as many law firm owners as possible in an efficient way. We’re solution focused, so we’re going to find a way to make a billion-dollar impact on the industry. Since we take ownership, we’re going to make it happen, along with our commitment to being team first and consistent. And by being better than yesterday, we’re going to keep increasing the number of law firm owners we help each day.
Now you know the process, so you can finally ask the right questions to get you to where you hope to go.
If you’re looking for support developing a crystal clear, transformational vision for your law firm, never fear — we have you covered! Crisp Coach is designed to support you, empower you, and equip you with the tools, resources, and relationships you need to get your law firm to the next level.
Through the Crisp Coach program, we’ll give you proven strategies to help you clarify what it is you want to accomplish in your law firm. We’ll help you plan out your goals, set up your timeline, and hold you accountable to make sure you’re staying on track. When you’ve reached one milestone, we’ll help you get to the next one, and the next one, and the next one…
In fact, the Crisp Coach program even offers what we call a Vision Day which is the ultimate onsite training solution designed to help you create maximum buy-in and engagement while crafting a clear, unified vision for your law firm. We’ll help you establish clear, tangible goals while creating true accountability from you and your team.
On your exclusive Vision Day, Crisp Coach will help you identify, develop, examine, create, define, and align your vision into one understandable, cohesive element that you and your team will be excited about achieving.
The truth is you’ve got endless possibilities for creating a vision that will transform your law firm and your life.
Now that you know more of the tools and processes to create a vision statement for your law firm, what does any of it matter? Why do you need any of it for your law firm?
How a Clear Vision Will Benefit Your Law Firm In the Long Run
Setting the right vision will help your law firm in so many ways, but mostly by attracting the right team members and your ideal clients.
When you hire great team members the first time, you won’t have to go through the hiring process as often as you would if you aren’t bringing on the right people in the first place. Hiring and firing is expensive, so the more turnover you have, the more it will cost you. When you start off with a clear and compelling vision statement in the first place, you’ll be a magnet for A-players who are better suited for your organization right from the start.
The same logic applies to attracting the right clients. If your vision doesn’t focus on what you care about, who you help, and why you do it, potential clients won’t know what they’re getting from you. On the contrary, if your vision doesn’t reflect what you truly aim to accomplish, you’ll attract the wrong type of clients and suffer frustration and disappointment on both sides.
Don’t forget the most important component of your law firm’s vision: your organization will go through as many changes as you do. Be sure to evolve your vision statement as needed in order to keep up-to-date with your beliefs, values, and goals.
The bottom line is that your law firm will grow faster and more often if you have a clear, powerful vision to guide you. Hire better team players, work with higher caliber clients, and learn to adapt with your ever-changing organization.
Create your perfect vision statement today and get ready to run the most successful law firm in the legal industry.
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