Posted In: Business Development, Legal Project Management
Is it Possible to Carryover the Holiday Cheer?
The holidays are over. It’s that time of year when we “come down” from the excitement of the previous month – spending time with family, watching children open gifts, going to holiday parties, and a whole host of other non-stop activity. We take a deep breath and settle back into our normal patterns.
These thoughts led me to think of a colleague’s recent blog. Silvia opens her blog with a question and an answer – “What’s the one great thing about the holiday season? Connecting with people.” I agree with her suggestion that “there’s no better time to call former inactive clients…connect with your own team.” What I wonder is if it’s possible to take this season as a reminder of how important it is to always connect with people.
With the exception of when there’s that challenge of getting the last parking spot and two other cars are vying for it, everyone is generally more kind during “the season.” It seems to me though that everyone appreciates gestures to connect even outside of the holiday season.
I work with clients on a frequent basis to infuse tools and techniques of project management into their legal matters. One of the key elements of legal project management (LPM) is communication; communication with your clients and your team – it’s critical to building successful relationships. You don’t need to pick up the phone only for the more difficult conversations like running over a budget or missing a deadline. Some common LPM techniques that can drive your reason to reach out include:
- Matter status updates with your client and team,
- Key dates or milestones have occurred in your matter and you want to share the results with your client and team,
- Your firm implemented new technology which allows your clients to access matter information on demand and you are available to offer a tutorial or you need to train your team on how to utilize the new system, or
- You heard there was a turnover in key personnel at your client (perhaps even a critical stakeholder) and you want to discuss how this impacts management of the matter (e.g., more frequent updates, shift in scope).
There are many reasons to reach out. Most importantly, connecting makes a person feel good. As Silvia mentions, a GC told her “I really like it when people take the time to call.” So why not try to connect throughout the year? You’ll be happy you do.
Happy New Year!
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