A lot of time and effort goes into formulating a strategy. This might involve partners’ conferences, staff consultations and animated debate – and ultimately, agreement upon strategic objectives, how they will be achieved, and perhaps a mission statement. The strategy is then published within and sometimes outside the firm, but what then?

Too often the immediate demands of practice, the need to satisfy clients and achieve fee income targets, take over completely and it can be easy to slip into decision-making without regard to the agreed strategy. How can you maintain consistency with what you say and what you do?

First, make sure that all partners publicly subscribe to the overall plan. All should sign the strategic document and publish the signed copy so that no one signs up lightly. I know of one firm that encourages anyone in the organisation to challenge any partner or anyone else for doing anything in conflict with published strategy.

Second, keep reminding decision makers of the framework for their decisions. Head the agenda of each meeting of partners, departments or teams with key points from the strategy document, and require minutes of such meetings to say how decisions made reflect overall strategy. Ensure that accounting procedures are aligned to strategy, so that billable time is properly recorded and not written off unless in circumstances allowed by your strategy, and that no one fails to obtain payment on account of costs where strategic principles require it.

Culture change can be hard enough to achieve with existing personnel, but there is no excuse for making it even more difficult by bringing in new people whose attributes are not aligned to that strategy. If, therefore, you require that everyone makes best use of IT, you look foolish if you hire someone who boasts that they don’t know how to switch on a PC, no matter how good a lawyer they are or what fees they earn. Make sure that your recruitment procedures lead to taking on people who fit in with what you are trying to do.

Finally, remind everyone of the firm’s objectives. Put them on screensavers on their PCs, on performance review forms – why not even on the backs of payslips?

Introduce these ideas and, who knows, you might look back at your next annual conference and congratulate yourselves on actually doing what you said.