Sublime

The ability to place ex-staff in prestigious positions is thus one of the prerequisites of a successful churning strategy.

firms are continually confronted with a basic dilemma. On the one hand, they can choose to follow a practice area down its life cycle, adapting organization structures, staffing strategies, pricing, leadership styles, and all else we have discussed above to the new requirements of the marketplace. Of course, in so doing they will be transforming th

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

Many factors play a role in bringing these goals into harmony, but one has a preeminent position: the ratio of junior, middle-level, and senior staff in the firm’s organization, referred to here as the firm’s leverage.

2. Performance management

Rather than establish firmwide goals for margins, productivity, or leverage, firms should hold each practice (or partner) accountable for a profit per partner target and let the practice (or partner) figure out the best mixture of margin, productivity, and leverage necessary to achieve this goal.

given a growth rate and an organizational structure, the target turnover rate of the firm can be specified.