Energy is everything in a law firm – without it, you may never experience exponential growth. To scale your firm to eight figures and beyond in predictable yearly revenue, you must create positive organizational energy in your business. Read 8 Figure Firm’s blog to learn more.
What does organizational energy mean?
Energy has a few different definitions, depending on the context. In business, energy refers to the capacity in which you capture emotional excitement, engage intellectual capabilities, and encourage urgency.
Your firm has organizational energy, regardless of whether you know it. Every organization experiences at least one of the four types of energy states:
- Productive energy: Collectively enthusiastic, alert, and focused on their work
- Comfortable energy: High satisfaction, a feeling of ease, and identification with the status quo
- Resigned inertia: Mental withdrawal and indifference towards your firm’s goals
- Corrosive energy: High levels of anger and distrust
It’s crucial to remember that you may experience two or more energy states at the same time. For example, your reception team could experience productive energy, while your legal assistants may feel resigned inertia.
You must also remember that energy is fluid, so while you may be experiencing a period of corrosive energy now, you likely won’t experience it forever. There are a variety of different strategies you can implement that will improve or maintain your organizational energy.
Why is it important to create organizational energy?
Your firm’s organizational energy is a type of collective energy. Collective energy affects how we behave in group settings, which directly applies to how your firm operates and works with clients.
You may notice negative patterns when your firm experiences comfortable energy, resigned inertia, or corrosive energy. Symptoms of low organizational energy can include a lack of innovation, complacency, high tensions, and low productivity.
High organizational energy, however, leads to more passion in the workplace. Employees arrive at the office ready to innovate and serve clients and are likelier to show initiative, creativity, and resourcefulness.
How do you create organizational energy?
Four factors affect organizational energy: connection, content, context, and climate.
Connection refers to how your employee’s values line up with your firm’s values; content relates to the enjoyment people get out of their roles; context is how your business operates; climate refers to your workplace culture.
You must focus on the four factors to create organizational energy in your firm. Let’s work through some strategies to improve your firm’s organizational energy.
Develop your leaders
Developing your leaders is crucial to developing the connection factor of organizational energy. Leaders play a significant role in creating energy, primarily since they reflect your firm’s mission, vision, and values.
Focusing on developing your leaders attracts and retains top talent, boosts employee engagement, increases flexibility, and improves your bottom line. After all, businesses that invest in leadership development are 22% more profitable than companies that don’t.
To develop your leaders, consider investing in professional development. Encourage the heads of each department to attend conferences, engage in coaching, and participate in webinars. You may also benefit by creating a leadership program for your entire firm.
Create an employment development plan
You should create an employee development plan to improve your firm’s content. This plan helps your staff learn, grow, and advance in your firm. People are more likely to experience higher levels of enjoyment when they feel like they’re working towards a tangible goal.
Employee development plans provide a process for your employees to improve their skills and acquire the knowledge they need to fill new roles in your firm. Businesses that invest in a strong culture of learning experience a 30-50% rise in employee retention.
A crucial step in an employee development plan involves a tiered system. You could, for example, create a three-tiered strategy for legal assistants. Start with the basics of the job, and for each tier, add in more incentives and responsibilities.
Constantly upgrade
Constantly upgrading your firm improves the context of your business. Updating different aspects of your firm boosts excitement, increases productivity, and creates higher employee satisfaction.
It’s crucial to keep an eye on your key performance indicators, especially when upgrading your firm. In addition to monitoring productivity KPIs, you could also benefit from asking your employees about the changes they want to see.
Some vital areas for upgrades include hardware and software, additions to your office, and your operational strategies. You don’t have to break the bank to upgrade your firm, either – restructuring your procedures can be just as effective as investing in new computers.
Focus on your culture
The last area to focus on in developing your organizational energy revolves around the climate of your firm. The climate of your firm is arguably the most important, as your company culture has a significant impact on the organizational energy in your business.
Cultivating a healthy company culture dramatically increases your firm’s growth and energy. Happy employees are about 13% more productive than their counterparts, and businesses that focus on their working environment enjoy a 40% higher retention rate.
You can implement various strategies to improve your firm’s climate. Some examples include a system for recognizing accomplishments, fostering diversity, and setting an example for your business.
Speak to the experts
To grow your firm, you must improve and maintain a healthy level of organizational energy. Focusing on your firm’s connection, content, context, and climate will help you experience increased productivity and a higher retention rate.
You don’t have to struggle to create organizational energy by yourself. Here at 8 Figure Firm, we’re here to help you guide your firm to success. Learn how to develop organizational energy by joining ONE.Coach.
If you’re ready to take your law firm to the next level, register for ONE.Coach today. We’ll help you turn your law firm into a law business.
