Structure vs Flexibility: Your Approach Matters

All of you have different influences and inherent traits that, over time, have shaped you into the law firm owner and leader that you are today. There are two sides to the coin when it comes to growing and running your firm, and in this episode, Melissa is helping you evaluate what your default position is as it relates to the success you’d like to see and the results you’re working towards right now.

The first approach to running a law firm is one that’s structured. Discipline and focus are highly valued with this style, and there’s often intensity present too. The second approach is one that’s softer, more flexible, and adaptive. Both sound great, but is there a time and place for one over the other? Which foot are you leading with? And why does understanding your stance even matter?

Listen in this week as Melissa walks you through what it takes to create radical shifts inside your firm, and why your approach matters when it comes to achieving whatever it is you have your sights set on right now. You’ll hear when the combination of structure and flexibility is truly powerful, how to exercise your individual strengths, and how to walk the line of focus and adaptability at the same time.

If you’re a law firm owner, Mastery Group is the way for you to work with Melissa. This program consists of quarterly strategic planning facilitated with guidance and community every step of the way. Click here to learn more!

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What You’ll Discover:

- 2 sides to the coin when it comes to growing and running your firm.
- What happens when your firm is built on a foundation of flexibility and adaptability.
- Why you must lead your firm with structure, focus, and discipline.
- What it takes to create radical shifts inside your firm.
- The importance of practicing constraint.
- How to root yourself in structure, accountability, and discipline.

Featured on the Show:

- Create space, mindset, and concrete plans for growth. Start here: Velocity Work Monday Map.
- Join Mastery Group
- Join the waitlist for our next Monday Map Accelerator, a 5-day virtual deep-dive event.

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I'm Melissa Shanahan, and this is The Law Firm Owner Podcast Episode #266.

Welcome to The Law Firm Owner Podcast, powered by Velocity Work, for owners who want to grow a firm that gives them the life they want. Get crystal clear on where you're going, take planning seriously, and honor your plan like a pro. This is the work that creates Velocity.

Hey, everyone, welcome to this week's episode. I am going to talk to you guys today about what it takes to create radical shifts inside of your firm. And the reason I want to talk to you about this today is because there's a couple of different approaches, or ways to think about your approach, to growing and running your firm.

One way... They're sort of two sides of the coin... is a very structured approach. It's very focused. Discipline is valued with this approach. And there tends to be an intensity to this approach, as well. The other side of the coin is a different approach that tends to be softer. It's flexible, adaptive. These sound like really great words that you hear a lot in business, that you must be adaptive. And I do not disagree with that.

But it depends. As the owner, what foot are you leading with? What stance do you have as you are trying to grow this firm and build it into something that is meaningful and actually creates the results that you want it to create for yourself, for your clients, and for your team?

So, if you want a healthy business, but you are leading from this flexible, adaptive approach first, and you value that over a structured, focused, results-driven sort of approach, what ends up getting created is a business that is ungrounded, unsteady. Just not on solid ground. Not on solid footing. It's almost unstable.

It doesn't mean that it's all crumbling. But the business is unstable because of the foundation that it's being led with; that's being valued the most. And when I say “value,” there are people out there who say, “I do value focus and structure and discipline and being results-forward, results-driven. I do value that. I also do value being adaptive and flexible.” But again, it's what foot you're leading with. It is where the approach comes from.

And let me tell you, helping as many businesses as I've helped, and having my own business, I will say there is a real strength in having an ability to be adaptive and to be flexible, but only when it is stacked on a foundation of structure and focus and discipline. That is it. That is the only time it's valuable.

If you do not have a foundation of structure and focus and discipline, then it makes the adaptive nature that you do bring to the table, it makes it a weakness. Flexibility and being adaptive are strengths when there's a solid foundation underneath. And so, being rooted in structure and focus and discipline allows you to exercise the adaptive and flexible part of yourself.

And that's when the combination is truly powerful. As you hit barriers, as you hit walls, there is this flexibility, but it's not swaying and unstable and soft. You know what's interesting? We tend to think of women, because these are feminine traits, to be adaptive and flexible. Those are more feminine traits than, I would say, masculine traits. And how we think about the energy that you bring to a project or to your work or to your life.

But I meet men, also, who lead with this. And usually what it looks like, when they lead with this, is almost... I don't know how to explain it. I'm just wondering if any of you can hear something in this that maybe you can see in yourself... is that they're so relaxed and calm, cool, and collected, that they just go with the flow and it's all going to be fine.

That mentality, when that is led with first, and there is no foundation underneath that of structure and discipline and accountability... That's actually another word... real accountability, those businesses end up suffering in one way or another.

And when I say “suffer,” I don't just mean they have struggles and barriers. It will end up in a place that is very difficult and hard, and difficult decisions have to be made. When there is a foundation of structure and focus, and accountability and discipline, then all the right things are being looked at, are being cared for, are being refined, status quo is maintained in that culture, even if the words say different, the value really isn't there to promote real advancement.

And quite honestly, leading with being flexible and adaptive, without being rooted in structure and focus and discipline and accountability, that leadership is weak. I do not want you to mistake what I am saying, however, that flexible and adaptive are weak traits. That is not what I'm saying. But it is very important.

And I'm going to go into this a little bit more so that hopefully I can make my point better for you as a listener. Those traits, exhibited with someone who is strong in their stance, in terms of focus and discipline and structure, and when the time calls for it, are flexible and adaptive in how they deal with the barriers that do come up.

The visual image that I have in my head when I think about this, and when I meet people, that it strikes me either one way or the other... This is the vision I have in my head, either one way or the other... is there is a really strong rooted tree that is so solidly in the ground.

But when the wind blows, it can move. There is a flexibility to the tree. It can move. It is not unrooted, it is very grounded. There's a strength in that foundation that is there, that is, in this case, when I'm thinking of clients, really rooted in structure and process and discipline and accountability, and can be flexible and adaptive when needed. That is a strong owner, and that produces a strong business.

It is the owners that I also get a mental picture of when I meet them, and I can just hear in conversation that there is no strength in the foundation, in structure and focus and discipline and accountability. And yet, they are highly adaptive and flexible. It creates instability in the business. It creates an environment that doesn't really allow you to get to the results that you would like to see created because the foundation is missing. That is more of the masculine, so to speak.

I hear about these terms, “masculine” and “feminine,” in terms of energy that you bring to whatever it is that you do. And the balance of both is so important. But some people tend to, for different reasons... We all have different backgrounds, different inputs, different influences, that over time have shaped us into who we are and what we are. And we end up with some default positions.

And I want this episode to maybe have you evaluate for yourself, what is your default position, as it relates to your firm, the success you'd like to see, and the results you'd like to create? The results you'd like to create are the most important thing here. Because no matter where you are on your journey of growing and running your law firm, you have your sights set on some things.

Whether it's next hires and building out your team, whether it is working on systems and processes, whether it is getting more clients through the door, new clients. You have things that you want to create. You have results that you want to create. Outcomes that you'd like to drive. And in order to do that, your approach matters.

I also want you to reflect a bit on the results you have created. And just consider, as a mental exercise, how might you have created the result more quickly, or a more sustainable result, if you had approached it from a place of structure and focus and discipline? And then, of course, when needed, when a barrier flies at you in the face, how do you then, and only then, embrace adaptability and flexibility?

That's not the foot you're leading with. You only need to use that when you hit a barrier. Until you hit a barrier or a curveball, or something you didn't expect, a challenge in the business, or a challenge with whatever it is you're facing, until then structure and focus and discipline is absolutely the way to go.

Now, let's just say that your default is to be pretty go with the flow, adaptive, and flexible, and you're wondering, “Well, how do I actually root myself down into structure and discipline and focus for real? Not just say I want to do it, but actually do that.” Then, I have a bit of advice.

And secondly, I'm going to address those of you who feel like you're on the flip side, and you don't have enough adaptability and flexibility. So, we'll talk about that next. But for those of you who feel like you live on the go, with the flow side... Which is probably the minority listening to this podcast... then, what you can do is make yourself have to articulate the nuts and bolts of what you are going for, what you're striving for, and by when.

The other thing that matters is constraint. You have to practice constraint. You have to focus on one thing, be so committed to it, and have a plan in place that you're going to execute on. And through that execution, naturally, you'll hit barriers. And that is when, the strengths that come very easily to you, that is when they should come into play. And that is when they will be a huge advantage because you have the ability to be flexible and adaptive in situations that you need to be.

But you didn't start out creating the result from a flowy place. You started by creating the result from a structured, disciplined place, a plan that you can execute on, and you do your damnedest to execute on that plan. And then, when you do... And it's not going to go as planned because it never does go as planned. That's not why we make a plan... then that's when your creativity and the flexibility and

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