Firms that remain confined by the traditions of the profession are liable to be overwhelmed by the rapidly changing economic and technical environment. This is a potential discussion topic at your retreat.

Your retreat should have a clearly defined objective, and a specific agenda. Here are more ideas for retreat discussions:

• The configuration of management and governance
  • Authoritarian management styles don’t work any more.
  • Participatory management is in style.
  • Management is a full-time job.
  • Is the partnership structure obsolete? Does the partnership structure allow for timely decisions about changes necessary to be competitive?
• A systematized approach to increasing productivity
  • How does technology affect the configuration of jobs in the firm?
  • Increased productivity requires increased responsibilities.
  • What level of technology do you need to be competitive?
• Development of client relationships
  • Clients should not be taken for granted.
  • Partners should not own clients.
• Marketing
  • Define the firm’s market.
  • Define the firm’s services.
  • Manage the marketing function.
  • Competitive intelligence—what are your competitors doing?
• Partner-staff relationships
  • Develop communication methods that deal with not just how to communicate, but also with what is communicated, and with making the information useful.
• Recruiting
  • Why should people join your firm rather than others?
  • Does the firm care about the personal lives of staff?
• Fees
  • Does hourly billing reflect the value of your services?
  • Does it pressure partners and staff to concentrate on billable hours, thus excluding the needs of the firm?

From Trendlines, March 2006. Published by Bay Street Group LLC, http://www.telberg.com/telbergblog/. (See “Advancing on the Retreat,” by Bruce W. Marcus.) For the complete article, click on the following link: http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey.zgi?p=WEB2255QQ8LYRS.