Today we’re going to introduce you to the most common objection lawyers give to process improvement—and the three questions you can use to overcome it.

Want to watch this tip instead?

Last week we talked about putting together a great project team. This week, we’re going to talk about the HUGE elephant that sits in every room when you start talking to lawyers about process improvement.

It goes like this:

Why should I get more efficient? I bill by the hour. If I get my work done faster, I’ll make less money.

We hear it almost every time we run a workshop, speak at a conference, or work with clients on targeted process mapping and improvement projects.

Unless all the work is flat fee, as soon as you start advocating for process improvement in your firm, you’re going to hear it, too.

The billable hour is responsible for a lot of the woes in our business. It keeps lawyers at the office long after another person would have gone home. It incentivizes inefficiency that clients pay for in their bills and lawyers pay for in mental health and grey hair.

Don’t let the billable hour be an excuse to stay inefficient

Instead, use our three key questions to overcome lawyers’ resistance to efficiency.

Question 1: Right now, are you able to get all of your work done every day, and still go home when you want to?

In almost 10 years, we’ve never had a lawyer answer yes. There are never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything we want. And for small-firm attorneys, it’s worse. Most spend at least 40% of their day on non-billable work!

Explain to the naysayers that process improvement helps them find more time to do quality work that clients value and are going to pay for.

Question 2: Is there anything in your day that takes longer, or seems harder, than it should?

Again, everybody has something that frustrates them, takes too long, and gets in the way of accomplishing the work they'd really like to do. Get people talking about what frustrates them. Then explain that process improvement targets those frustrating things, reduces those elements of friction in their day, so they can get on with the important work.

Question 3: Do you ever write down your time (maybe even before you enter it) to account for time you know was wasted or some task you or an associate did that you know you can’t charge the client for?

Process improvement projects help eliminate the things lawyers typically write off or down because an optimized process can be designed so they just don't happen (or at least not as often).

So tell the sceptics your project will reduce write-offs by making sure the right people are doing the right work at the right time and cost, so they won't be wasting so much time. Instead, people will be putting their time to value-adding use—use you can actually bill for!

We recommend you tell the naysayers this: Even if you bill by the hour, improving your processes will allow you to complete more work in less time, at less cost.

You can do whatever you like with the time you save:

• develop more business
• do more work
• learn a new practice area
• get home earlier

But you’ll be writing off less and billing for more of the time that you’re in the office. You’ll be more productive and profitable.

If you need some help getting people identifying the frustrations and wastes that are getting in your way, preventing you from delivering your services quickly and efficiently, and routinely getting written down or off, download our Eight Wastes Workbook. You can use it to find the hidden wastes that are killing your practice.

And that’s it for this week’s tip. Join us next week for more on building a more profitable and productive law practice.

If you want more articles and tips like this delivered right to your inbox, sign up here.

Thanks a lot everybody! See you next week.