Reserving your seat at the table: how do you influence your firm's business strategy?

• Author: Mangan, Tammy A.

While there is no smartphone app to reserve your seat with the firm's decision makers, there are some tried-and-true steps you can take to secure your spot and ensure your voice is heard. If you are a legal marketer with a small staff or limited resources, you need to understand your firm's culture and then develop alliances in order to contribute to the overall business development strategy.

Assess Your Firm's Culture

Small law is here to stay. According to Dana Olsen's article, "Bye-Bye, Big Firm," from the April 2012 issue of Corporate Counsel, corporate lawyers are flocking to small firms. To succeed in a boutique firm, you need to understand that firm's culture. Organizational culture has been defined as the collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization. These values control the way people interact with each other. To assess the culture at your firm, consider these questions:

* Does your firm have a mission or values statement?

* What does the firm hierarchy look like?

* Who are the decision makers (both named and unnamed)?

* How do decisions get made (management, committees, etc.)?

* What behaviors are recognized and rewarded?

* Is there emphasis on teamwork or individualism?

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Choose to Lead by Raising Your Visibility

Once you have a clear picture of your firm, turn the focus on yourself. First, evaluate your leadership style. Conduct an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. For instance, are you a problem solver, a good communicator, assertive, goal-oriented, change-oriented, etc.? How do you rate? Are you a manager who has not yet reached his or her leadership potential, a developing leader or someone who already has well-developed leadership skills? Identify areas in need of improvement and get to work.

Next, find allies inside your firm. These allies are individuals who will act as champions for you, get you invited to the right meetings, involved in strategic-level projects and promoted for your good work. You can also benefit from seeking a more experienced mentor--someone you can confide in and learn from. Mentors are all around us in our professional and personal lives and do not need to be limited to someone inside your firm. Look for someone who will act as a sounding board, challenge your ideas and get you to push the boundaries of your abilities. Here are some tips to consider for your success:

* Ask for what you want/need to be effective.

* Be...