From the President's Desk

Keeping your horizons open

As the medical world looks at the issue of how systems errors result in patient injury, I challenge you to look at how your systems errors affect your business. It is easy to get into a rut. When you get used to doing something the same way over and over, you can get into a deep rut. The walls of the rut can become so high that you cannot see over the side. Inefficient systems can go unquestioned until an incident occurs and someone asks, "But why do we do it that way?" Systems issues that can affect a law practice can range from how cases are handled to how the office is managed. You know you have these issues if:

• You find records from one client’s file in another file.

• Your bills are not sent out right after the completion of a phase of work.

• You cannot determine the status of a file.

• Clients complain that their phone calls are not being returned.

• Important deadlines are missed.

• Associates are leaving after a short period because of dissatisfaction with the law firm.

The stimulus to look at and improve systems issues can come from problems such as these, or from taking a proactive look at your practice. Our bimonthly staff meetings at Med League are spent identifying systems issues and brainstorming on how to more effectively meet the needs of our clients. How can you address systems issues? Learn from your peers, educational conferences, books and websites devoted to management topics. Keep an open inquisitive mind in search of solutions to problems. Involve your staff in looking for answers by asking for their perspectives and ideas on how to resolve a systems issue. Rather than taking the first solution, explore other solutions until you find the answer that makes the most sense to you. Try a new approach and then evaluate if it has solved the problem. Keep searching until the problem is fixed. Your horizons will be broader, your staff will be more involved and satisfied, and your system will run more smoothly.