Have you ever played the whack a mole game at the arcade?  This was a popular arcade game created where the player has a soft, black mallet.  From holes on the game, moles randomly appear.  The player whacks the moles as they appear back into the hole.  The quicker the moles are whacked, the higher the score.

Running a law firm can oddly feel a lot like the whack a mole game.  Situations can arise if you have a law firm that require you to figuratively whack the moles quickly.  As you whack one mole, other moles will inevitably appear.  Many law firm owners or managers wish that they could just sit back and relax and that the moles will stay in the holes.  But the is rarely the case.

As a law firm owner or a manager, it is vital that you are paying attention to moles at all time.  Truth be told, there will rarely be periods of time where there are not moles appearing.  The frequency and severity can vary, but issues are always going to arise.  And, as a law firm owner or manager, you need to stay on top of it.

Moles in your law firm can present themselves in various different ways.  Moles can be a lack of leads coming into your law firm.  In other words, calls or e-mails from potential clients can end up on the decline for one reason.  The question is how you are going to whack that mole to increase leads?

It could be that you have lots of leads coming into your law firm, but for whatever reason, retention of new cases are down.  It’s vital that you get to the source of that problem and whack that mole to increase retentions somehow.

If could be that productivity is all of a sudden on the decline.  There could be plenty of work available for staff to complete.  But for whatever reason, your staff isn’t moving files forward as quickly as you would like when you look at important metrics.  It’s vital that you do what you need to do there as well to whack the mole to get people moving.

It could be that some clients are suddenly not feeling satisfied for whatever reason with the services they are provided.  As a law firm owner or manager, it is vital that figure out why that is the case and do your best to whack that mole to increase client satisfaction.

Employment issues can also surface that the mole hole from time to time.  In other words, it could be that some of your previously happy employees are all of a sudden unhappy.  As the law firm owner or manager, what are you going  to do to whack that mole to increase morale?

The reality is that there are numerous other areas in a law firm where a mole can appear.  As a law firm manager or owner, it’s important that you always stay on your toes, pay attention and whack those moles when they appear.  That’s part of the job in being a law firm manager or owner.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.