Stories of Growth – Creating Capacity to Lead
Stories of Growth are case studies which showcase the impact of our work with clients. In featuring these, we share how through working collaboratively with clients to create bespoke solutions in areas of strategic development, we add value and demonstrate tangible benefit.
For this case study you will see how we helped a new Director of an established and reputable law firm through a period of growth to achieve their goal of a profitable firm which provides outstanding legal excellence delivered with personalisation and care.
This was a North West Law Firm with a good reputation and heritage. The firm has loyal clients located across the United Kingdom, three Directors and seventeen employees each of whom have experience and practice within the legal profession whether at solicitor level or in an administrative role. Each Director brings expertise as a legal practitioner but also a high case load. However, this meant limited capacity to grow business strategy and hence profitability. We were engaged to support Directors to develop business strategy across three areas, marketing, leadership, and management.
There were three aims:
- To share the firms brand proposition with a wider audience.
- To develop leadership skills and hence increase capacity to lead from within the leadership team.
- To support growth of the firm’s vision.
After initial introductions, we met the leadership team, listened, and learnt about the business and the vision for the future. We took the time to meet staff individually taking account of their ideas and thoughts for growth and conducted a marketing audit making sure to understand the strengths of the team and the working systems and processes in place. Only once we had a full 360-degree view of the firm did we present an organised and informed approach to achieve business growth. This incorporated a plan for future training and development in all areas of leadership and a marketing strategy to support the wider business strategy.
Together we developed a brand proposition complementary to and supportive of the brand values which have underpinned service delivery for many years. Through a bidding process, we engaged a website designer and transformed and developed the logo and website. We wrote all website text to be true to the values of the firm. Through taking a strategic and a hands-on approach whilst working in collaboration with the team, we helped to move marketing practice forward fast, always ensuring that decisions were made as a team. We presented positive solutions to a need for upgrades in IT and media areas, assisting to effect these changes and liaising with existing and new suppliers. In some areas we had to bring challenging conversations to areas which had been forgotten however, this brought a higher quality solution and immediately saved substantial supplier fees both now but also in the future.
In areas of leadership and management, we trained and facilitated the leadership team on key areas of leadership practice. This has brought new skills and expertise to the team. Through taking the time to understand and work through the issues which arose daily we developed a secure and confidential community of practice. This brought increased leadership confidence within the team, gave them the opportunity and time to think about their leadership practice and developed the skillset of less experienced members of the team thus supporting succession for the future.
It has been an absolute pleasure to work with this firm and its people. It has been great to see the changes embed to excellent effect and the team grow as they prepare for a successful and sustainable business.
For information email michelle@michellehoward.co.uk
What Do Clients Say…
“Michelle spoke at our productivity conference about the Employee of the Future. The talk was high quality, inspiring and insightful.”
“I have worked with Michelle to strategically craft the NHS Northwest Leadership Academy digital ambition and deployment of Leadership Live an innovative and immersive leadership podcast series. Michelle’s extensive understanding of both leadership development and digital marketing strategies, combined with her passion is nothing short of outstanding. She successfully collaborated with our team and guided leadership experts through the practical narration of a highly interactive podcast series. Michelles natural talent for communication and facilitation ensures that she not only produces impressive results but can also elucidate digital leadership development content marketing in a comprehensible manner.
Furthermore, Michelle is an absolute pleasure to work with. Having an upbeat attitude, combined with an unwavering commitment to her craft, makes her an inspiring marketing professional.”
“At Morecrofts we have been working closely with Michelle in furthering our strategy and training and developing our next cohort of leaders. Nothing is too much trouble for Michelle, she is flexible in her planning, and happy to work with us to devise programmes covering all our needs, and to achieve the responses we are looking for., with no amount of preparation being too much. She understands the issues faced by law firms, but also has a range of experience and skills which ensure we are not limited in our thinking. I am really looking forward to working with Michelle more in the future, helping our business and all those in it to be the best they can possibly be.”
“I’ve worked with Michelle on two projects thus far; the Leadership Live podcast and the NHS North West Festival of Leadership and in both instances, Michelle has been a pleasure to work with. As a speaker and presenter Michelle is articulate, confident and well-versed on a variety of topics pertaining to leadership. In addition to these roles, Michelle has gone above and beyond that scope lending her marketing and communication skillset to each project. She has provided a partnership role to me helping to shape the NHS North West Leadership Academy communication strategy, fulfilling the role of a critical friend and content provider. I can wholeheartedly recommend Michelle as a speaker and communications professional!”
“I have heard Michelle speak at several seminars and conferences, and her talks have always been hugely relevant, and full of practical suggestions. As a result, I invited Michelle to speak at the ICAEW’s Solicitors Advisory Group annual conference, and feedback from delegates was excellent.”
“I commissioned Michelle to develop the marketing strategy for Bolton Learning Partnership and lead and develop all aspects of our marketing communications. Her work is always of the highest standard, she brings creative and timely solutions with professionalism, enthusiasm, and efficiency.”
“I started the leadership programme to help strengthen our employee offering around coaching and mentoring. It was informative, thought provoking and useful in my role, reflections and in helping to guide further changes in order to group and frame this concept within our wider structure. Michelle has been superb in both her professional knowledge and understanding, and in her personal support and approach to each individual attendee. She is clear, concise, helpful and above all, a genuinely nice person who wants to see people do well.”
“Michelle provided a two day Supervisor’s Training course for our Firm and the feedback from the delegates has been excellent. They enjoyed the interaction and feel that they can already put what they have learned to good use and contribute to the positive culture of the Firm. We will definitely be running more of these courses with Michelle.”
“Clearly managed content for each stage. Good opportunities to share ideas in between content delivery. Really enjoyable overall! Thank you.”
“It’s not often that you go to a networking event and come away feeling driven with a head full of ideas but today, thanks to Barclays hosting their Professionals Sector Breakfast event, my networking experience has been just that. A warm welcome from the off from a group of like-minded business people and a brilliant talk delivered by Michelle Howard on all things strategy.”
“The event was run very smoothly with high quality speakers each clearly experts in their own field which led to interesting and thought-provoking talks.”
“When I was first introduced to Michelle I anticipated generic assistance in how to take my regulated business forward, a light touch in how to build leadership skills and affirmation to ideas I had on marketing. Nearly a year on in our business relationship and I must admit to having grossly underestimated the value Michelle could bring, her experience and skill set has challenged and enlightened my knowledge in the marketing and leadership sector. Michelle has brought her experience to bring order and direction, working with our leadership team to create a plan for our business and firm wide vision.”
“Thank you Michelle for your thoroughly professional support. You brought insight, challenge and effective process to our workshops and Chipping Community Energy now has a solid foundation for our next steps. We couldn’t have made such progress so quickly without your help – looking forward to working with you again!”
“The line up of speakers was excellent, thank you.”
“Really useful, Michelle was excellent.”
“Thank you to the fabulous Michelle for helping us achieve the impossible.”
“I would highly recommend Michelle to assist businesses and staff. Michelle has a plethora of knowledge and expertise in her field. A very enjoyable course that was carried with professionalism and ease, thank you!”
“One of the best webinars that I have attended. The webinar was excellent and faultless. Michelle was very good and approachable.”
“Having worked with Michelle for many years, we immediately commissioned her when we knew she had established her own business. She has brought business acumen, insight and knowledge combined with knowledge of the sector. Michelle has an ability to move things forward, she fosters partnership working, believes in the power of sharing mutual interest and has brought enthusiasm and motivation.”
“Michelle was an external facilitator of a leadership Development Programme I attended at my firm, Morecrofts LLP. Michelle’s knowledge and expertise, together with her kindness and patience allowed for a supportive learning environment where I was able grow in confidence in areas that were new to me. The programme materials provided by Michelle were excellent and a great aide memoire. It was a pleasure to work with Michelle and I hope to do so future.”
