Author: Julie Scardamaglia
Published: 26 September 2024
How unbalanced is the playing field between large and mid-sized firms? It depends on what you want to measure. When it comes to the technical work, chances are the standard of work clients receive will be just as high. When it comes to service, probably even higher.
Mid-sized firms have many advantages over the monoliths. They are closer to their clients, can be more flexible, can make decisions more quickly, can turn work around faster, and it’s often performed by more senior people.
It’s rarely the clients who suffer by working with a smaller firm, but sometimes the firms themselves miss out, especially in the non-technical areas like practice management. The consultants are so busy working for the clients there’s little time for specialist areas like HR, marketing, brand, and communications. Even if they can find the time, it’s not their area of expertise and their best efforts often bring few results, or the wrong ones.
Some smaller firms are fortunate enough to have a specialist to look after one or more of these areas, but that brings challenges, too. A single person meeting the needs of multiple consultants across different practice areas can find themselves pulled in so many directions it’s hard to rise above the day-to-day problem-solving to take time out to think holistically or strategically and plan long-term. And maybe that’s not what firm leadership is asking anyway. They probably just want this social media post now, that tender response asap and an employment contract yesterday.
Often mid-sized firms say they don’t want to be like the big firms. And who would disagree, given the lifestyle, cultural, personal development, and well-being advantages of smaller workplaces. But benefits the larger firms take for granted are still available for smaller firms through strategic advice, systems, and processes to increase the ease and efficiency of doing business, and reduce tedium and risk.
There’s no need to have the big-firm HRIS built for thousands of employees across the globe, or the CRM system with all the additional sales and marketing modules. Other fit-for-purpose solutions will bring similar results. But some things are equally important for large and small firms – the need to meet the expectations of regulators, clients and employees.
Clever staff may choose not to work for the big names – many have done so in the past and moved on deliberately – but they do want to be part of building something. They want to work for a brand they can be proud to be associated with. Not necessarily global, but meaningful.
Enthusiastic people bring an energy to the workplace and to the client work. When this energy is involved in developing a strong, cohesive, and consistent brand, the clients know and trust who they’re working with. And the staff feel proud.
Their manageable size means smaller firms have a much better opportunity to harness that enthusiastic teamwork and build a compelling brand and reputation from the inside out. They just need to know how.
Author: Julie Scardamaglia
Published: 26 September 2024
How unbalanced is the playing field between large and mid-sized firms? It depends on what you want to measure. When it comes to the technical work, chances are the standard of work clients receive will be just as high. When it comes to service, probably even higher.
Mid-sized firms have many advantages over the monoliths. They are closer to their clients, can be more flexible, can make decisions more quickly, can turn work around faster, and it’s often performed by more senior people.
It’s rarely the clients who suffer by working with a smaller firm, but sometimes the firms themselves miss out, especially in the non-technical areas like practice management. The consultants are so busy working for the clients there’s little time for specialist areas like HR, marketing, brand, and communications. Even if they can find the time, it’s not their area of expertise and their best efforts often bring few results, or the wrong ones.
Some smaller firms are fortunate enough to have a specialist to look after one or more of these areas, but that brings challenges, too. A single person meeting the needs of multiple consultants across different practice areas can find themselves pulled in so many directions it’s hard to rise above the day-to-day problem-solving to take time out to think holistically or strategically and plan long-term. And maybe that’s not what firm leadership is asking anyway. They probably just want this social media post now, that tender response asap and an employment contract yesterday.
Often mid-sized firms say they don’t want to be like the big firms. And who would disagree, given the lifestyle, cultural, personal development, and well-being advantages of smaller workplaces. But benefits the larger firms take for granted are still available for smaller firms through strategic advice, systems, and processes to increase the ease and efficiency of doing business, and reduce tedium and risk.
There’s no need to have the big-firm HRIS built for thousands of employees across the globe, or the CRM system with all the additional sales and marketing modules. Other fit-for-purpose solutions will bring similar results. But some things are equally important for large and small firms – the need to meet the expectations of regulators, clients and employees.
Clever staff may choose not to work for the big names – many have done so in the past and moved on deliberately – but they do want to be part of building something. They want to work for a brand they can be proud to be associated with. Not necessarily global, but meaningful.
Enthusiastic people bring an energy to the workplace and to the client work. When this energy is involved in developing a strong, cohesive, and consistent brand, the clients know and trust who they’re working with. And the staff feel proud.
Their manageable size means smaller firms have a much better opportunity to harness that enthusiastic teamwork and build a compelling brand and reputation from the inside out. They just need to know how.
