Business need
From an organisational perspective
- The firm’s growth had stalled, driven in large part by a reluctance and inability of the wider Equity Partner (EP) Group to align around a clear shared Vision and a small number of decisive strategic priorities.
- While objectives had been agreed historically, a tendency toward “lip service” rather than collective ownership and follow-through had begun to emerge.
- To retain its ability to attract top talent and maintain efficient scale, the firm needed to achieve a step-change in growth and revenue performance.
- There was a clear gap between Vision and execution: limited capability to translate ambition into a coherent, actionable 5-year strategic plan, and to lead the organisation through disciplined implementation.
- The firm faced the challenge of preserving a strong, supportive and collegiate culture, while addressing pockets of low accountability and inconsistent performance management.
- Collaboration across practices—particularly cross-selling and shared client ownership—was inconsistent across the 18 practice areas.
- More recently, the firm needed to respond strategically to external market shifts, including regulatory change and the emergence of new technologies such as AI, while balancing younger partners’ appetite for innovation with clients’ expectations of a trusted advisor.
- The departure of 75% of the most senior Equity Partners over three years created a pressing requirement for accelerated succession planning, appointment, and development of a next generation of EPs.
From the perspective of the participant
- Equity Partners required the development of leadership, people, and business skills to complement their professional expertise.
- There was a clear desire to become more rounded leaders of the firm, capable of leading strategy, developing others, and shaping the firm’s position in the wider legal marketplace.
What was delivered
A multi-year strategic and leadership engagement with the Equity Partner Group, focused on strategy alignment, effective implementation, and succession planning.Key elements included:
- Annual Strategy and Leadership Workshops delivered over five years, culminating in Partner Strategy and Strategic Planning Conferences.
- Application of Mission Performance’s ‘Mission Command’ methodology to create strategic clarity, shared language, genuine partner commitment, and disciplined prioritisation.
- Structured support to translate strategic intent into clear Action Plans, owned and implemented by teams across the firm.
- Focused coaching support for the Managing Partner, an interim CEO, and the HR Director to strengthen leadership alignment and execution capability.
- Introduction of 1-to-1 executive coaching for Equity Partners, with particular emphasis on newly appointed EPs to accelerate their transition into senior leadership roles.
Outcomes
- Following the first year—before, during, and after the inaugural Partner Strategy Conference—the firm achieved significantly improved strategic clarity, alignment, and shared ownership. A single, coherent Strategic Plan was developed and collectively owned across the business.
- The Equity Partner Group took clear responsibility for leading the implementation, review, and ongoing evolution of the strategy, both between conferences and at formal strategic milestones.
- Partners increasingly demonstrated the ability to balance time spent “in the business” and “on the business”, with greater emphasis on coaching, developing others, and long-term value creation.
- Three years into the 5-year plan, the firm was on track to exceed its core strategic objective of doubling the size of the business within the planned timeframe. This objective was subsequently achieved and exceeded.
- A new 5-year strategic plan has since been developed and is under active implementation, with leadership responsibility effectively transferring to a next generation of Equity Partners.
- Client feedback highlighted the impact of the work, with the Managing Partner commenting:
