Moving on up — and out

Peter Lemire //June 11, 2012//

Moving on up — and out

Peter Lemire //June 11, 2012//

Some of you may have noticed that our firm has not published a new column in a few weeks now. The reason for this is that we were engaged in a Major Office Move.  You know the kind: anguished over for months, thought about repeatedly at 3 a.m. and again at 6 a.m. and over dinner with your spouse. But our move was inevitable. The firm has grown and along with that, we had outgrown our old office suite in more ways than one. In addition to simply needing much more space, we also wanted to be in offices that better reflected the firm’s character and personality. 

This is, technically, our third space in the company’s history and we have been able to learn from our past experiences and plan for the future. For example, we learned that as you add attorneys to your staff, those attorneys tend to schedule meetings with clients and prospective clients. Also, if you have multiple meetings back-to-back and your main lobby is the size of a British phone booth, things will get crowded and look like I-25 prior to T-REX. 

Generally speaking, this is not good for business.

While I can’t say that moving a law firm, or any business for that matter, is something I would want to do on a regular basis (particularly when it comes to getting employees packed up and ready to go prior to the movers arriving), businesses can seize the move as a great opportunity to reflect upon where they have been and where they are going.

A few columns ago I talked about the opportunities that spring provides to do some spring cleaning for your business. It was essentially a mini-audit for the business owner to determine if they were covering all the legal details necessary to ensure the vision they have for their company. As we were going through the process of finding new offices, I became aware that the moving process itself forces you to take stock of your company and start thinking about what that company will look like years down the road. 

Through the myriad of necessary decisions inherent in moving a business — like office location, size, configuration and the type of building finish and personality — you are organically lead to essentially constructing a strategic plan for the length of the term of your lease.

Where do I want to be located? How many employees do I have now and will have in the future? What does the space say about my company (or does it even matter)? How long do I want the lease to be? What are the main functions of my business and will we be adding any lines of business in the future that might need special accommodations or a special environment?

It’s easy to consider staying put: but if one thing is certain it is the inevitable, change.

It’s easy to think of the headaches of moving, but what if, instead, you and your staff spent the time leading up to the move as a fun exercise of strategic planning, goal setting and visionary pursuits that can revitalize your business and possibly open up opportunities that were not perceived before? What inadvertently happens is that you become more in touch with your company’s mission and can therefore take measure of how successful you are in keeping true to that mission.

Sure: No one necessarily wants to stop and carefully think through the details of a strategic company vision. And the actual act of moving is often painful, much like herding cats.

But a business move can be cathartic. Furthermore, the momentary pain of moving is temporary, yet the fruits of your labor are everlasting – especially if the new space has a great view, like Leyendecker & Lemire, LLC’s new offices. Come see the digs: 5460 S. Quebec St., Suite 330, Centennial, Colo., 80111. We make good coffee.