Strategic Communication for Lawyers: How to Get Buy-In for Your Ideas
Strategic communication for lawyers is the third piece of the Executive Presence for Lawyers series, after decoding vague feedback and building gravitas. It's also the skill that decides whether your good ideas get funded or just get polite nods.
Key Takeaways
Ideas stall when they only exist in your world
People agree with a good idea all day long, but they won't put their weight behind something that doesn't touch what they're already working on.
Attach your idea to a priority that's already moving
Find the 2 or 3 things leadership is already spending energy on, and connect your idea to one of them so you're not asking anyone to push from a standing start.
Translate your work into revenue, cost, speed, reputation, or relationships
Nobody outside legal lives in your world, so tell them what your work did for the things they already care about.
Why Good Ideas Get Nods but No Support
Watch a skateboarder on flat ground with nowhere to push off. They kick, and kick again, burning everything they've got just to keep moving. Every bit of speed costs them something.
How do you fix that? Bigger wheels? Better shoes? A more aerodynamic board?
Skateboarders found a simpler answer. Grab the back of a bus that's already rolling. No kicking. No effort. Just momentum they didn't have to generate themselves.
Same skateboard. Completely different amount of energy required to go somewhere.
I had an idea once that I thought was genuinely good. Most people agreed. They nodded, they said "interesting," a few even said "we should do this." And then nothing happened. Not because anyone disagreed. Because nobody put their weight behind it.
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out why. The idea was solid, but it was solid for any company. It wasn't built for this one. It didn't connect to anything already in motion here, the specific people, the specific politics, the specific things leadership was already spending its energy on. I was kicking on flat ground and asking everyone else to kick with me.
Once I rebuilt it around what was already moving, the same idea got legs. Nothing about the idea changed at its core. What changed was where I attached it.
Not sure which bus your ideas should be riding? Take the free Lawyer to Leader Assessment to see where you stand.
Why Good Legal Ideas Stall (and How Momentum Fixes It)
This is what strategic communication for lawyers actually is. Not talking louder about your project. Attaching it to something that's already got momentum.
Most lawyers pitch ideas the way I pitched mine the first time. Here's my project, here's what I did, here's why it matters. All true. All isolated. You're asking the room to generate energy from a standing start, on your behalf, for something that only exists in your world. The best strategic communication for lawyers starts with the listener's priorities, not yours.
The lawyers who get funded, staffed, and promoted do something different. They don't talk about their project. They talk about the bus it's already riding. This connects to the cost initiative the CFO's been pushing all year. This moves the needle on the thing the board already flagged as a priority. This is the same risk the CEO mentioned in the town hall last month, just showing up somewhere else.
Same idea. Same amount of work. Completely different amount of energy required from the person you're asking to say yes.
Translate Your Legal Work Into What the Business Cares About
Most legal updates are reports. Here's what I did this quarter. Here's the matter status. Here's the risk I flagged.
Reports tell people what happened in your world. Nobody outside legal actually lives in your world. They live in theirs, and their world runs on a short list of things they already care about: revenue, cost, speed, reputation, relationships.
Your job isn't to report your world to them. It's to translate your world into theirs. Not "I reviewed 40 contracts this quarter." Instead: "I closed a gap that was slowing down deal velocity, which is the thing sales has been asking about since Q1."
Same work. Completely different bus.
Name the Bus: How to Find Leadership's Priorities Before You Pitch
Before you pitch anything that matters, don't start with your idea. Start with this question: what are the 2 or 3 things leadership is already spending energy on right now?
Write those down first. Then, and only then, figure out where your idea actually connects to one of them, honestly, not by forcing it.
When you pitch, open with the bus, not the idea. "You've been focused on reducing cycle time this year. Here's something that helps with that." Then, and only then, get into your project.
If you can't find a real connection, that's useful information too. It might mean the timing's wrong, or it might mean the idea needs the same kind of rebuild mine did, less generic, more built for the bus that's actually rolling through this company right now.
FAQ
What is strategic communication for lawyers?
It's connecting your legal work to the priorities leadership already cares about, like revenue, cost, speed, and reputation, so your ideas get support instead of polite nods.
How do I get buy-in for a legal initiative?
Name the two or three things leadership is focused on. Find an honest link between your idea and one of them. Then open your pitch with that priority, not your project.
Does this apply to law firm associates?
Yes. The bus is just different: a client's deal timeline, your practice group's growth push, the firm's talent goals.
What's Next in the Executive Presence for Lawyers Series
In Part 4, I'll cover delivery, and why the same words can sound like conviction from one person and apology from another.
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Jonathan Cullen
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