What makes a good target?
A well-set target is one of the most powerful tools a firm has. These three examples show how the right target choice — metric, method, and scope — can drive meaningful change in performance, cashflow, and culture.
Targets are the clearest expression of what a firm values. They shape daily behaviour, create accountability, and — when set thoughtfully — connect individual effort directly to business outcomes. A poorly set target measures the wrong thing. A well-set one changes how people think about their work.
Claire Fitzpatrick notices that her firm's billable hours target is driving activity but not profit. She switches fee earner targets from 5 daily billable hours to 3 daily invoiced hours — rewarding work that actually reaches the client rather than work that sits in WIP. The expectation drops, but the quality filter goes up. Her firm's profit rises significantly as a result.
James Okafor is a senior partner responsible for a team of five. Setting him a billable hours target like a junior makes little sense — his leverage comes from managing files, not filling timesheets. His targets are set against matter performance: invoiced fees (a measure of how well he moves work through the pipeline) and fees collected excluding credits (a measure of client relationship quality — if he is discounting invoices or writing off fees to get clients over the line, it shows here). Two targets, both linked directly to cashflow.
Marcus Reid wants to understand how his firm's time is actually spent — not just billable work, but meetings, internal projects, and precedent drafting. He creates matter types for non-billable activity and sets a firm-wide total hours target of six logged hours per day. The target is not a hard KPI — it is a conversation starter. In 1:1s, team leaders use it to ask: where is your time going, and is that the right place for it? Over time, it gives the firm genuine visibility into capacity and culture.
The best targets are not the most ambitious ones — they are the most intentional. Set them to measure what actually drives your business, revisit them when your priorities shift, and use them as tools for conversation as much as accountability.