When everything is urgent, costs rise fast—errors, burnout, and slow billing included. Every law office has urgency. That’s normal. What hurts profitability is not urgency—it’s constant urgency. When everything is treated as an emergency, nothing gets done well.
Urgent culture usually starts with good intentions. Clients matter. Deadlines matter. Responsiveness matters. But over time, urgency spreads to everything. Emails demand immediate replies. Tasks interrupt other tasks. Planning gets postponed because “there’s no time.” The office runs in reaction mode.
Constant urgency increases errors, interrupts focus, delays billing, and burns out the people who are most reliable. High performers often carry the heaviest load in urgent cultures. They step in. They fix problems. They absorb stress. Eventually, they leave. That loss hits margins harder than firms expect.
Office managers are often stuck enforcing urgency they didn’t create. You’re fielding demands from every direction while trying to keep the office functioning. Resetting urgency doesn’t mean slowing the firm down. It means distinguishing between what is truly time-sensitive and what is simply loud. That distinction matters financially.
One of the most effective ways to reset urgency is to name tradeoffs. When everything is urgent, ask, “What should wait?” When interruptions pile up, ask, “What gets delayed because of this?” These questions shift the conversation from emotion to impact. You’re not refusing work. You’re protecting the firm from chaos.
If everything feels like an emergency now, it likely will in June—and September—and December. Urgency feels productive. But unmanaged urgency quietly drains profit. Office managers who can reset it—even slightly—protect both people and margins.