Becoming A Smart Organization Part Two: Acting On Good Ideas

Reprinted from the February 2001 issue of "Lexpert, the business magazine for lawyers." Used with Permission

Becoming A Smart Organization
Part Two: Acting On Good Ideas
by Dan C. Felean | Printer Friendly Version

By now most major law firms and law departments have the basic pillars of production technology in place. Most everybody has a functional time and billing system, a robust word processing system, an integrated document or file management system, and a much-abused e-mail system. For better or worse, everyone has an Internet Web site to show off to their friends and clients, and some even have an Intranet full of lists and policies. Yet the battle is far from over.

Information technology has become a facilitator for achieving business goals and advancing business strategy. The larger rewards will come in the next wave of information management that empowers lawyers and clients directly. IT can no longer be so easily compartmentalized and strategic technology decisions are too important to be the sole responsibility of one overworked MIS manager. So, from here on, the days of easy and casual technology decisions are over.

To compete in this digital economy, a law office must establish an ongoing process for finding opportunities and renewing itself. In short, it must become a "smart" organization. Being smart means the organization is attuned to current needs, adapting for changing requirements and identifying new opportunities. Smart means becoming information-savvy, aware, agile, and visionary.

Where Do Good Ideas Go?
As explained in Part One of this article (January issue of Lexpert), the smart organization must open its ears to ideas from the front lines. Since lawyers and clients are the target, why not ask them what would make things better. By creating a channel and protocol for gathering ideas and needs, the organization can tap into a reservoir of creativity and knowledge.

Yet, what good are ideas if no one is listening? Without an established process and framework for evaluation, good ideas may be ignored. Or worse, good ideas could result in bad projects and misdirected resources. A smart organization cannot leave progress to chance. It needs to establish an information management role to manage change, address needs and maximize opportunities.

The Higher Role Of The Information Officer
Today's law office needs to establish a new role for the Chief Information Officer, or CIO. This role is specifically mandated to look beyond day-to-day operations to help the organization turn good ideas into a reality. The CIO must establish a process to: · identify and understand an idea, need or opportunity;

evaluate, filter and validate potential solutions through internal or external sources; and

prioritize and position it according to value in the context of the organization's business goals and strategies. And, if it has merits:

sell and convince the organization to make it happen.

Start With Objectives And Strategy
The CIO starts with a clear understanding of the business and a clear articulation of business objectives and strategy. Not all ideas are good, and not all needs fit the business strategy. Any new idea or process must be evaluated and positioned to advance these objectives. The role must straddle technology, business and practice issues to look at the "big picture."

Look Beyond The Organization
Ideas gathered within the organization may be terrific, but they represent only one source. Someone has to be looking beyond the organization to recognize or forecast issues and opportunities arising from changing business, practice and technology. A smart organization must be attuned to the changing state of the industries (law and technology) and planning for what is to come.

Evaluation Framework
The decisions of the CIO cannot be arbitrary. The smart organization needs to clearly establish a framework for evaluation to ensure fairness. Objective standards and decision criteria are essential. Without them, the willingness to contribute will diminish.

An idea can be understood, valued and prioritized using a decision framework. In some instances, the firm can validate ideas internally and externally through surveys or consultants.

When a decision is reached or an action taken, the organization must provide feedback, so contributors feel the process is responsive. Even if an idea is rejected, providing reasoned feedback can strengthen the firm.

Technology Is Only A Means
The role of the CIO should be at a level above the technology department. While technology is an important facilitator, the smart organization recognizes that it is not the exclusive means of improvement. The CIO must be always on the lookout for things that will help the individuals and the organization work better and achieve their objectives, whether through technology or otherwise.

For example, if a lawyer says he needs a second secretary to handle the volume and distribution requirements of a big, multi-party case or transaction, what is the best approach?

Is this a hiring issue for HR?
Is this an outsourcing issue for Administration?
Do we need to acquire a new litigation support system? If so, is it compatible with our convergent technology strategy? Is it worth the expense? Does it require training on yet another technical interface? Will there be a residual benefit to the organization?
Should we customize or extend our document management system? At what cost, what convergent strategy, what results and what residual use?
Or, should we create an extranet that may better serve this situation, give us a multi-purpose platform for other clients and advance our business objectives?

Depending on the circumstances, any of these choices could be valid. But without a CIO role, can you be confident that these alternatives would even be considered?

"Change Master"
The role of the CIO is to focus on strategy, change, information and systems. A law office is naturally conservative and resistant to change. Lawyers and staff are much too busy with client and practice issues to think about broader strategies. Without this role the organization may tend to patch problems, without ever seeing the bigger picture.

A study of the CIOs of some of the world's largest corporations by the London Business Schoolsets forth four performance expectations for CIOs in the new millennium. It states that CIOs must have a technology orientation, a service orientation, a strategic orientation and a change orientation.

While a technology and service orientation is to be expected, the roles described in the study as "Change Master" and "Business Strategist" indicate a growing recognition of the need for a role to lead, manage and facilitate business change while contributing to business strategy.

Prepare A Plan And Sell It
If change does not come easy to a professional organization, then the CIO has a critical responsibility to sell change to the organization by connecting to business strategy. If the CIO cannot move the organization, the role and the ideas will go to waste.

The role of the CIO should be separate from acquisition and deployment of technology. The CIO is responsible for setting a course of action to make it happen. He can develop the plan, then hand-off to next level of resources to select, acquire, manage, implement, and execute the idea. This optimizes the value of both roles and changes the dynamic completely. It clarifies the role of the IT department and makes the process more efficient and effective.

What Does It Take?
One or more persons may fill the role of the CIO, but collectively the role should have these qualifications and attributes:

Senior and experienced: to have peer respect and be somewhat immune to the normal bullying pressures of partners. Past senior management, senior technology or law practice experience is a valuable asset.
Practice knowledge: but not necessarily a practicing lawyer. The CIO must understand the business and practice of law - how lawyers work, what helps, what hinders, and what constitutes best practices.
Technology knowledge: comfortable with the role of technology, but not necessarily an expert. At a minimum, the CIO must have a good understanding of the new information technology triumvirate: Internet, Intranet & Extranet, and be able to assess opportunities in emerging trends.
Holistic thinking: recognizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. The person must be able to find simplicity from the complexities of the business.
Mediation skills: able to build relationships, foster trust, and find common ground. All the skills of mediation come into play for this role.
Persuasion and a good communication: able to sell ideas. Think passion, patience, persistence, persuasiveness, presentation and publication skills.

What Level In The Organization?
We purposely have described this position as a role to avoid some of the misconceptions now associated with many existing job titles. Most organizations would define the information intermediary role as either a CIO or Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO), but there is still confusion and overlap in roles in the legal profession. To create strategic value, it is important that this role be clearly separated from the daily responsibility for technology infrastructure and operations.

In smaller organizations, the role can be filled by several people or by a combination of internal and external resources. Consultants can be used to validate ideas and provide market intelligence, provided that their mandate is narrow enough to be cost-effective.

The level of the Information Officer in the organization will have a significant bearing on the effectiveness of the role. The higher that role is positioned in the firm, the more strategic it becomes. In other industries, the prevailing trend is for the CIO to be a member of the top executive team.

The emergence of the executive level CIO can represent a significant step forward in law firm management. It reflects a mature understanding that information management and information technologies have now become too important and too strategic to be left to passive processes.

Dan C. Felean a principal of PensEra Knowledge Technologies, a national consulting firm that specializes in knowledge management strategies and technologies for law firms and corporate law departments. See www.pensera.com.