Are you working in a ‘team process’ or ‘team people’ environment?
A little while back, my team and I were presenting our conclusions to one of our clients after we'd been engaged to evaluate where their legal function was currently at in terms of operational maturity. As we were coming to the end of our presentation and were drawing our conclusions together, one of the senior people in the room, after sitting quietly throughout the presentation said, "Essentially, Emma, what you're telling us is that we've been relying on great people, not great processes?"
And that conclusion has really stuck with me.
It's the perfect way of summing up the position that we find so many in-house legal teams have reached over time. In fact, I might say it's become somewhat of a tagline for something the Legal Operations & Technology Consulting team see on a regular basis.
When we start to look at a legal function in order to understand the workloads, enquiry challenges and pain points, we invariably find fantastic in-house teams of dedicated people stretched to capacity. They're often holding things together in the legal function by conscientious people attempting to be all things to all people. Commonly the overextended team don't have time to take stock and evaluate what's going on more broadly, much less to work out a different way of working to find efficiencies and make life just that little bit more manageable.
So where does legal transformation really begin?
With a time-poor, overstretched in-house legal function, it's not surprising that often the tantalising array of legal technology choices can seem appealing in its ability to provide a quick fix to all those day-to-day challenges.
Whilst the legal technology side of transformation is so often what draws people into first looking at their legal operations, for me the work on process improvement is the underlying, and perhaps understated, area where real revolution can take place.
Call me strange, but I find breaking down the steps of a workflow reassuring. It demonstrates that we understand exactly what's required to achieve an outcome. Documenting the process allows us to engage with colleagues, users of our service and stakeholders to confirm a shared understanding of the necessary steps. This also helps identify any redundant or unnecessary steps that have gone unquestioned for years, which become apparent when mapping out everyone's tasks. It's surprising how many tasks in a process can get entrenched simply due to a lack of visibility or because of the ease with which one can take a 'that's the way we've always done it' approach. We've probably all been guilty of not wanting to unpick those familiar ways of working unless really pushed into it.
That's because many of us are not comfortable with change and challenging these long-practiced tasks or steps in a previously unchallenged process can feel like a really big step. Which also explains why, for lots of transformation journeys, starting with this uncomfortable work can feel like too high a hurdle to bother trying to jump it. We'd rather sit in our comfort zone and be told the technology will come to us and play in our own safe space. The reality is that the level of bespoke technology development which would be required to adapt to everyone's own particularly special way of working, is simply not realistic and not achievable.
This is why I think of process improvement as the cornerstone of legal transformation. Convincing others of its value, however, can be the most daunting part of the process. Many are drawn to the allure of new, shiny technological solutions that promise to solve problems effortlessly. Yet, without a deep understanding of your own processes, there's a risk that the exciting new tool you're eager to implement might only address issues faced by others, not those unique to your team.
I keep coming across those organisations or teams who boarded the legal technology train a little too soon, bypassing the crucial step of process improvement. They now find themselves regretting the decision or seeking help to redo or redesign implementations that were not grounded in this essential preliminary work. It's a cautionary tale that underscores the importance of process improvement as the bedrock of meaningful and lasting legal transformation. Plus, if you're anything like me, it's actually the fun bit!
If you'd like support in how best to tackle your legal transformation challenges contact our Legal Operations & Technology Consulting team for ideas and help.
