In my years as a managing partner, I believed that the most difficult challenge of a leader in a law firm was to inculcate change. This Harvard Business Review article – which indicates that such indices as ease of implementation and the careful deployment of friction are essential to successful change initiatives – would suggest that maybe we were making that change too hard for our constituents all along.
The other revelation the article offers is that if we learn how to make change easier for our constituents, the change process becomes easier for us as well.
In the HBR article, Tania Luna and Jordan Cohen offer some excellent examples of ways to make change easier in any workplace – such as creating barrier-free meeting spots with movable furniture to wearing big, obvious headphones to reduce interruptions from co-workers. To apply their principles to the legal workplace may require a bit of creativity, but it can have long-term payoffs. And as the article explains, achieving certain kinds of change can be as easy as putting out more bananas and fewer oranges.
Let me know your thoughts on this or any other matter related to the law, either in the comments section below or directly via email.