On Tuesday this week in Manchester, Tom Peters and Charles Handy, appeared together on the same stage for the first time in "Transforming Life, Work and Organisations". I would love to have been there. As a poor substitute, I have read through all 184 slides of Tom's presentation, which he has made available for download on his website, and together with other materials from the day on his new UK business website, the future shape of the winner. Even in the absence of the spoken work, these are inspirational, and I commend them to you if you have not already read them via your own RSS feeds.
I have not yet been able to locate any copies of Charles Handy's presentation to link here, but seeing the two names in print together reminded me to dust down a single A4 sheet I prepared nearly 10 years ago. I called it "KM Activities in Global Law Firm / 20 Examples of “Upside Down Thinking”".
I created the following list in August 1998 as part of my preliminary work in making a career change from private practice into consultancy to be independent to develop my ideas on changing law firm working practices through process change and technology. The list was inspired by reading Charles Handy’s “The Age of Unreason”. I used it as part of my portfolio of thinking and value proposition that I might be able to offer the first consulting clients I targeted.
"1. PowerPoint SlideShow Presentation/CD Rom for Client Instruction Letter, summarising the deal and the steps.
2. CD Rom flyers to make presentations.
3. Correspondence File replicated on screen with advanced search functions.
4. Competitor Documents scanned on screen with your usual amendments to them blacklined.
5. Productivity incentives/penalties for bible production/file closing.
6. Incentives for extracting and codifying valuable knowledge from completed deals.
7. Retailers’ Bar Codes used for documentation assembly.
8. Retailers’ Loyalty Schemes for clients and employees.
9. Dedicated Research & Development teams in place to spot future trends and maximise the firm’s local and firmwide objectives.
10. Stopwatch facilities available to collate accurate data on how long standard pre-defined tasks and processes take / should take.
11. Centralised delivery service among the world’s leading law firms.
12. Separately financed and stand alone Secretarial School of Excellence.
13. Creation of Distribution Centres in low cost locations.
14. New Year and Summer Sales of certain products.
15. Specialist IT team to interface with outside consultants to progress Internet Services.
16. Video Conference Facilities at your screen – to facilitate inter office communication.
17. More holiday time for increased productivity.
18. Buddy/penpal system across two offices to promote integration and innovation.
19. Global sport and other recreational competitions with finalists playing in a foreign country – does not have to be fully subsidised, only partly.
20. Human Resources’ influence to promote alternative careers with XYZ Law Firm clients, where necessary – plus maintain strong Alumni Association."
Like any writer, one has an innate pride in one's work, however others may subsequently view it. Yes some of these thoughts may seem crazy, but each still prompts a valid question today which is "can your firm find a better way of doing the task in question so as to improve the daily lot of clients and/or the workforce?"
Of all these 20 thoughts, the one I would like to pull out for special comment is No.20. Given the inordinate legal media coverage in recent months about associate retention, salary levels and work/life balance, one obvious conclusion is this. Law firms know at the outset of employment that a number of their lawyers will move on, so why not plan actively for this from the very beginning. Be upfront about the possibility and groom them not just for partner, but concurrently for different career paths, one of which is to join a client of the firm. It would be in many firms' interests (a) to plan from the outset of their careers that some of these lawyers might join their clients (and work actively towards this if this is in the two parties' joint interest) and also (b) to contemplate that they might with welcome arms return to their law firm in the future after a period out in other sectors of commerce. Since business success is increasingly seen as the product of the strength of each individual's relationships and connections in the outside world, then active and progressive thought in career management from day 1 is a human capital strategy worthy of further attention.
In conclusion, back to Manchester. Even though I was not there, thanks to Tom and Charles for ther inspiration to look forward again with fresh perspective.