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Not too long ago, the folks who make Legos, the world-famous plastic building blocks, needed help revamping one of the company’s popular products. Instead of turning to in-house talent, they sent out a call to four avid adult customers. These self-professed Lego zealots worked on the development project for eleven months. Their compensation? A new set of Legos and the incredible satisfaction of being tapped for their insights and opinions about a product they love.
This is just one of many widely reported anecdotes about user innovation, a term that refers to innovations developed by customers and end users rather than manufacturers. But it’s more than just another business term.
We refer to the brave new world in which we live in with many different monikers: it’s the Experience Economy; the Conceptual Age; the Creative Age, and the Culture of Meaning, among others. Whatever we call it, it’s a world in which people are no longer content to sit on the sidelines. They want to actively participate in and shape the different dimensions of their lives. They’re on a quest for meaning: they want to feel valued, important and visible.
Companies all over the world have recognized that their customers/consumer base is a natural resource that can be tapped to enhance products and services. The beauty of user innovation is that it’s so symbiotic: The user-innovator gains a sense of meaningful contribution while the company benefits in terms of productivity, customer satisfaction and revenues.
Law Firms Have User Innovators Already In Place
Law firms, which have been taking cues from their corporate counterparts in terms of handling the business side of law practice, are asking themselves who they can turn to for user innovation. Who are law firm users?
Clients, to be sure. But lawyers are users, too. In fact, in many ways, they’re the front-line (and perhaps, most important) consumers, challengers and creators of their firm’s business culture. What would law firms look like if they considered their lawyers a community of user-innovators and actively nurtured that potential?
Many law firm associates are ready, willing and able to test the waters of user innovation—the contingent of young lawyers from the latter part of Generation X (born 1975-80) and from Generation Y (born after 1980). Typically, these lawyers place a high value on meaningful work. They’re collaborative, inclusive and incredibly tolerant of others. They thrive on open communication and crave constructive feedback. While they respect authority, they’re not afraid to stand up and express themselves. In terms of work-life goals and boundaries, they seek workplace flexibility. Often referred to as dual-centric, they want to manage their work and personal lives effectively. Unlike their parents who charged into the workforce believing that they “live to work,” these young practitioners “work to live.”
Some law firms respond by saying, “Hey, this is not what the law and law firm life are all about. If you’re looking for meaning or for an easy path, here’s the door. Leave the firm, leave the law, it’s up to you, but we’re not changing.” Other firms, however, see that their business model needs updating to meet the changing needs of present and future lawyers. They understand that the problems they’re having with retention, attrition and leadership succession are harbingers of a growing misfit between the firm’s environment and the people inhabiting it.
Law firms that embrace the need to change will benefit most from the input of their resident user innovators.
The Process Needs To Be Controlled But Open-Ended
To field these contributions, law firms first need to let the target group of associates know that the firm recognizes that they have a lot of valuable insight to offer and explain why their insight is being sought. This candor sets a precedent of open exchange.
Next, firms can invite the associates to design and implement a blueprint for gathering input on the firm’s culture and business approach. Since these young attorneys grew up in the digital era of fast-paced communication, their blueprint will likely include opportunities for online discussion and collaboration.
Real time opportunities also abound. Whether they take the form of mentoring teams, affinity groups, pro bono initiatives or associate committees, all of these information-gathering efforts should encourage daily interaction and dialogue between the younger lawyers and more senior ones across several areas:
- Work Assignments
- Firm Administration and Direction
- Professional Development/Business Development
- Client Relations
- Work-Life Synergy
While it may be tempting for the more senior practitioners to take the lead and direct the process, that’s not what user innovation is all about. At the same time, amassing this information shouldn’t become a free-for-all. Parameters should be set and communicated. But the target group of user-innovators needs to control the process and determine its outcome.
Of course, real innovation requires more than just dialoguing and gathering input. It requires action. And action requires leadership. Smart firms—the ones that recognize the looming deficit in their leadership ranks—will see this as a key opportunity to groom future leaders. They’ll encourage members of the user-innovator group to direct efforts to bring their ideas to fruition.
Put into action in this way, user innovation yields programs, business tools and affiliations that benefit the firm and its lawyers on many levels. Although it can yield such tangible and quantifiable results, it’s not a one-off project. Rather, it’s an ongoing process of creating a firm culture and climate that reflect the interests, needs and values of the people who work there. It’s a direct route to infusing law firm life with the very qualities of participation and meaning for which so many attorneys hunger.
