Ever wonder why LPM uptake isn’t what you anticipated? Or why even the staunchest proponents of all things LPM start to drag their feet. Maybe it’s a balance issue.
There’s an old saying by 15th century Swiss physician Paracelsus. He was a proponent of chemicals over folk remedies and is largely responsible for why, years later, we treat our stress-induced wrinkles with Botox rather than snail slime. (This is not intended as medical advice.) In the advancement of science, Paracelsus found that many chemicals can be poisonous in the wrong amount. Thus his timeless saying, “the dose makes the poison.” The actual quote is a bit more nuanced but the meaning is clear. In medicine, in life and even in the law, balance is critical.
This isn’t to suggest that you’re doing too much LPM. Maybe you’re not doing enough. Take a chemical like sodium (Na). Too much sodium in the body, perhaps due to dehydration, can lead to organ failure which can have dire consequences. But it’s also possible to have too little. Too little sodium can cause a seizure or a coma. It’s entirely possible to have the right component in the wrong dose.
In LPM as in medicine, you can do too much, and you can also do too little. If you’re wondering why your LPM initiative is struggling a little, here are three main areas to survey for balance.
Planning: The fastest way to dampen your project’s momentum? Keep diving into the what-ifs. Planning should be thoughtful and comprehensive, but it should also be flexible enough to encourage creativity. Legal professionals must be able to think strategically and pivot when it’s warranted. They pride themselves on their autonomy and accumulated years of expertise. Don’t take that away. Although planning is a critical part of legal project management, too much planning can feel like micromanagement.
Conversely, too little planning undermines the process, leaving assignments to chance and overburdening the entire team. Costs may spiral, risks may be overlooked, and the team can spend a lot of unproductive time (read non-billable hours) putting out fires.
It’s up to legal project managers and their teams to execute. Do too much and you steal their joy. Do too little and LPM becomes useless. A good upfront planning process must be fearless. It should establish goals, allocate resources, minimize surprises and leave just the right amount of accountability.
Process and Technology: LPM can get messy. The right processes and technology provide real-time insights and ensure consistency, helping your team coordinate seamlessly no matter where they’re located. Technology must be well integrated and customized to add value to the process. Further, technology doesn’t replace human review, particularly on complex matters.
The best processes and the latest technology will not work if people aren’t using it well. Even the busiest professionals must be trained on how to leverage both the technology and the data strategically. What may seem like resistance may simply be a lack of training. (So make the training accessible and as intuitive as possible.)
Can you have too much technology? Of course. Technology isn’t even necessary for LPM to work. The key is to use whatever technology you have effectively to enhance LPM. Further, optimized processes provide the necessary flexibility and support the transparency stakeholders demand. You want tools that lead to better outcomes rather than those that overwhelm the team, stifle creativity or replace human judgment. If your LPM technology is not providing the structure and support you intended, a thorough audit can help your team pinpoint the improvements needed.
Metrics: Many professionals have a love-hate relationship with metrics. We like the metrics that have meaning for what we are trying to accomplish. We have little use for those that create pressure and don’t align with our goals. The time has long gone when we can measure productivity by logging the utilization rate or by counting the number of documents generated. When metrics measure quantity and not quality they can feel like surveillance. Measure the things that matter. Anything less means you’re not doing enough to ignite the LPM passion.
Lawyers are critical thinkers which is a great skill to have if you’re in this field. It’s also a skill that can lead to cognitive overload, a trait we suspect is shared by many high-performing people. Cognitive overload is facilitated by measuring too many of the wrong things. When teams spend an abundance of time gathering data, looking at dashboards and meeting KPIs, they are focusing more on the numbers than the outcomes.
The perfect balance of metrics are those that drive efficiency and client satisfaction, positioning LPM as a forward-looking and strategic partner. The work that law firms do requires precision, paradoxically making it difficult at times to be decisive. LPM gives legal professionals the frameworks and decision-making tools that help structure the options and move forward with greater confidence.
Law firms build world class reputations on the precision required to consistently deliver. Precision is important for LPM, as well. Get the dose right and the team will soar. Get it wrong and the support for your LPM initiative may plummet. The appropriate amount of planning launches the team. Intelligent metrics guide the strategic direction. Optimized processes and technology provide structure and consistency. You may not agree with Paracelsus’s influence on modern day pharmaceuticals. But the dose really does make the poison.
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