Introducing knowledge management (KM) for law firms in 2010
Steve PerryKnowledge and Information Management Adviser10 May 2010
[email protected] – +44 (0) 7710 559649
2Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Agenda
9.45 – Understanding the building blocks of KM
11.00 – Break
11.15 – Aligning KM to your firm’s strategic goals
12.45 – Lunch
13.45 – Examples of how professional services firms are getting value from KM
14.45 – Break
15.00 – Ensuring the success of KM for your clients and your firm
15.45 – Wrap up and summary
3Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
A definition
The purpose of knowledge management is to provide support for improved decision making and innovation throughout the organisation. This is achieved through the effective management of human intuition and experience augmented by the provision of information, processes and technology together with training and mentoring programmes.
Credit: Dave Snowden – Cognitive Edge
4Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
1. Understanding the building blocks of KM
The four building blocks
People and culture “trust is the bandwidth of communication” - Karl Erik Sveiby
Process build KM into key business processes and workflow
Content assess what is the most important content and remember – less is more!
Technology enabling technology including social business tools
5Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
People and Culture
Benefits
•Knowledge sharing
•Creation of a one-firm mindset
•Encouragement to collaborate
•Extending communities nationally and globally
Challenges
•‘What’s in it for me?’
•Knowledge is power
•Cross-jurisdiction differences
6Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Process
Benefits
•Introduction of national or global processes
•Improvement of existing processes
•Harmonisation of terminology
•Enhanced collaboration within teams and with clients
•Consistency
Challenges
•Lawyers do not like business processes
•Local commitment to globally imposed processes
•Too ridged and restrictive
7Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Content
Benefits
•Rationalisation of content
•Rich external information sources shared
•Integration of internal and external data
•Agreeing global content requirements
•Global/national procurement
Challenges
•Maintenance and validity of content
•Information security
•Risk management
•Copyright
8Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Technology
Benefits
•Improved global/national network
•Strategic technology partnering
•Introduction of more user centric applications
Challenges
•Need to revisit existing national systems
•Integration not migration
•Communication between global and national KM groups
•Need to maintain consistent IT platforms
9Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Key elements of effective knowledge management
Strategy and senior management support active participation continuing reinforcement of the
importance of KM to the business
Creating a knowledge-sharing culture reward and recognition how to get individuals to share their
knowledge
Different sources and aspects of knowledge internal external
Understanding knowledge and its role in law firms
- tacit- explicit
Technology tools for managing different types of knowledge- intranets, portals, document management systems- social business tools (wikis, blogs, microblogging)
10Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
2. Aligning KM to your firm’s strategic goals
Define your knowledge management strategy identify aspects of the business strategy that KM can help to deliver align KM to the business strategy and show clearly how it will improve the
business establish an understanding of where you are in KM maturity and then create
a vision take small steps
Areas to explore how well are your people connected? where are the obvious holes and blockages? how easily can people find each other? do you have common formats for information sharing? how easy is it to collaborate? how do people identify expertise?
11Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Aligning KM to your firm’s strategic goals - cont
Establish a communications plan as part of the strategy keep it ‘low key’ initially once you have some success stories then increase the PR/communication set appropriate expectations of time and effort and do not promise too much
in the early stages
Aspects of the strategy embed KM into key processes - choose one or two processes that are not
working well consider the people involved build a coalition and ensure that IT, HR, BD etc. are fully supportive and the
business risks established create a roadmap and action plan establish a programme of work with the right team
12Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Aligning KM to your firm’s strategic goals - cont
Within the programme establish a 'tight loose' approach grip tightly the corporate look and feel/branding along with the high level
taxonomy leave many areas loose and flexible so people experiment establish the top-down guidance along with encouraging a bottom-up, self
organising approach involve people at all levels in the firm communicate on a regular basis ask people what challenges they face
13Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Benefits of knowledge management
Overall benefits fee earner efficiency knowledge retention expertise identification collective intelligence
Key benefit areas improving business agility increasing the opportunity for innovation and creativity improving fee earner participation and satisfaction in using the knowledge
management tools better knowledge flows across dispersed teams
Important to incorporate benefits realisation into the KM/social business strategy and this should include usage adoption measurement
14Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Prioritising your KM activities
Keep the customer in mind
Four key dimensions: alignment with strategy improvements in fee earner efficiency and effectiveness ease of implementation vs complexity cost
15Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
The Knowledge Pyramid
Simple tools to bookmark news items allowing users to organise their information.
This filtered sub-set of information can be used to contribute to discussions. When actionable knowledge is identified it can be added to a wiki-based collaboration tool.
The top layer ties everything together and makes it easy for an individual to manage, track and participate.
Personal home page
Wikis/ blogs
RSS newsfeedinternal / external sources
16Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Example Roadmap and DeliverablesC
lien
t S
erv
ices
Win
nin
g w
ork
Systems decommissioningWeb development
Doin
g t
he w
ork
Information Architecture
May 09 to Jul 09 Aug 09 to Oct 09 Nov 09 to Jan 10
Firmwide IA and taxonomy agreed
Bus. req. for client
collaboration
Extranet/Client version of Wiki
Establishing KBD’s people data needs
Enterprise search rolled out
Review know how in Athena
OneSearch decommissioned
Old Intranet turned off
FAB decommission
Alumni & employee profiles Portal
launched
CA workflow & Hot topics defined
VISION
Fee earner empowered
KBD Systems
Website CMS defined
2nd round testing .com security & architecture
Client mailing portal defined
Experience db rolled out
Pitch db rolled out
Transactions db rolled out
KBD data rules and bible complete
Effective gov. of all KBD systems
Define profile & architecture & strategy
Enterprise search pilot - Athena
DACEE MLT soft launch
Wiki IA comms and plan
Wiki IA – business case for labels & upgrade to 3.0
Information Policy & Ops Exec governance established
Scaling back ERIC
Publications database
Alumni data work completed
Profile Builder 2 implemented incl.
Wiki profiles
Scoping search
Corporate and LMG MLT work scoped &
started
iFreshfields Phase 1 rolled out
KBD IA defined and strategy written with clear
action plan
Deal.col decommissioned
Beauty Parade Index decommissioned ArtWeb delivered
New GlobalCalendar
Publication Storage implemented
CA phase 1 Implemented
improved FBD TV solution implemented
Website CMS implemented
Internal comms FBD TV Phase 2 delivered
Decomm ERIC
Copyright permissions decommissioned
Privacy Copyright solution
CRM outline strategy
17Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
3. Examples of how professional services firms are getting value from KM
Freshfields
KPMG
Morrison Foerster (MoFo)
CMS Cameron McKenna
Deloitte
Mills and Reeve
18Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
The Three Generations
Baby Boomers
(born 1946-1964)
The hi-fi generation
Generation X
(born 1965-1979)
The sci-fi generation
Generation Y and Millennials
(born 1980+ )
The wi-fi generation
19Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Enterprise Wiki Social Intranet
business need
example uses
change management elements
lessons learnt
overall result
20Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Business need
Needed to move away from the static intranet to a more collaborative, participative and dynamic environment
Content was out-of-date, difficult to find and complex to maintain
High resource/time costs due to repetitive, labour intensive processes with long review cycles and limited number of editors
Interfaces not consistent or easy to use
Low user satisfaction and usage
21Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Example – Private Equity Group
22Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Example – ITG Sector Group
23Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Example uses
Creating a document groups quickly create Wiki spaces for pitches, thought leadership
or know-how
globally dispersed teams are directed to the Wiki to make their contributions
central team then collates the information and builds the document from all the material in one space
US Partners discussion forum Wiki space allows the US Partners to discuss, debate and agree
the key issues facing the business
24Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Change management elements
Adoption basic & Advanced training (via face-to face & Webex) 5 minute ‘viewlet’ created for Fee-earners project Wiki & on-line support
Sense of friendly ‘competition’
Consistency not necessary
Participation not mandated
Key influencers targeted
Increasing collaboration to drive business benefits
25Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Enterprise 2.0 collaboration projects - cause and effect
• This diagram shows the positive change effects to an organisation through using Enterprise 2.0 collaboration tools
26Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Lessons learnt
What would we have done differently? planned the content migration in more detail agreed earlier how to measure and monitor usage identified more business processes which would benefit from the Wiki initiated more two-way communication between users and the central team built a coalition
What worked well? tight/loose approach clear business need and part of the firm’s strategy did not over-promise focus on usability and user centric design communication of good practice
27Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Overall result
Increased intranet use and participation
Cost-effective capture, maintenance and delivery of firm and client-related information
Better informed staff with access to timely and relevant legal intelligence
Improved collaboration and knowledge sharing between globally dispersed teams
Huge demand for new content areas
Users have now adopted the intranet as their own
28Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
4. Ensuring the success of KM for your clients and your firm
Client KM servicesLeadershipProcessesUsability and user centric designAdoptionCultureGetting started with Enterprise 2.0
29Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Client KM services
Commodity on-line services
News alerts
Deal rooms/extranets
Know-how or guides
e-Learning
Legislation tracking tools
Support offerings litigation support project management
KM Consulting
30Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Leadership
A successful KM project must have several champions they must believe in the project, enthusiastically advocate it and have the
ability to make things happen
Align KM initiatives with the strategy demonstrate how it will add value and deliver significant benefits to the
organisation
Set expectations and be realistic
31Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Process
Embed collaboration and knowledge sharing into the key business processes identify where KM could improve efficiency and effectiveness establish new ways of working
KM and the use of social business tools should be part of how people work the benefits of collaboration and knowledge sharing will naturally flow as a
by-product
Try to get people out of email and sharing their knowledge and experience using collaboration tools
32Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Email v Wiki Collaboration
33Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Usability and user centric design
Focus on usability and a user centric design
Spend a considerable amount of time on ensuring the KM solution is compelling, interesting and focused on the way users want to work
You should regularly ask your users what works for them and what does not
You should not base the designs and layout just on the views of your in-house User Interface (UI) experts
34Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Adoption
Two-way communication between the users and the central team
Constant user feedback is vital as people then feel they are being listened to and the central team can adapt its approach
Communicate examples of good practice and create a sense of friendly competition
Focus on individual productivity, not overall corporate productivity
Constantly communicate ‘What’s in it for me?’ (WIIFM)
35Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Culture
Most law firms have a knowledge sharing culture as it's the way they have developed and grown over the years – but some don’t
Get senior management to include collaboration and knowledge sharing in the mission, objectives and goals of the organisation and departments
Make sure people are rewarded for collaborating and sharing knowledge via acknowledgement and recognition
Use stories of how people in the organisation have been helped by KM to deliver an even better client service
36Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
Getting started with Enterprise 2.0
Enterprise 2.0 sharing is a by-product of doing work
Requires changing structures and routines
Light-weight, flexible pilots with an incremental rollout
Voluntary user-growth over large-scale top-down implementations
Individual incentives and motivation to improve productivity
Easy to use with an appropriate structure, design and context
Sensible policies that guide self-regulating communities people have freedom to experiment they can collaborate/communicate in ways that suit them while mitigating risks in
the process
37Stephen Perry Knowledge Advisory Services – [email protected] - +44 (0) 7710 559 649
5. Wrap up and summary
KM is about improving decision making capability
Sharing knowledge has less to do with content and tools and more to do with connectivity and context
Build your KM initiatives around social business tools
Focus on adoption
Make sure KM is aligned with the strategic objectives
Align KM to improving client service
The people/culture aspects are the most important