Can innovation help bridge the multi generational workplace divide?
Innovation in a professional services environment is, at heart, a people game. Clients are the main driver for that innovation in a law firm, requesting we deliver services in an increasingly innovative manner. It’s a complex topic Stuart Whittle and Dr Catriona Wolfenden address in their new book.
Dr Catriona Wolfenden, Director of Product & Innovation (Partner), Weightmans
catriona.wolfenden@weightmans.com
We’re seeing an increasing number of cohorts of trainees and apprentices who’ve grown up digitally native or who have gone to university and studied AI and law modules that weren’t a thing when we trained. They’re also familiar with concepts such as the ‘O shaped’ lawyer. This poses the interesting question – can innovation play a role in bridging the multigenerational workplace divide? We would suggest it can.
By its very nature, innovation fosters collaboration, enhancing communication and leveraging the unique strengths of each generation, whether that be tech savviness or deep legal expertise. It is also a great leveller – there is no monopoly on the ability to have good ideas and there are many ways of solving problems, as many of the workshops we have delivered over the years will attest.
If innovation is to help foster multigenerational collaboration, what are the skills required in an innovation team to be able to help this flourish? In our new book, Innovation in Law Firms: Implementing Successful Projects we explore the skills we’ve found essential within a team. They include:
- Planners
- Thinkers
- Doers
- Risk takers
- Rebels
- Big picture people
- Details people
- People people
However, this is only half the story. You then have to ensure you have the right people, in the right room, at the right time and on the right page.
“Training people to be innovative is a task with no end – there are always more people, more trainees, more technology, more problems. Innovation leaders of the future do not need a deep knowledge of a particular type of technology to succeed. In fact, being technology agnostic is more likely to be useful to them in the longer term.”
One of our observations comes when subject matter experts have a deep domain knowledge - the solutions they identify are necessarily limited by their experience. For example, if they have never come across decision engines or document automation technology, they’re unlikely to suggest those as potential solutions as opposed to an army of paralegals churning out standard template documents.
This is where involving people from different generations, in addition to broader diversity considerations (including cognitive diversity), can really help encourage a wider discussion about a variety of different ways of potentially solving the problem.
Despite the fact we have a means of communication over long distances and virtual whiteboards, this sort of discussion is far more effective if it is done in person around a wall of Magic Paper armed with some Post-it notes and an armful of Sharpies, all of which helps foster collaboration and communication.
Innovation is going to remain central to how law firms service their clients’ needs and prosper. We know trends and technology will come and go, but we want to equip our future leaders in innovation so they can avoid the steep learning curve we had and are better able to collaborate.
Training people to be innovative is a task with no end – there are always more people, more trainees, more technology, more problems to solve.
Innovation leaders of the future do not need a deep knowledge of a particular type of technology in order to succeed. In fact, being technology agnostic is more likely to be useful to them in the longer term. We tailored the programme to equip our delegates with the skills necessary to communicate ideas, work collaboratively, and think innovatively in their roles, to truly reflect the changing nature of the legal profession and to futureproof our up-and-coming talent.
We wanted to ensure our future leaders have a wide skill set so they can solve whatever the next set of problems are, using whatever is available at the time. This is what we tried to do with the Weightmans Institute for Future Innovation (WIFI) – a focus on skills rather than technology to be able to solve problems and, in our book, we discuss as one of several case studies how we went about this.
Innovation in Law Firms: Implementing Successful Projects covers the practical aspects of implementing innovation within law firms, guiding you from pilot to adoption. It covers the four stages of the innovation lifecycle—examine, explore, develop, and reflect—and learn how to navigate each phase effectively.
Stuart and Catriona’s book is published by Global Law and Business. For further details and to access a 25% pre-publication discount (ILF25). To order a copy, visit globelawandbusiness.com/books/innovation-in-law-firms-implementing-successful-projects.