P2P

58 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | F A L L 2 0 2 2 the best way to get people collaborating is by starting with building easy ways for affinity groups – groups who organize around a shared interest or value – to form and stay connected. There's no 'right' approach – only the one that best suits your teams and your organization. Pro Tip: Make it easy for your people to work on their mobile devices – if they choose to. I'm not talking about forcing people to be ever available to you via their phones. Instead, think about making it possible to make simple edits in a document from your device. I've heard of so many special events ruined because a lawyer had to go home and log in to VPN to change three words under deadline. There are ways to securely enable this type of work today, and it's worth the investment. • Use what you already own. Throughout my legal career, I've received many requests to buy new products and services that my firm already owned but had been disabled or hobbled without anyone's knowledge. For instance, if you're still working on your section of a brief and then handing it off to the next person to add their section, you're about a decade behind. The Microsoft and Google products we all use every day have offered document co-authoring for years, but legal continues to resist this proven collaborative technology believing it to be too risky for their professionals. Pro Tip: It's also a great idea to conduct regular reviews with your vendors and services providers. None of us is ever truly up to date on the latest features and functionality, so an annual review to ensure you're leveraging the full breadth of collaborative features offered through the products and services you already subscribe to (and pay for!) may give you new collaborative tech without any new spending. • Some people are glue. They somehow always know someone in the department you need to work with or have a former colleague in the office where you need to hire. You'll find these key people dispersed across the social universe – extroverts and introverts alike. Encourage these people to use their skills with your organization and weigh their opinions a bit more heavily when you're selecting or implementing new tech. Not because they're better or smarter, but because they will bring their network to your tech. And they amplify the voices and efforts of those around them. But don't be fooled. According to Harvard Business Review, as much as a third of the most valuable collaboration in an organization comes from only 3% to 5% of employees. That means 97% of your people aren't glue. Pro Tip: Don't assume you know who the glue is. According to Harvard Business Review, only about 50% of your top performers are your best collaborators. Talk to your people about who they 'talk' to and the top collaborators will start to emerge. • Don't forget the other side of the network. Remember that collaboration extends beyond the bounds of your firm, team, or organization. Look for tools, system, and processes that enable your professionals to work across traditional barriers. In-house teams and legal operations professionals need to have a means of collaborating with their business units. Lawyers need to be able to collaborate with the firm's clients. As the world moves forward, the most successful businesses Q 3 W H I T E P A P E R S

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