publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/355985
ILTA WHITE PAPER: JULY 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 45 DEVELOPING A PLAN ON SHORT NOTICE Both KM and IT professionals are accustomed to defining scope, planning resources, mapping out tasks and deadlines, and committing to milestones and deliverables at the start of a project. Most KM and IT projects also include significant planning for communications and change management. What do you do when you find out your firm will join forces with another but have little time to plan and prepare? By nature, transactions combining any two businesses tend to be kept quiet, with a handful of key leaders knowing about the proposed deal at first and more people being drawn into the fold as their skills, expertise and support are needed. Depending on how soon firms can involve the people who will help carry out the transition, this tendency can make a disciplined approach tricky. Not surprisingly, some of the leaders I talked with had as few as 45 to 60 days' notice in some cases; indeed, the six months' notice one person received in one of multiple successive combinations seemed almost a luxury. Yet, despite truncated timelines, the results reported were uniformly successful. According to those interviewed, a bit of a scramble occurs when rapid action is needed on short notice, but everyone gets mobilized and makes it happen. Pulling finance, marketing, IT and other departments out of their silos and getting them talking is imperative; the sooner they start working together, the less likely they are to stumble over one another. Firm culture plays a big part in whether and when various departments are notified. For KM, lead time seems to depend on how KM is defined, structured and entrenched in the firms involved. For instance, at a firm with embedded and mature KM, one veteran of roughly eight combinations noted that KM always was part of the tight circle that was "in the know" right from the start. At this firm, KM played a crucial role in every merger, organizing the many bits and pieces that came together into standards that were accessible, manageable and easy for everyone to digest. Marketing was charged with branding and crafting key messaging, but KM pushed the branding and communications out to everyone for much quicker integration and widespread adoption. MAKING A MARRIAGE OF CULTURES WORK Across the board, culture was cited as one of the biggest potential challenges, one that must be considered early and often in any combination. Though the firms in question strategically sought compatible cultures, every firm has its own way of doing things — no matter how similar it is to a firm with which it is combined. As one person noted, getting a small group of people to march to the same drummer is hard; getting two firms marching to the same beat is miraculous. The trick, some observed, is to promote a common culture without forcing it; push too hard and you risk losing the unique identifying qualities that attracted the firms in the first place. Having a robust intranet at the outset is a good head start for developing a common culture. Gina Lynch, Director of Knowledge Services with Bingham McCutchen LLP, found her firm's intranet critical to its several combinations. Bingham's leadership was intent on the entire firm feeling as though they were walking through the same door every morning, no matter where that door might be. Because everyone could connect and share through the intranet right from the start, the intranet team was able to deliver that consistent experience, help people feel oriented and part of something, and get a unified culture started. The intranet featured firm news flanked by five headline stories, with at least one new piece posted daily. Many of these pieces were human interest stories highlighting employees and practice areas. Dashboards were added later to connect partners to fundamental firm information, such as financial snapshots, distribution of clients among practice groups and trends. Another firm pushed out office website page templates to ensure a consistent design and uniform names for various components on the intranet but gave the offices autonomy to choose and manage their own content. This approach worked well because the firm started to develop a single culture while each office retained its own place on the site. Unfortunately, universal access to a single intranet is not always an option in the early days or even months of some combinations. In some firms, particularly those with multiple extensive sites built WHEN FIRMS COMBINE: A KM PERSPECTIVE ON LAW FIRM MERGERS