Five years ago, Dr. Heidi Gardner, Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School and co-founder, Gardner & Co, wrote the book, "Smart Collaboration" where she laid out the "why" behind smart collaboration efforts. In her upcoming sequel, "Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work," Dr. Gardner explains the "who" and the "how" behind collaboration. The issues that law firms face today are incredibly complex and multifaceted. And in an industry famous for "going it alone," that approach exposes firms to much greater risk than those who find ways of implementing "smarter collaboration" techniques.
Smarter Collaboration helps increase revenues, profits, and efficiencies while reducing risks and improving client relationships and positive outcomes. While the idea of collaboration may sound like a "soft topic" for law firm leaders, Dr. Gardner points out that there is empirical data behind this and if firms are not engaging in smarter collaboration when doing the "real work" then they are either doing something that is pretty low value, or that falls into the realm of commodity work.
In addition to data driven analysis, Smarter Collaboration also includes a number of examples of how companies and law firms thrive through the use of Smarter Collaboration. Plus, there is a test on determining behavioral tendencies when it comes to collaboration. This psychometric tool helps identify seven different dimensions which can lead to great collaboration within the organization, or may be barriers to collaboration. And, as strange as it may sound to those of us in the legal industry, law firms are not unique when it comes to collaborative behaviors. In fact, Dr. Gardner says law firms are more different from each other than they are from other professional services industries or large corporations.
Listen in for more details on the upcoming book, Smarter Collaboration.
AALL Crystal Ball Question
This week we have John Beatty from the University of Buffalo Law School answer our crystal ball question where he points out that the pipeline of traditional law librarians for law schools may be running dry.
Links Mentioned:
Contact Us:
Twitter: @gebauerm or @glambert
Voicemail: 713-487-7270
Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.com
Music: Jerry David DeCicca
Transcript available on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog
The Boston Legal Design Challenge Update - Jeff Marple, Bob Taylor, and Aubrie Souza
Tracy LaLonde and The Joychiever Journey
Consumer Arbitration Made Easier with FairShake's Teel Lidow
Spotting Bias and Politicization of Local News Sources - Loyd Auerbach and Dave Boitano
Helping Startups Get Their Start - Dr. Jacqueline Walsh
Stephen Embry - The Future of the Law Office Won't Need Everyone to be in the Office
Douglas Ferguson on Doing the Work in the Meeting
Richard Hsu on Why Law Firms Will Need Lawyers to Return to the Office
Using Data Analytics to Tell Your Story with RStudio's Sarah Lin
The Boston Legal Design Challenge with Jeff Marple, Robert Taylor, and Gabriel Teninbaum
Olga Mack on Valuing Your Skills, Reputation, and Determination
Phil Flora on Leopard Solution’s New Gender and Ethnic Diversity Tool
Using Data to Really Know Your Clients and Predict Their Needs - David Kamien
Williams Lea CEO, Clare Hart on Letting Lawyers Do What They Do Best… Practice Law
Andrea Markstrom and the i.WILL Forum. Women Empowering Women
The Law Firm Antiracism Alliance - Brenna DeVaney
Law Firm Culture and Marketing, and How to Market Law Firm Culture - Barbara Malin and Jennifer Johnson
#Barpocalypse - Cat Moon, Brian L. Frye, Stefanie Mundhenk
Yes, And… A Return to KM 101 - Eugene Cipparone
Text, Context, and SCOTUS' Textualism in Bostock - Andrew Koppelman and Sara Harris
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money