The most important thing you can do to implement law firm workflows is to get buy-in.
Ideally, you don’t want to just drop a new workflow on your staff, and be like: good luck, y’all. That would be a terrible idea. But, one that law firms often engage anyway.
So, in the best-case scenario, you take those steps we went over last time, to manually generate workflows, and you build that out in conjunction with your staff. That should be a team effort, because everyone has something to contribute, based on the specific interactions they have with your law firm leads, and clients. If you do that, you remove the element of surprise, which can be devastating for the launch of a new initiative. That’s why most law firm change management efforts are stillborn.
But, from there, it should remain a team effort. Implementing the workflows should involve everyone. Folks need to know what will be automated, and where they need to step in. Everyone should have an understanding of the tools needed – electronic (software-based), and others. Everyone should have an intimate idea of their responsibilities, but will also be aware of the entirety of the workflow.
Now, process management does not end there. Law firms should continue to iterate on workflows, to ensure that they are high-performing – in the same way you would manage your staff. Because, in the end, workflows just need to work. So, keep an open line of communication as to suggestions for improvements to workflows that staff can spot. And, continue to review your workflows on a regular basis, at least annually. You can also use data analytics, which are more and more prevalent in legal software these days, to test the viability of your workflows in the real world.
