CMS also devotes generous space to flexible conference rooms in a multiplicity of configurations, a cafe and a proper restaurant and coffee areas and “lounges,” overall creating such an inspired and energizing reimagining of “the office” that the likes of high tech startups and PwC have visited to see what it’s all about.
A few years ago the City offices of a US firm we know well moved from a tiny floorplate building to a similarly generously sized one and took a less radical step, although that didn’t insulate the office managing partner from alarming lectures about the consequences of doing the unthinkable. What did they do? They simply mixed up practice groups, so that (say) a litigator might be next door to a project finance lawyer to an M&A practitioner to a funds lawyer. So what?
Well, actually so this: In relatively short order the office had incubated and launched a highly successful and brand-new practice cutting across traditional disciplines, but providing clear and convincing benefits to clients: “Boardroom risk.” Could it have happened without the random mixing up of people? Possible. Not likely.
This convenient and happy story points to what’s actually the most critical aspect of rethinking office space, and it has nothing to do with cost savings.
Serendipitously, the Harvard Business Review just published “The Innovative Coworking Spaces of 15th-Century Italy,” talking about the famous Florentine Renaissance workshops, or “bottega”’s. Here’s how they worked:
The Renaissance put knowledge at the heart of value creation, which took place in the workshops of these artisans, craftsmen, and artists. There they met and worked with painters, sculptors, and other artists; architects, mathematicians, engineers, anatomists, and other scientists; and rich merchants who were patrons. All of them gave form and life to Renaissance communities, generating aesthetic and expressive as well as social and economic values. The result was entrepreneurship that conceived revolutionary ways of working, of designing and delivering products and services, and even of seeing the world.
Florentine workshops were communities of creativity and innovation where dreams, passions, and projects could intertwine.
If this doesn’t sound terribly familiar, read it again:
- “knowledge at the heart of value creation”
- “aesthetic and expressive as well as social and economic values”
- “revolutionary ways of working [and] delivering services.”
The Renaissance bottega was modeled on a loose coupling of master and apprentice; tradecraft handed down intact and an invitation to look beyond the traditional; networking; and mentoring.
Thank you for this article Bruce. As a history graduate, I enjoyed it as much for the comparison with Renaissance Italy as for the investigation of agile working and office space in law firms.
My take is that the use of office space is but one aspect of truly agile working. Like you, I am struck by the prevalence of the phrase in UK law firm parlance. I have also been struck by how ‘agile working’ is used narrowly, to describe nothing more than an HR policy (flexible or remote working) or a facilities management approach (open plan / hot desking).
Agile working is so much more than this. I feel we’re missing the point and law firms are missing a great opportunity. Agile working is not about the firm – it’s about its clients. It:
– starts with client and market demands
– matches resources of all types to those demands
– focuses on outputs rather than inputs
– aims for maximum flexibility and minimum constraints.
In doing so, the firm may choose to implement open plan or flexible working, but both will be the means, rather than the end.
I recently posited a definition of agile working for the legal sector in an attempt to achieve greater clarity and a deeper purpose for agile working (see: http://www.katherinethomasconsulting.com/thoughts).
I suggest: “Agile working starts with the client and focuses on achieving outputs rather than managing inputs. It encompasses every area of the organisation and matches resources of all types to meet demands efficiently and adapt to changing market conditions nimbly. Crucially, agile working in legal services exists where business needs overlap with worker preferences and skills, resulting in increased productivity, efficiency, adaptability and innovation.”
What do you think?
Katherine
Katherine: Many thanks for contributing to the conversation. I’ve used a slide a few times lately that A&O developed to represent the legal marketplace ecosystem as they see it (law firms, LPO’s, the Big 4, Axiom and Integreon and NovusLaw &c.) and what strikes so many people who see it is not the variety of service providers available but the fact that A&O put the client at the center of this solar system and not the law firm! Hilarious that people react that way, but of course A&O is right to do so.
As are you.
Thanks again,
Bruce
How revolutionary indeed!! Thanks Bruce. Katherine