Changing with passion
The legal world, and specifically information services, are changing every day – every moment. This fast-changing environment was a hot topic of discussion at today’s ARK Group conference, sponsored in part by West KM.
“Develop your passion – and then you’ll have buy in,” suggests Nola Vanhoy, Director of Practice Innovation, Alston and Bird LLP, as the best way of not just dealing with change, but LEADING your change. Nola was a participant in the “The Change Trajectory: Transforming the Flow of Information Across the Firm” session at today’s ARK Group/Managing Partner Magazine’s 5th Annual Best Practices & Management Strategies for Law Firm Library and Information Service Centers conference in New York.
Nola, along with Gina B. Lynch, National Director of Knowledge Services, Bingham McCutchen LLP, and Sarah Stephens, Chief Knowledge Officer, Sutherland Asbill and Brennan LLP, discussed their strategies for dealing with their changing trajectories, the challenges they’ve encountered in facing change, and their successes in expanding their scope and responsibilities in these changing times.
Seeking out experts, doing your homework, being ever-aware of technology, and viewing “models that work” are all a part of Nola’s successes, while building alliances, “telling [your clients] what they need and not waiting to be asked” and constantly seeking new opportunities are integral to Gina. Thinking broadly, and “beginning now to structure/do what you want” are parts of Sarah’s change-mantra.
By living these ideas and putting them into action every day, all three of these leaders and their associated firms have transformed their environments, and brought not just attention but recognition to their departments in these changing times. And recognition NOT just of their unique, customized, ever-evolving work-product, but more importantly the PEOPLE, and the PASSION that create that product, the aspect most crucial to dealing with our changing world.
Learn more about this and other ARK conference panels and discussions at http://usa.ark-group.com/.
