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Dream teams – how multiple networks can boost practice performance

With evidence suggesting that a shift to a team-based organisational model improves business performance, law firms are well advised to embrace or expand such an approach, writes Keegan Luiters.

In 2018, leadership and management expert Dr Margaret Luciano – who was then working at Arizona State University – teamed up with fellow researchers to examine what they referred to as “multiteam systems” (see panel below).

While the topic feels quite theoretical, an important practical implication of their research is the fact that organisations are increasingly structuring themselves as a complex network of interdependent teams – and many organisations are seeing the benefits of this approach.

Whether or not your organisational structure reflects a multiteam model, it is very likely that your law firm is operating as a network of teams. This article aims to help you consider three things – the benefits of operating as a network of teams; whether your firm is already operating (either formally or informally) as a network of teams; and how your firm can adopt approaches to support operating as a network of teams.

The benefits of operating as a network of teams

Deloitte research shows that shifting to a team-based organisational model improves performance, often significantly. The 2019 study revealed that the overwhelming majority (74%) of organisations that were at least partially operating as a team-based network were seeing improvements in performance. A total of 53% of respondents reported that operating as a team-based network had led to a significant improvement in performance.

Thomson Reuters has also shared findings from its research in 2023 on law firm performance. It found that “clients who identify collaborative teams within an outside law firm spend an average of 56% of their wallet at that firm”, and that “higher collaboration is linked to increased billable hours, more work billed, and higher origination levels”.

An article by Harvard Law School’s Center for the Legal Profession also highlights multiple reasons that contribute to the benefits of operating as a network of teams. The article identifies that “a team of lawyers is able to address issues that none could tackle individually”. The benefit of that is amplified by the fact that teams of lawyers – as opposed to individual experts – are hard to replace”.

These findings indicate that teams are valuable to firms for multiple reasons. An interconnected network of teams represents the best opportunity to maximise that benefit. Such an interconnected network allows teams to form more readily and also accelerates the capability of teamwork across a firm.

Identifying your firm’s network of teams

It is likely that you and your lawyers are working on multiple teams – whether or not this is captured on your organisational chart. A global study by ADP Research Institute in 2018 indicated that 95% of knowledge workers were on more than one team at work. The report stated that, of the 19,346 respondents, “75% report that the teams they are on are not represented in the organisational chart”.

An often illuminating exercise is to ask individuals to identify all of the formal and informal teams that they are currently on – and the roles that they play in those teams. This task should include different projects that they are working on with clients, suppliers and colleagues, as well as the formal teams from the organisational structure (such as a leadership team).

Invariably, this exercise highlights to individuals that they have underestimated the number of roles that they play across teams and that organisations have underestimated the complexity of the networks that exist within their organisation.

Supporting your network of teams

In academic literature about team performance, there is a distinction made between taskwork and teamwork. Taskwork can be defined as an individual’s completion of actions related to their job description. Teamwork is “the process through which team members collaborate to achieve task goals”.

Typically, taskwork is the focus of performance for many professionals, including lawyers. Teamwork is rarely something that is explicitly supported and developed.

MinterEllison shared key points from a series of conversations with leaders of in-house legal teams from around Australia, many of which have a strong correlation to private practice. One point raised is that “most lawyers are taught to work in solitude”.  While this can lead to technical expertise and excellence in taskwork, another impact is that developing teamwork can seem irrelevant or counterproductive to an individual lawyer’s needs.

As such, it can be worthwhile for firms to consider the ways in which teamwork behaviours can be recognised, supported, developed and rewarded – without diminishing technical excellence. Operating as a team need not reduce an individual’s technical contribution, but it does require an intentional approach.

Beyond words or slogans, firms seeking the benefits of teamwork need to be committed to making a network of teams a sustainable way of working.

This will require leaders within firms to create an environment – physical and social – which supports collaboration, the sharing of information, and the development of strong professional relationships among other teamwork capabilities.

Keegan Luiters is an independent consultant who applies evidence-based approaches in his work with leaders, teams and organisations to lift their performance. His first two books are Team Up and Teamership. They explore how and why to improve collective performance across teams. Visit www.keeganluiters.com for more information or connect with him on LinkedIn.

At a glance

  • What are “multiteam systems?”

They are two or more teams that work interdependently to achieve a shared superordinate goal. They are a unique form of organising that spans traditional team and organisational boundaries and which are particularly well-suited for dynamic and complex environments.

  • How do they work?

Managers can reorganise their larger teams into multiteam systems of smaller, empowered and interconnected groups. An article in Harvard Business Review notes that these smaller teams improve flexibility and adaptability. “For example, converting your team of nine into three teams of three empowers them to make decisions and makes it easier for employees to help coordinate their work. In other words, managers should look to supplement vertical coordination (the manager needs to figure out how to get this project completed and accommodate employee requests) with horizontal coordination among groups of employees (members need to help figure out how to complete their portion of the project and adjust for each other’s requests).”

  • What are the benefits?

The reconfiguration reduces the coordination costs placed on the manager “without dumping them all on the most accommodating employee”. Each employee only has to help coordinate with a couple of other individuals, rather than everyone in the larger team. Smaller groups also tend to have less “social loafing”, where people exert less effort when part of a team than they would individually.

Sources: https://www.margaretmluciano.com/; Harvard Business Review

References

Driskell, J. E., Salas, E., & Driskell, T. (2018). Foundations of teamwork and collaboration. American Psychologist, 73(4), pp. 334-348.

Griffin, M.A., Neal, A. and Parker, S.K., 2007. A new model of work role performance: Positive behaviour in uncertain and interdependent contexts. Academy of management journal, 50(2), pp. 327-347.

Hayes, M., Chumney, F., Wright, C. and Buckingham, M., 2019. Global Study of Engagement.

Luciano, M.M., DeChurch, L.A. and Mathieu, J.E., 2018. Multiteam systems: A structural framework and meso-theory of system functioning. Journal of Management, 44(3), pp. 1065-1096.

O’Leary, M.B., Mortensen, M. and Woolley, A.W., 2011. Multiple team membership: A theoretical model of its effects on productivity and learning for individuals and teams. Academy of Management Review, 36(3), pp. 461-478.

Volini, E., Schwartz, J., Roy, I., Hauptmann, M., Van Durme, Y., Denny, B. and Bersin, J., 2019. Leading The Social Enterprise: Reinvent With A Human Focus. Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends.

https://clp.law.harvard.edu/knowledge-hub/magazine/issues/teamwork-and-collaboration/collaboration-in-law-firms/

https://www.minterellison.com/articles/were-all-in-this-together-managing-high-performing-legal-teams