{"id":17609,"date":"2021-01-26T13:48:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T18:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/?p=728591"},"modified":"2021-01-26T13:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T18:48:43","slug":"the-role-of-persistence-in-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2021\/01\/26\/the-role-of-persistence-in-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Role Of Persistence In Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Image via Getty)<\/p><\/div>\n

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team as a sophomore.\u00a0 Lucille Ball was told by her drama school instructors to try something other than acting. And because he didn\u2019t speak much, Albert Einstein was not thought to be very smart. What each of these individuals had in common was that they persisted, refusing to give up on what they wanted to do.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s truly inspirational to hear about the underdog that achieves against all odds — and in addition to making great stories, there are lessons that can be learned from them as well. Of course, not every project has a happy ending, and not every story of persistence works out in the end. Businesses encounter failures all the time, and law firms are not exempt.<\/p>\n

So how should legal professionals think about the pursuit of innovation, and when does it make sense to try again (and again) to achieve positive results?<\/p>\n

Here are four tips to help organizations decide when to persist, particularly after a failed attempt.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first step in understanding is to listen. What innovator hasn\u2019t heard the words uttered, \u201cYeah, we already tried that. It didn\u2019t work.\u201d As someone working to drive a new project forward, pull that thread and try to understand what worked and what didn\u2019t work. More importantly, organizations with strong cultures will tend to conduct post-mortems on projects and provide forums for open and honest feedback. Here, a strong dose of intellectual curiosity helps. Don\u2019t be satisfied with the first answer. Be willing to dig deeper, to ask \u201cwhy\u201d and search for the root cause. For example, a perceived lack of funding to build out the project correctly could actually be the result of a lack of communication to management about the short cuts being taken. For a project that is really important to management, a full feedback loop might prevent decisions from being made that undermine the success of a project.<\/p>\n

Assess What Has Changed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The world we live in is dynamic. After 2020, nobody needs to be convinced of that! Perhaps a dynamic that made success elusive in the past has changed.\u00a0 Has the market shifted? Have your customers\u2019 needs evolved? Is there a new technology that can be applied to a particular problem?<\/p>\n

Rather than start over, can you build upon what was done in the past? Most people who were around when Microsoft Windows was getting traction may recall that the version that was successful wasn\u2019t Windows 1.0 or even Windows 2.0. It was Windows 3.1. Don\u2019t be afraid to try a second or even a third time. Just be sure that you are changing a variable so you can reasonably expect to achieve a different outcome.<\/p>\n

Create A Culture Of Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants in the Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer<\/em> survey from 2020 identified lack of management support as one of the key gaps in becoming future ready. Innovators (and senior management if you are reading this), need to purposefully create a culture of innovation. Here are some questions to identify areas where this can be meaningfully addressed:<\/p>\n