UnitedLex CEO Daniel Reed

In his headline speaker slot at this year's Legal Geek North America in New York, Legal Mosaic CEO Mark Cohen declared the event "Woodstock for legal." Having attended the era-defining festival in 1969, Cohen insisted that Legal Geek was revolutionary in its own way.

Woodstock was a highwater mark for a counterculture that rejected war through music and love. Within a (much) more narrow scope, Legal Geek represents its own flash point of an emerging community. Finally, people can get together to discuss how technology is changing the legal industry, out in the open.

One main idea that emerged from that discussion was the #BringBackBoring movement. The word "innovation" has lost all meaning, #BringBackBoring proponents argue. The movement is a vanguard against the idea that legal tech is an end-all-be-all.

A number of legal industry thought leaders now recognize that tech success is less about hype-driven ideas that capture headlines and more about what influences people to change their day-to-day habits alongside tech implementation. In other words, the boring stuff.

Firms focus too much energy and resources on new technology rather than positioning their people and processes to successfully implement it. General counsel can get frustrated when their expensive new tech systems are undermined by people who are not prepared to change their working practices and use the new systems.

How can a GC engage staff so that systems are implemented effectively?

First, the tech needs to be the right fit. A key conundrum facing companies' legal departments is where they should invest next in IT. Should they stay in their comfort zones, choosing the well-established and familiar? Fear of venturing beyond current platforms (which involve primarily tracking legal work) forces businesses to play catch-up with their more forward-thinking contemporaries.

On the other hand, forcing progress too quickly and disregarding an organization's staff and culture risks wasted money and time.

Management often holds misplaced confidence in change. Many organizations mistakenly assume that a new technology is self-evidently an improvement on what is already in place, and that staff only need instructions for implementation to take hold. Technology transformations must be treated the same way as major business restructurings: They require clear and consistent communication to stakeholders and participants.

The importance of getting this communications approach right cannot be overstated. The staff who will be affected by the change must be informed, guided and reassured by messages that are appropriately calibrated and from various levels. While inspirational vision statements straight from the C-suite can be helpful, it often falls to middle management to offer practical and directional guidance.

Change communications should never be a via a one-way channel. This downward messaging should be coupled with a process for feedback and listening, enabling staff to voice their concerns and making them feel they are a key part of the process. The business must ensure that the right messaging is repeated and adjusted.

You can expect unforeseen problems, delays and challenges along the way, regardless of how thorough and well-planned the change management project may be. But a key to success is maintaining the necessary agility, flexibility, and attention to staff that will keep the project on course. A two-way communications process is critical to keep both management and staff informed of progress and issues, and to enabling responsiveness to move quickly as the picture changes and new information comes in.

If more and more GCs and businesses adopt communications strategies that are transparent, empathetic, and flexible, tech and meaningful innovation will flourish. #BringBackBoring is essential to that strategy.

Daniel Reed, is CEO of UnitedLex where he focuses on empowering clients to achieve their own unique "art of the possible" in the field of law.