Water was to Rome as creativity is to IT in law firms

This past summer, my family had the opportunity to travel through Europe. While all of it was spectacular, we were particularly impressed with Rome. Masterpieces were everywhere. Wherever you looked, you could see a notable engineering accomplishment. Things that feel like they would be impossibly expensive or difficult to build today were successfully conceived and constructed centuries ago.

Rome is not only a spectacular city; it is really hot in the summer. I found myself wondering "how the heck did they get this all done way back when?" And that's when I noticed all the fountains and water. The people of Rome had figured out long ago how to get water from different places directly into the city. It was a massive undertaking but, once completed, fresh and effectively limitless water was available to all. When this occurred, it was a game-changing event for Rome, as few places could offer this at the time.

Water quenches thirst, helps food to grow, allows you to make things, provides an energy source, can be an artistic expression and makes life easier. By having fresh water in Rome, it became a magnet for people. It could be argued that it was the gravitational force that drew in the artistic, scientific and academic. Those people working in close proximity for centuries were inspired, challenged and paid to do what was then the impossible (and not far from it today). This all happened because one of the primary necessities of life and all of its positive derivatives was abundant.

What does any of this have to do with IT? That is a good question, but a better one is 'water was to Rome as X is to IT?' After we completed our tour of Rome, I found myself thinking that, for me to attract and retain the best of the best to my team, I would need to find today's 'water' for law firm IT.

The 'water' of IT

At first, I thought perhaps it could be a type of technology, but they come and go. Maybe a methodology would be the answer? The good ones have existed for a long time and, no matter what, great accomplishments only happen after planning and a lot of hard work. Could being on the cutting edge be it? Over my career, I have observed it takes a lot of applied effort and funding to get on the cutting edge and is even more difficult to stay there for an extended period of time.

I was stumped for a bit and then I saw a person painting in an Italian courtyard. Not only did he make a painting, he made a creation. That is when it hit me: today's equivalent of water for IT is creativity.

I have worked with many excellent people. One thing they all had in common is that they thoroughly enjoyed the creation part of problem solving or solution delivery. New equipment and software is nice, patching and configuration is what needs to be done, but being able to apply what you know to help you learn what you do not in pursuit of addressing an opportunity is incredibly satisfying. Satisfied people do more, they care more and things around them work better as a result. One way to help people to genuinely feel more satisfied at work is to help them find ways to exercise their creativity and allow it to flourish.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became about nourishing a professional environment where great people are encouraged to be creative. Looking at myself, this means that, in addition to meeting all of the operational and task-based IT activities, such as patching and audits, I also need to help my teams to identify the opportunities where the application of technology, automation and process makes something better. It might reduce the time it takes to perform a function, more reliably complete an operation or help eliminate something problematic. If we as leaders can help people have more time and opportunity to be creative, we might just end up with a masterpiece or two.

An environment known for its creative atmosphere might just be the element that differentiates it from the masses and draws in the best. That sounds like a great place to work.

James McKenna is director of infrastructure and administrative systems at international law firm Morrison & Foerster (www.mofo.com)