Thesis:  Command-and-control management styles both derive from and reinforce bureaucracy, power tripping and an overall culture of paranoia.

If there is an industry characterized by paranoia, it’s law.  We just call it due diligence, and it forms a major part of what many senior lawyers do on a day to day basis.

For this reason, communication is often viewed as a liability, not an asset – especially when it’s in writing.  The alternative is a decided lack of communication, or cryptic messages that allow adequate explanatory wiggle room.

Of course no business can properly or competitively function this way, which is why law firms can be some of the most poorly run businesses in our society.

It’s not surprising that blogs are often viewed by those in the legal industry as a liability and not an asset.  Blogs can and do create legal problems.

But Struan Robertson addressed all of this years ago in Outlaw,

Do remember that suits look more attractive than pyjamas to prowling litigants, but do not panic. Businesses have always trusted their staff to communicate with customers. Corporate blogging is just another channel for communication. What matters is that, if employers embrace it, they must do so with their eyes wide open.

Good blogs bring out a personality. They need spontaneity and oxygen, not censorship – which means keeping legal and marketing departments at arm’s length. That is possible, despite the risks. However, staff should still follow a blogging policy. This can be standalone or part of a wider communications policy. Keep it simple and make sure people know about it. Set out the rules: when they can blog, what they can say, what they shouldn’t say, what happens if they break the rules. And don’t allow everyone to blog. You need to trust your blogger.

Policies about confidential information can be established, and indeed better monitored on social media than breaches of the more traditional slip of tongue or missent e-mail.

The reason for blogging is for client development, something lawyers have always done,

Law firms, of course, have always sold services. And we are a small but powerful engine in the growth of the services sector. We strategize with and guide big clients every day.

You can no more stiffle social media participation than you can muzzle our employees at the water cooler or the corner bar.  Employers cannot control what their employees will say, but they can empower them, explain clear guidelines, and keep them accountable.

It’s time to move from a transactional form of leadership and governance  in law firms, to that of a transformational style.  The conversation must continue, both with the market and within the organization.

The trick here is to be cautious, and not afraid:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

-  Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear – From Frank Herbert’s Dune Book Series

The above is part of The Cluetrain Plus 10, a collaborative celebration of the tenth anniversary of the ground-breaking book The Cluetrain Manifesto.