Raven at Raven's Brain has posted a great quote regarding Good Insights On Managing Knowledge Workers that I think applies even more to the litigation support industry.  Litigation support is part of the information and support economy and most of the people in this industry are knowledge workers.  Knowledge workers are people who add value through their intellect rather than physical attributes.  Because knowledge workers use intellect rather than brawn, old techniques of managing users by just assigning tasks and jobs has become harder.  Workers are no longer doing one task at one workstation.  They have valuable skills that should be fostered and used in the best possible combination. 

"A good manager doesn't tell people what to do or how to accomplish their tasks, but removes roadblocks and makes the way clear [for employees to be] more productive.  [Another] important role that managers have is to identify and grow talent.  Unfortunately, many managers don't place enough emphasis on helping the individuals within their teams grow and improve their capabilities.  Ultimately, a manager [ONLY] succeeds when the people who reported to him grow into new capabilities and roles." -- Jeffrey Phillips at Think Faster

Managers who do not foster each knowledge worker's talents or hold on to the outdated "workers as resources" mantra will have a hard time keeping employees motivated in this industry.  Empowering an employee is the only way to harness the talent that the company has and is a very challenging feat.  That is something that I want to explore further in future posts.

How do you empower your employees?

Read the article on the Think Faster blog entitled "What's a manager to do?"
Read the article on Raven's Brain blog entitled "Good Insights On Managing Knowledge Workers"

Tags: Knowledge Workers, IT Management, Management, Litigation Support